RKF creates simulations and models of wireless communications systems. In our work with satellite systems, we have used simulations to support the conceptualization, design, and development of satellite communications payloads with on-board digital processing as well as conventional bent-pipe designs. This work includes systems in all orbits (LEO, MEO, HEO, GEO) and all operating bandwidths (S-band, L-band, C-band, Ku-band, Ka-band). In our work simulating terrestrial systems, we have developed LTE, WiFi, and 5G models, and traffic, and clutter models to create highly-realistic dynamic simulations of systems utilizing these technologies.
GUI of time-domain simulation of each individual component in SATCOM Tx and Rx chains
We develop models and simulations at many levels of granularity to adequately predict a system's performance before it has been deployed or even built. For individual system components, such as antennas, amplifiers, filters, and processors, we develop custom models to capture component-specific behavior. For end-to-end systems, we chain together these models and incorporate wireless propagation models along with link budget analyses to accurately determine the system's overall performance. For simulations of large-scale deployment of systems in both terrestrial and space settings, we develop clutter and traffic models and perform interference studies to ensure that the system is capable of performing up to the client's desired specifications at scale in a realistic environment.
Enterprise Spectrum Management Software
RKF's spectrum management software performs interference analysis of electromagnetic environments modeled in accordance with a wide variety of propagation models to account for intermodulation as well as co-channel, adjacent-channel, and harmonic interactions. These interference analyses are used to assure compliance to coordination and spectral sharing agreements and provide spectrum managers with situational awareness across their communications systems. Our software is developed with APIs for 3rd-parties to support ease of integration with other vendor software. We design and implement large-scale data models and databases to aggregate all relevant information from appropriate public, federal, or proprietary databases and centralize it for ease of management and access from user computers. In this way, we enable seamless coordination of data exchanges between the central databases and the client's user base. Clients who are already using RKF's spectrum software span all across the United States and the world, from DoD entities to leaders of commercial industry.
Resource Management Software
RKF develops software tools to help clients to optimize the performance of their satellite systems. Our software products package the following capabilities into a single deliverable, capable of performing all of the following tasks simultaneously with dynamic situational awareness:
Managing capacity of clients' satellite systems to optimize coverage and availability across user-base
Deploying optimized resource plans into clients' operational networks
Calculating optimal beamforming coefficients to ensure clients' coverage and regulatory requirements are met
Optimizing payload utilization
Mitigating intra-system interference by optimizing carrier placement on beams
Kythera Space Solutions spun off from RKF Engineering in 2018 with a particular focus on resource management and optimization software for satellite systems. You can learn more by visiting their website below.