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ADS-B Technology for Reusable Launch Vehicles

For this project, Embry-Riddle faculty and students are collaborating with the sponsor, the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation, and the MITRE Corporation to produce an ADS-B technology capable of supporting the tracking of commercial space operations of sounding rockets and reusable launch vehicles.

Project Details

Campus: Daytona Beach Campus
College: Daytona Beach College of Engineering
Department: Daytona Beach Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Type: Faculty-Staff
Start Date: 05/01/2011
End Date: 09/30/2015

A student stands outside in front of a rocket.This project makes use of the MITRE UAT Beacon Radio Transmit Only design, but re-engineers numerous components including the GPS, firmware, and environmental shielding.This prototype has flown to altitudes greater than 100,000 ft. on high altitude balloons, and in November 2013 flew to an altitude of 384,100 ft. onboard a the Up Aerospace SL-8 sounding rocket providing the vehicle's GPS coordinates at once per second for 73% of the total flight (over 90% of descent). This is currently the highest that UAT-based ADS-B technology has successfully flown and been demonstrated. It is currently manifest for integration and testing on Virgin Galactic's Spaceship 2 for an upcoming test spaceflight (date undisclosed).


Research Team

Principal Investigators

Massood Towhidnejad
Massood Towhidnejad

Professor and Associate Chair

  • Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Dept
  • Daytona College of Engineering