Business News
Rennes, France, 19
th
April 2023,
Syrlinks, subsidiary of Safran Electronics & Defense, releases N-CUBE, a new
generaon of GNSS Soware Dened Radio payload to address LEO-PNT applicaons
New Product
Aer having democrazed very high-precision in-ight orbit determinaon (N-SPHERE) and having become the world
reference for atomic me and precision frequencies (Galileo and other global programs), Safran presents N-CUBE: the
cornerstone of the new generaon of space PNT programs in low orbit (LEO PNT).
N-CUBE is a new high-end soware-dened radio GNSS payload for Posioning-Navigaon-Time (PNT) applicaons. This
payload is parcularly suitable for nanosatellites and satellite cubes operang in low orbit (LEO, for Low Earth Orbit). N-CUBE
comes as a unique soluon that combines a high-performance GNSS receiver, a GNSS signal processor and a RF output stage.
The receiver and the processor implement the latest state-of-the-art posioning and synchronizaon techniques, to reach
top class of performances for Real-Time Precise Onboard Orbit Determinaon (P2OD) and accurate me synchronizaon.
The embedded RF output stage is used to retransmit a GNSS signal from the LEO orbit to the ground and to ensure a LEO-
PNT service coverage.
N-CUBE inherits from more than 10 years of Syrlinks’ experience in the GNSS domain and has been jointly designed with
CNES (The French Space Agency). N-CUBE can synchronize from dierent GNSS systems including GPS, GALILEO and BEIDOU.
In terms of posioning, N-CUBE provides accuracy beer than 0.3 meters, thanks to a unique algorithm (referenced as
«Bolero») developed by CNES.
Its Soware-Dened-Radio (SDR) core architecture brings maximum exibility and enables implementaon of specic
soware-based processing to address a wide range of applicaons. The retransmit signal can be fully adapted for the
applicaon. It could us the GNSS bands or other bands such as S-Band as requested. The product is versale and can be
congured as needed to meet all LEO-PNT applicaons.
The product design belongs to the Syrlinks “New Space III” product category. This Product Assurance subclass perfectly
meets the requirements of Nano/CubeSat missions, targeng a typical 2/5-year lifeme at Low Earth Orbit with a maximum
Total Ionized radiaon Dose of 12 krad.
« With the emergence of applicaons that require a high level of GNSS service performances, coverage
and resilience such as autonomous car, Vehicle-to-Vehicle communicaon, IoT, etc. we are facing to a
growing interest to implement ecient LEO-PNT satellite services. With N-CUBE we come at the right
me on the market with a unique soluon to demonstrate the future capabilies of such service in
space.» says Eric Pinson, Director of Space acvity at Syrlinks.
«The release of this new product is the result of several years of development with our GNSS experts.
It also inherits a rst project realized for an operator customer and the ight of the rst product is
expected by the end of the year. The future looks very promising with already several new LEO-PNT
projects idened.» says Fabien Sépot, GNSS product manager at Syrlinks.
N-CUBE is highlight on Syrlinks booth #529 during 38
th
Space Symposium in
Colorado Springs, CO, USA from April 17
th
to 20
th
, 2023.
N-CUBE - High-End GNSS SDR payload - © Syrlinks