A Tutorial on the Tracking, Telemetry, and Command (TT&C) for Space Missions

Abstract

This paper presents a tutorial on the Tracking, Telemetry, and Command (TT&C) for spacecraft and satellite missions. In particular, it provides a thorough summary of the design of the TT&C, starting from elementary system aspects and going down to the details of the on-board TT&C subsystem design, its units, and the physical layer. The paper is then complemented with a description of emerging TT&C techniques and technologies, the standardization framework, and practical examples of actual spacecraft design of European space missions. The here-presented tutorial is thought for professionals (also in other telecommunication engineering fields) willing to face the challenges and state-of-the-art of the TT&C, and know more about this fundamental function that allows us to control and monitor our spacecraft on a daily basis.