RF Systems Engineer

Vast is looking for a RF Systems Engineer, reporting to the Director, RF Engineering, to execute the development of the RF Systems for spacecraft including space stations and satellites.

As a RF Systems Engineer, you will manage communication system requirements and verification for space stations and satellites. Your responsibilities will include RF system design, link budgets,  satellite coverage analysis, and definition of system concepts-of-operation (CONOPs). You will be expected to own one or more RF components and to collaborate with your mechanical, thermal, test, integration, and mission assurance engineering counterparts to guide those components through testing, integration, and operation during the mission.

This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

Responsibilities:

Own and manage spacecraft RF system requirements and verification plan

Specify link parameters including modulation, error correction coding, symbol rate, and channel filter

Calculate link budgets, considering data throughput requirements, link conditions, and ground station characteristics

Estimate the expected data throughput and bit error rate based on your link budgets

Maintain link budgets with consideration to on-vehicle antenna patterns, cable losses, radio specifications, and channel conditions for the expected orbit

Support regulatory license applications by providing required analyses such as power flux density and antenna contours

Use standard tools such as Ansys STK to estimate coverage and link variability during real mission orbit scenarios

Document and review your work output with peers through trade studies and design reviews

Own one or more RF products from development testing through mission operation

Be a center of subject matter expertise over your RF components in the context of the overall RF system

Plan the design, manufacturing, testing, integration, and delivery to the vehicle and coordinate the schedule with interfacing teams and project management

Manage relationships with cross-functional teams including mechanical engineers, test engineers, manufacturing engineers, thermal engineers, and avionics engineers

Manage vendors and clearly communicate requirements, deliverables, and schedule

Define test plans and procedures for acceptance and qualification testing

Define and document checkout tests to validate proper operation during and after integration at the vehicle level

Support mission operations as a subject matter expert on the spacecraft RF system

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in ECE, EE, Physics, or related STEM discipline

Familiarity with digital RF communication theory, components, and fundamentals

Satellite Link budgets

Satellite link figures of merit including

G/T ratio

Signal-to-noise figures of merit including C/No, Eb/No, etc

Error vector magnitude (EVM)

Noise figure

Bit error rate

Modulation schemes

Interference

IQ modulators

Channel impairments

EIRP

Free space path loss (FSPL)

Doppler shift

Familiarity with antennas and propagation

Antenna gain/directivity

Antenna polarization

Experience with RF measurements and concepts

Spectrum analyzers

Noise bandwidth

Experience with RF fundamentals

S-parameters

Experience in programming

Data analysis tools

Experience with product management

Vendor management

Design reviews

Requirements and verification

Preferred Skills & Experience:

MS or PhD in  ECE, EE, Physics, or related stem discipline

Work experience

Startup experience

Aerospace experience

Design for space

Testing for space environments

EMI/EMC testing

Environmental testing

SMC-S-016 test requirements for launch vehicles

RF measurements

Spectral mask

Spur measurements

Experience with analysis software

STK

Python

Matlab

RF for satellite communications

Orbital mechanics

P1dB

Transmission line loss

Spectral regrowth

Harmonic distortion

RF passive components

Satellite communications standards

CCSDS

DVB-S2

DSP for RF communications

Receiver synchronization

Shannon theory

Nyquist sampling theorem

Forward error correction

Antenna/propagation effects

Multipath

Axial ratio

Cross-polarization

Pay Range: California

$120,540—$209,520 USD