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 with practical examples
of actual spacecraft design of European space missions.
The tutorial here presented is thought for professionals (also in other
telecommunication engineering fields) that want to face the challenges
and state-of-the-art of the TT&C, and know more about this fundamental
function that allows us to daily control and monitor our spacecraft.