STATE COLLEGE, PA, Sep 29, 2025 – NASA has awarded Remcom a small business innovation research (SBIR) Phase I contract to develop wireless channel modeling for antennas on astronaut spacesuits and lunar vehicles. The contract builds on Remcom’s earlier work for NASA’s space communications and navigation (SCaN) program and supports Artemis lunar exploration missions.
Prior efforts focused on macro-scale lunar network planning. The current project targets communication links for astronauts on the Moon using updates to wireless InSite 3D wireless prediction software. New innovations will address challenges from layered spacesuit materials that affect antenna radiation and transmissions. It will apply Huygens surfaces to combine near-field and far-field antenna behavior around astronauts and nearby structures. These methods will identify performance trade-offs for various antenna placement and protocols, including 3GPP sidelink, to improve device-to-device (D2D) communications between astronauts. Acceleration techniques will reduce simulation runtimes by one to two orders of magnitude. This allows faster analysis of signal propagation in dynamic lunar environments.
The project will address Artemis mission-specific needs with technologies that will also benefit commercial wireless device design, especially for wearables and on-body sensors in complex environments.
“Modeling antennas in close proximity to complex structures like spacesuits introduces new electromagnetic challenges that are not well addressed by traditional simulation approaches,” said Greg Skidmore, Remcom’s director of propagation software and program manager of the effort. “This contract provides the opportunity to prototype unique solutions that ensure astronauts stay connected, whether they’re exploring craters or conducting operations outside line-of-sight, providing NASA with a more realistic understanding of communication performance in dynamic lunar scenarios.”
Source: Remcom
About Remcom
Remcom Inc., based in State College, PA, is a privately held software company specializing in electromagnetic simulation and wireless propagation modeling. Founded in 1994, it develops tools for wireless communications, defense, automotive, aerospace, and academic sectors. Its core products include XFdtd for full-wave 3D electromagnetic simulation, Wireless InSite for radio propagation environments, and WaveFarer for radar and automotive sensor simulation. These tools support applications such as antenna design, RF circuits, 5G and 6G development, IoT, and driver-assistance systems. Remcom software is deployed in more than 18 countries and addresses high-frequency simulation needs with modeling support. The company employs about 34 to 50 people, generates approximately $4.3M in annual revenue, and provides flexible licensing and custom development. For three decades, it has offered commercial and government users simulation software backed by technical expertise and customer support to meet diverse project requirements.