| name | communications-assessment |
| description | Perform RF link budget analysis, data volume assessments, and communication architecture sizing. Use this skill to calculate SNR, link margins, required antenna gains, data throughput, and ground station requirements. Trigger this for "link budget," "downlink rate," "RF analysis," "antenna sizing," "ground station," or "data budget." |
Communications Assessment Skill
Read CONVENTIONS.md at the repo root before proceeding.
This skill sizes the telecommunications subsystem to ensure command and telemetry links meet required bit error rates (BER) and data throughput objectives.
Before You Begin
Ask the user (if not already known):
- What orbit/distance? (determines path loss — LEO, GEO, Lunar, Deep Space)
- What ground network? (Own ground station, NASA DSN, KSAT, SSC, ATLAS, etc.)
- What frequency bands are allocated or desired? (S-band, X-band, Ka-band, UHF, optical)
- What data volume per day must be downlinked? (drives data rate and pass duration needs)
- Are there regulatory / licensing constraints? (ITU coordination, FCC license)
- What standards framework?
Applicable Phases
- Primary: Phase A (architecture selection), Phase B (link budget closure)
- Supporting: Phase C/D (ground station commissioning, frequency coordination)
Analysis Workflows
1. RF Link Budget
- Equation: $P_{rx} = P_{tx} + G_{tx} + G_{rx} - L_{path} - L_{other}$
- Path Loss: $L_{path} = 20 \log_{10}(4\pi d / \lambda)$ — scales with distance and frequency.
- Noise: Calculate System Noise Temperature ($T_{sys}$) and $G/T$ figure of merit.
- Margin policy (ask user to confirm):
