Communications/DSP Engineer — Intern (Fall 2026)

Job Description

Communications/DSP Engineer Intern | Astranis Space Technologies

The Tone:
This is an internship at Astranis Space Technologies, located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Astranis is a 450-person organization that builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Their satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly-sophisticated customers globally, including large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military. With five satellites on orbit and a backlog of over $1 billion in commercial contracts, Astranis is a preferred partner for stringent satellite communications requirements. This role offers an opportunity to work on hard problems and contribute meaningfully to challenging projects, with many past interns designing and testing hardware/software for space missions.

The TL;DR
• Role: Communications/DSP Engineer — Intern (Fall 2026)
• Type: Internship
• Location: In-person, San Francisco Bay Area
• Pay: $29 hourly
• Mission: Design signal processing for custom software defined radio hardware and model the end-to-end radio system to optimize performance from Earth to space and back.
• Tech Stack: Software defined radios, Python, GNU Radio, FPGA development, embedded C, signal generator, signal analyzer, network analyzer, oscilloscope

What You’ll Actually Do
• Design: Design signal processing for custom software defined radio hardware, including channelization, equalization, PA linearization, gain control, carrier synchronization, symbol mapping, framing, and channel coding/FEC.
• Collaborate: Work closely with FPGA developers to implement and test the designed signal processing on radio hardware.
• Model: Model the end-to-end radio system, covering the entire communication path from Earth to space and back.
• Optimize: Drive radio architecture trade studies, run link budgets, and optimize the radio system for maximum performance across various markets and use cases globally.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Student currently enrolled at a four-year university with strong fundamentals in signals and systems, and digital communications. US Citizenship, lawful permanent residency, or refugee/asylee status is required.
• Experience: Familiarity with software development, including experience writing software for DSP, MCU, and/or FPGA, and proficiency in one or more scripting languages. Experience working with signal generators, signal analyzers, network analyzers, and oscilloscopes is also required.
• Skills: Strong understanding of signals and systems principles (basic transforms, filters, aliasing, continuous and discrete domain analysis, interpolation, decimation), digital communications concepts (modulation, coding, synchronization, fading, doppler, multiple access, channel capacity), and analog concepts (amplifiers, analog filters, gain and delay variation, reflections, compression).
• Bonus: Experience with software defined radios, Python, GNU Radio, and/or FPGA development (including embedded C).