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Development of Systems for Processing and Managing Donations for the William A. Burnard Warming Center
Get PDFStructure is important for any organization to have success and grow. Thus, having a good inventory system can make a huge difference. This project set out to investigate and develop a system that would be able to monitor incoming donations, inventory levels, and items given away to guests. The inventory method needed to be as automated as possible because the warming center volunteers were already busy with other responsibilities. While many softwares were researched, my proposed solution was created with a combination of Google Sheets and Google Forms, as it is free and can be customized to the specific needs of the warming center. Given the title “William A. Burnard Warming Center Mastersheet,” this inventory system would track donations and donor information, total inventory, current inventory, certain items given to guests, and weekly counts of the most commonly used items. A purely automated system was not possible given the circumstances, but this system can be considered a hybrid, with some items counted automatically while others need a manual count. The hope is that the manual counting was made simple enough not to place any additional burden on the volunteers. Although this system is far from perfect, it will hopefully help the warming center find a future inventory system that will give them the organization and structure to further allow them to prosper as a new nonprofit organization
Zero-Knowledge Tumbling Strategies for Increased Sunlight Capture on Small Satellites: Anti-Eigenvectors and the Dzhanibekov Effect
Get PDFEffective attitude determination and control is often vital for the survival of solar array-powered satellites. Large spacecraft may employ powerful and accurate attitude determination and control strategies to reduce the risk of power management failures. Due to the size, weight, and power limitations of small satellites, slower and less accurate attitude determination and control instruments may be more attractive, limiting the strategies available. Consequently, many small satellite operators will turn to strategies requiring no information in the inertial frame (referred to here as zero-knowledge strategies) such as detumbling or spin stabilisation. While detumbling and spin stabilisation are often used, there is no guarantee that they are optimal or even safe strategies with respect to power generation
Evaluation of Spectral CNNJPEG Adaptive Compression on the STP-H7-CASPR Platform
Get PDFMany space-sensing platforms are capable of producing vast amounts of sensor data. While having additional data can further science goals, it also introduces the problems of storage and transfer. Space platforms have limited storage resources and transmission bandwidth. As such, data compression is a vital step to make the most efficient use of onboard resources. Sensors such as multispectral imagers can capture many times the amount of data of traditional visual sensors, posing difficulties for onboard storage and processing of the data. Spectral CNNJPEG is a state-of-the-art adaptive compression algorithm for multispectral and hyperspectral-imaging sensors. This algorithm has been previously demonstrated to provide excellent compression with high reconstruction quality. However, to determine the aptitude of this algorithm for space use, it must be tested under realistic use conditions. This research provides a performance assessment of the Spectral CNNJPEG compression system using the STP-H7-CASPR (Configurable Autonomous Sensor Processing Research) payload operating aboard the ISS. This algorithm leverages the onboard GPU computing environment as well as data captured by the Satlantis iSIM-90 multispectral imager aboard STP-H7-CASPR. The performance of the onboard compression system is evaluated in several categories, including total runtime, inference latency, compression power, and reconstruction quality. This research provides a flight demonstration of the Spectral CNNJPEG compression system. With Spectral CNNJPEG, we achieve compression ratios of nearly 20× while maintaining high structural similarity greater than 0.9. The compression ratio and quality can also be tuned depending on the desired level of compression. By employing Spectral CNNJPEG adaptive compression on CASPR, we can expand the boundaries of what is possible for onboard computing
Development of Optically Transparent Patch Antennas for Solar Panel Integration on CubeSats
Get PDFSatellite design faces the challenge of optimizing external surface area to accommodate various components, such as solar panels, antennas, sensors, and technology demonstrations. For small satellites, solar cells occupy most of the external faces, offering little surface area for other functions. To solve this problem, researchers and developers have attempted to create an S-band patch antenna that can integrate with a solar cell, providing higher gain and maximizing solar panel power generation. The most common option is to create a meshed patch antenna on a transparent substrate, increasing optical transparency. Often, this involves using conductive ink printed onto a transparent material such as glass or thick plastic. This transparent patch antenna (TPA) allows satellites to use a patch antenna without losing a solar panel. The TPA is designed to function at 2.425 GHz
An Electrical Power System Development for VERTECS: A 6U CubeSat Mission for Observation the Extragalactic Background Light
Get PDFThis paper focuses on an overview of the electrical power system (EPS) implemented in the Visible extragalactic background radiation exploration by CubeSat (VERTECS), a 6U CubeSat developed by a collaboration of the Kyushu institute of technology (Kyutech), JAXA, universities, and companies. Its mission aims to reveal the star-formation history of the universe through observations of the extragalactic background light (EBL) in visible wavelength. This article presents the three primary functions of the EPS in VERTECS design (i.e., power source, energy storage, and power control) in detail, as well as the verification of the system by the breadboard model (BBM). Numerous factors are considered in designing and developing the power source for VERTECS. The keys of the design consist of end-of-life (EOL) requirements, the selection of solar cell type, the solar array mass and area, power input, and power consumption. Most designs of the EPS have flight heritage from previous satellites developed at Kyutech. Given the application of high-throughput optics in the payload for efficient handling and processing of large amounts of light, significant updates are required in the EPS design, particularly concerning power consumption. Consequently, the design of solar panels has been enhanced by increasing the two deployable solar panels to serve more power for the mission. The triple junction GaAs solar panels with five solar panels are utilized for VERTECS. There are three panels mounted to the satellite structure and two panels deployed. Secondly, VERTECS adopts the Li-ion battery as the energy storage due to its superior capacity-weight ratio. The battery screening approaches are essential to ensure the operational efficiency of the battery throughout the mission in space. The battery screening consists of physical and cell screenings conducted before and after vacuum and vibration testing. After the screening, the batteries are selected according to the appropriate and standard criteria. Regarding the power control, the peripheral interface controller (PIC), known as the Reset PIC, controls the electrical power supply for VERTECS satellite system. Its primary function is to reset the power supply of other microcontrollers in the event of failure. In the design to mitigate potential issues of the Reset PIC, its programming code is straightforward, and a simple external watchdog is provided to facilitate recovery. Furthermore, functional testing of the BBM is conducted to verify the EPS. It includes verifying voltage ratings, overcurrent protection, and DC/DC converter efficiency
Modular CubeSat Structure Enabling Rapid Payload Integration and Delivery
Get PDFThe CubeSat assembly, integration, and test (AIT) process is typically lengthy and serial in its execution. This introduces serious programmatic and schedule risks to many CubeSat missions. The modular structure presented here is aimed at mitigating these risks by providing a novel, plug and play approach where major system elements are compartmentalized and the critical path for avionics and payload is parallelized. This allows for a parallelized workflow throughout the AIT process, which can accelerate final integration. Breaking down the system into smaller, more manageable components also aides in the identification and isolation of any anomalies that arise during the assembly process
Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE)
Get PDFJoint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) was formed in 2000 to leverage resource from Federal agencies to characterize remote sensing data and to share results across the remote sensing community. JACIE initially consisted of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA - Stennis), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) with a focus on high-resolution satellites such as IKONOS and QuickBird
Proliferated LEO Orchestration and Data Assimilation With the Collective Space Tasking and Assimilation Reasoning System (CoSTARS*)
Get PDFNew proliferated Low Earth Orbit (p-LEO) constellations are rapidly expanding in scale and sensitivity while also diversifying to include broader, multi-modal sensing capabilities. Payload orchestration, control, data analytics, and information dissemination on short, relevant timescales is key to fully enabling p-LEO constellations
Electromagnetic Interactions Test Procedure for a Centre-Triggered Pulsed Cathodic Arc Thruster
Get PDFAll electronic systems, no matter their type or technology, generate electromagnetic noise during operation. Conversely, all electronic systems are susceptible to the noise emissions of other systems, where these emissions can induce off-nominal system behaviour, potentially leading to system failure. This drives test procedure standardisation, to ensure confidence in test results, growing confidence in mission success by applying standards such as MIL-STD-461G [1]. However, all standards are based on assumptions which inherently limit their applicability. In the case of MIL-STD-461G, an underlying assumption is that the operating modes of the Device Under Test (DUT) reach steady-state quickly
The Intelligent Space Camera on the Call to Adventure SmallSat Mission
Get PDFIn March 2024, the first Intelligent Space Camera (ISC) from Ubotica Technologies was launched on the Apex Call to Adventure small satellite mission. The ISC is a designed-for-space camera payload with hardware acceleration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Computer Vision (CV) algorithms integrated directly into the camera. Deployable as a self-contained unit within a spacecraft, the ISC manages and executes various processes autonomously and internally without external dependencies, enabling new AI-driven automation-based paradigms and capabilities for space systems. This short paper describes the novel payload, its capabilities, and the mission it is flying on