1. USNA Satellite Lab/Ground Station
Bob Bruninga, Ground Station Engineer
Astronautics Overview
Satellite and communications Labs
Satellite Student Design Projects
Ground Station Ops
Extracurricular
May 2008
RAFT & MARScom
May 08

2. Astraonautics Track Overview
8 Faculty in Astronautics (out of 16 total in Aerospace)
3 Full time Civilian Astronautics Faculty (PhD)
2 Full time Military (PhD)
.5 Half-time with NASA Faculty (PhD)
.5 Half-time Aero (structures) (PhD)
2 Funded Chairs (PhD)
1 Engineer (Labs and Satellite Projects) (MS EE)
Students
15-30 Astro(30%) (out of in Aerospace Major)
May 08

3. Astronautics Budget Internal O&M,N $150K
Navy Network Warfare $150K (Space Chair, Tech, Support)
External (Gift or Endowment)
Heinline Chair $130K (endowed chair)
Roger’s Chair $140K (endowed chair)
Aerospace Corp $ 50K (ParkinsonSat)
Aero Gift Fund $ 5K (Various)
Total Budget about $625K
May 08

4. Satellite Labs Indoor Outdoor Missions, Orbits, STK Projects
Communications, Links, Antennas
Transmitters, Receivers, Losses
EPS, Electrical Power System
Signals and Telemetry
Thermal Lab
ADCS
Indoor
Outdoor
Noise temperature
May 08

5. Antenna Lab Geo Arc and 9 operating positions C/Ku band TVRO
VHF dipole
UHF Satcom
May 08

6. Communications, Receivers, Losses
UFO
Gain, losses
Amps and LNA’s
Cable losses
Geo-Arc
Beamwidth
Spectrum Analyzer
Downconverters
Demod, Decoding
May 08

7. Communications, Links, Gain
Wavelength
Antenna Size
Types
Gain, Beamwidth
Link Budget
SNR
SWR
Matching
May 08

8. Antenna Lab for Seniors (1st Class)
RF LABsat model on rotor
Dipole 1
Dipole 1
Rotator and S/A to plot pattern
Antenna Phasing experiment
May 08

9. Antenna Link Budget and Gain
Uses small 2.4 GHz camera/transmitters
First observe dipole link (1000’)
Place dipole at dish focus and measure gain
Swing dish to see Beamwidth
May 08

10. Antenna Matching and Plots
Using GPS signals to plot antenna pattern of GPS
Using PI network to match spacecraft antenna for best SWR
May 08

11. Telemetry Lab Sensors Circuits Conditioning Engineering conversion
Decoding
Protocols
May 08

12. EPS Lab Begin using LABsats Solar Panels I-V curves Distribution
Regulation
Shadowing
RTG demo
EPS LABsat
Design Lab
May 08

13. Thermal Lab Conduction Radiation Absorbtivity Emissivity Insulation
May 08

14. Attitude Control Labs (LABsats)
Can demo all but gravity gradient
Match-head thruster
Magnetometer
Sun Sensor
Start Tracker
May 08

15. US Naval Academy LABsats
Labsats mostly integrated into labs by 2004

16. Basic USNA’sat
Ham Radio TNC
Terminal Node Controller
$180
May 08

17. Transmitter Tests Power out Efficiency Temperature Spectrum and EMI
May 08

18. Receiver Tests
May 08

19. Demodulation - FSK All Seven Student LABsats on the air
Sharing a single TDMA channel
Using FSK for demodulation
May 08

20. Demodulation - PSK Indoor LABsat RX
LABsat configured as HF to UHF linear transponder
PSK-31 Waterfall Spectrum display on Student’s workstation
May 08

21. Command-Control-Telemetry Ground Stations
Laptop Ground Stations for PCSAT’s, ANDE, RAFT, etc
May 08

22. Past Satellite Design Projects
Satellite and communications Labs
Satellite Design Projects
Past missions:
PCSAT
RAFT
MIDSTAR
May 08

23. Satellite Design Projects
NATSweb – 1st Sea-Launch (1997 scrubbed in last week!)
PCsat – Launched Athena 30 Sept 2001
Sapphire -- Launched Athena 30 Sept 2001
PCSAT2 – STS Jul 06 return to flight
ARISS – Launched on Progress Aug 2003
ANDE – STS Dec 06
RAFT1 – STS Dec 06
MARScom – STS Dec 06
MIDSTAR - STP Mar 07
ParkinsonSAT – Commenced Fall 2006
May 08

24. USNA Constellation
May 08

25. Future Satellite Design Projects
Satellite and communications Labs
Satellite Design Projects
PCSAT
MIDSTAR
MIDSTAR
DRAGON Particle Detector
Micro Dosimeter (MIDN)
ParkinsonSAT
May 08

26. Future Psat Auxilliary Payload 39 cu.in 1W average power 5W peak power
May 08

27. Low-Cost Satellite Design Projects
NATSweb – $ 2k 1st Sea-Launch (1997 scrubbed in last week!)
PCsat – $30k Launched Athena 30 Sept 2001
Sapphire - $3k? Launched Athena 30 Sept 2001
PCSAT2 – $35k STS Jul 06 return to flight
ARISS – $ 2k Launched on Progress Aug 2003
ANDE – $35k Launched STS Dec 06
RAFT1 – $15K Launched STS Dec 06
MARScom – $15K Launched STS Dec 06
MIDSTAR - $1.8M Launched Atlas-V Mar 07
ParkinsonSAT –$50k Commenced Fall 2006
May 08

28. Satellite Design Involvement
PCsat 16 projects
Goodhiew 97, Morgan 98, Lundberg, Scrabeck, Gomez, Melanson, Kollar, Mattera, Ortiz 99 - Burroughs 99, Schwenzer, Nolan, Lawrence, Boutros 2000, Sullivan, Gutweiler 2001, Machinest: Mike Spencer
PCSAT2 8 projects
Otero, Silver, Jones, Kolwicz, Evans, and Henry(03) Operations: Paquette and Robeson(05)
ANDE 8 projects
Aaron, Villalbi, and Weisenberg, Kelley, Keller, Harris(03), Patterson, & Ensign Sillman(02)
RAFT projects
Robeson, Paquette (06) - Orloff, Kinzbrunner, and Rose(05) - Baker, Tuttle, Colvin (04)
Abbott, Atwater, Brandt, Hansen, McLean(03). And 3 in (02)
Midstar/ICsat 56 students over 8 years
MIDN/Dragon, etc 20 Students over 4 years
ParkinsonSAT 21 projects
Papso, Edirisinghe, Icard, Meyer, Phillips(08), - Dendinger, Lewis, Lwin, Campbell, Sydney, Okun, Londono, Smythe, Lindsay, Mayer 07 -Koeppel, Lovick, Paquette, Piggrem, Robeson, Vandegriff (06)
OPERATIONS: EA-204 Intro to Astro (100 students / year). EA-467 Labs (30/yr)
May 08

29. PCsat, launched 30 Sept 2001 Still semi-operational Team:
6 Students/yr, 2 Profs, 1 Engineer
2200 Amateur Satellite Users
May 08

30. Current Status Negative power budget due to fail-safe default RX/TX
Full recovery after each full-sun period.
May 08

31. PCsat Comms Mission
Data Relay (Situational Awareness) for Mobiles and Handheld radios. GPS tracking and LIVE to WEB
Blue Force Tracking
May 08

32. Typical PCsat User Station
(Blue Force Tracking)
May 08

33. Typical Pass Display
May 08

34. Internet Linked Ground Stns
pcsat.aprs.org
May 08

35. Internet Linked Ground Stns
pcsat.aprs.org
May 08

36. Internet Linked Data Displays
pcsat.aprs.org
May 08

37. PCsat “Student Operations”
May 08

38. Other Experiments through PCsat
Antarctic WX station
F-16 downed flyer demo (Rome Air Development Center)
Arctic Tracking (trucks up frozen rivers >70º Latitude)
ISS Joint Ops (2 weeks of constellation flying)
USNA Marconi Re-enactment (St Johns Newfoundland)
2200 other users worldwide
May 08

39. Air & Space Museum Donated April 2004 to Smithsonian For Display
At Dulles
May 08

40. PCSAT2, DOD synergy in the Amateur Satellite Service
Bob Bruninga
US Naval Academy Satellite Lab
Amateur Satellite Service partnering with DOD and ARISS
Very short development time
Simplicity and off the shelf
Educational Project
Communications service to Users
Telemetry for Space Environment
Configuration controlled on the ground
May 08

41. NASA/Glen Solar Experiment
40 Solar Cell Samples
Latest triple junction technology
PCSAT-2 downloaded 3 Mbytes/day via network of Volunteer Ground Stations
(We paid our rent)
May 08

42. MISSE5 – PCSat2 – 26 July
Midshipmen involved in early integration and testing of PCSat2 electronics.
Two views of the initial deployment of MISSE/PCSat by astronaut Soichi Noguchi. It was installed 8 days after the launch of STS-114 (26 July 05)
May 08

43. Satellite Transponders
May 08

44. PCSAT2 Location
Returned August 2006 after a year’s exposure
May 08

45. Global Situational Awareness Network
May 08

46. Typical User Station Handheld Mobile
Tiny!
Mobile
Encourage Schools and Students to get involved in Space
May 08

47. ANDE Satellite Joint Project with NRL Atmospheric Drag USNA Comms
Telemetry
- Temperature
- Attitude
- Laser Control
Primary Lithium Batteries
May 08

48. ANDE, CAPE, ICU
May 08

49. ANDE Deployment 21 Dec 2006
Initially FCAL separated from the container, but not ANDE
Radar returns later indicated ANDE separation
May 08

50. ANDE Satellite
May 08

51. ANDE Satellite
May 08

52. ANDE Satellite Temp Data throughout (paid our rent)
Deployed 21 Dec 2006
Temp Data throughout
(paid our rent)
May 08

53. RAFT Project (two Satellites)
RAFT-1 (~PCsat)
MARScom
MHz
NSSS Radar Fence
May 08

54. Stanford Cubesat Projects
50 in construction!
AIAA/USU Conference
30% of all papers were related to CUBESATS
May 08

55. Simple LABsat TLM/CMD System
May 08

56. RAFT/MARScom Deployment (SSPL5510)
Stuff
May 08

57. NAVSPASUR Radar Fence
Daily Bistatic Radar Demo with Moon
May 08

58. NAVSPASUR Radar Fence
Doppler from Radar Fence detected on RAFT
May 08

59. Raft Radar Transponder
4 mW RAFT oscillator detected by PE1ITR!
May 08

60. RAFT Deployment
May 08

61. RAFT Project (MARScom)
YP Radios
UHF AM up
HF SSB downlink
May 08

62. MIDSTAR Mission 9 March 2007 Atlas-V EELV ESPA Ring – STP-1
ICsat & CFTP
Midn, Mems, Ncnu
S-band
No attitude control
May 08

63. ParkinsonSAT Named in Honor of Dr. Parkinson ($50k grant)
Link budget using Omni antennas on satellite and buoys
Sun pointing ACDS system
EPS system with a solar panel & battery configuration
Positive standby power budget in any attitude
Thermal Regulation of Components
May 08

64. Sun Pointing Attitude Control System
Psat
USNA-0601
Sun Pointing Attitude Control System
Pointing requirements are relaxed +/- 40 deg
High precision attitude control not required
ODTML on (18W)
SAFE mode
ODTML off (4.5 W)
May 08
Paquette

65. Display consists of three view frames First Frame
Rickover Lobby reference frame
Displays the simulated sun (Lamp) angle “LL” in reference to the Lobby frame
Displays the spacecraft solar bus voltage and charging current.
Second Frame
Sun frame
Displays Spacecraft angle to the Sun angle “SS”
Relative sun current measurements for X, Y and Z
Used to determine sun angle
A second column shows these values after being normalized to +/- 10 degrees
Latest version also displays CW and CCW rotation rate arrow showing direction and magnitude of the spin rate.
Third Frame
SolSat Frame
Displays reported Earth’s Magnetic field vector relative to the Spacecraft, angle “SM”
Displays measured components of the spacecraft’s magnetometer in X, Y and Z components
Used to determine the Earth’s magnetic Field vector.
May 08

66. ADCS (P-sat Demo)
Actual
Torques
and
Earth’s
Magnetic
Field
May 08

67. ADCS Simulation Results
After approximately 1.4 orbits, the ADCS system gains control of the spacecraft
Tip-off rates removed for the X and Y axes down to approximately 0.2 degrees per second
Tip-off rate is reduced to 2 degrees per second for the Z axis to establish stability
Based on an initial tip-off rate of 5 degrees per second
May 08

68. USNA Satellite Lab/Ground Station
Bob Bruninga, Ground Station Engineer
Satellite and communications Labs
Satellite Design Projects
Ground Station Ops
Extracurricular
PCSAT-1, ANDE/RAFT
12 Meter (AO-40)
C/Ku TVRO (NASA TV)
Teleconferencing
Summer Seminars, Tours
AMSAT Tracking
May 08

69. PCSAT1/2 ANDE/RAFT Telemetry
& Commanding
May 08

70. USNA Satellite Lab/Ground Station
RS0ISS>PP0PP0,SGATE,qAo: Go Army beat Navy!
PCSAT-1>APRS,SGATE,qAo: Go Navy Beat Army!
PCSAT2>APRS,SGATE,qAo: Go Navy Beat Army!
May 08

71. USNA Satellite Lab/Ground Station
12 meter NASA dish (1989)
C and Ku TVRO
S band (100W)
Needs new controller
Needs new RF
Needs network upgrades
Needs all RF cable refurb
Needs Mission
May 08

72. USNA Satellite Lab/Ground Station
Bob Bruninga, Ground Station Engineer
Satellite and communications Labs
Ground Station Ops
Satellite Design Projects
Extracurricular
May 08

73. Other Activities Space Day (Air&Space) AMSAT (North America)
Marconi 100th (St Johns)
BSA RadioBadge
School Mentoring
Balloon Tracking
May 08

74. AMSAT Operations
AO-40 Rescue
- PCSAT2
May 08

75. USNA Extracurricular Activities
W3ADO, oldest USNA ECA (1928)
Annual Moonbounce Event
Imagry
Football & Boat GPS Tracking, Comms, Imagry, Data, Internet
Sea Trials
May 08

76. Our Satellites provide a low cost educational transponder supporting not only GPS position reporting but also remote WX stations and other data link experiments and other University and School Experiments.
The comm channels can potentially draw from over 30,000 experimenters for easy assessment of loading and scaling issues.
Not only the sensors and users exist, but the global Internet collection and distribution system also exists from PCSAT1 & 2, ANDE and RAFT.
May 08

77. Internet Linked Ground Stns
Daily Players
Internet Linked Ground Stns
pcsat.aprs.org
May 08