Results

Science Instruments

Light is collimated through a Thorlabs large aperture fiber collimator (NIR at 780 nm) or a Thorlabs 4 cm aperture f=80 mm (IR at 1550 nm) fiber collimator, each with FC/APC connectors.

Light is guided through SMF-28e optical fiber, through the ring resonator on the astrophtonic chip, and onto a Raspberry Pi HD camera.

Figure 12: (Top Left) Example camera image from star-tracker camera. (Right) Spot
imaged onto Raspberry Pi science camera indicating throughput of light from a simulated star. (Bottom Left) Light throughput indication window to confirm presense of signal transmission.

Figure 13: (left) Fiber array transmitting visible light into the photonic chip with visible losses.

Astrophotonic Chip Integration

The photonic chip was successfully installed into a 14-pin butterfly package.

A 4-channel fiber array was mounted and attached to the photonic chip and package using optical grade transparent epoxy. Light throughput is demonstrated with red light at 635 nm.

Transmission of light measured at 10 % of total input.

Installation

The design of the build was iterated over many months to optimize functionality along with making a user friendly interface that made for easy componentry manipulation and changes. Multiple orientations and positions were tested for the battery, collimating lenses, fiber, fiber camera & Cube Orange as they use the biggest footprint and as a result and fiber orientation was carefully considered.

Thermal considerations were taken into account when mounting cameras and electronics to maximize solar shielding while simultaneously optimizing solar absorption on the solar cell.

A large challenge presented itself when installing the fibers into the CubeSat as they are sensitive to losses with tight bend radii as seen in some photos (see red light bleed).

Figure 14: This image shows the battery charging indicated by a green light.

Solar Photovoltaic Charging

The solar cell & battery was successfully integrated into side paneling of CubeSat which faces the sun.

Solar charging was achieved while while in direct sunlight at ground level confirmed by our charge indicator (green LED).

The solar panel is located opposite the camera system to ensure the camera system is on the shaded side of the CubeSat.

Radio and Wireless Communications

Wireless telemetry transmission was achieved using unlicensed ISM 915 MHz radio band serial communication between Cube Orange microcontroller and ground station PC. MAVLink UAV protocol used through DroneKit API.

An omnidirectional antenna was used for reliable connection regardless of CubeSat orientation.

Figure 15: Example of ISM 915 MHz radio antenna used in the system

Figure 16: GUI Displaying live data to ground station

Figure 17: Here 3 GPS is used to relay global position to ground station

Figure 18: SiK Telemetry Radio V3 is used to relay telemetry information to ground station

Figure 19: Cube Orange Flight Controller is used to gather telemetry data, installed in the bottom of the CubeSat frame

Figure 20: Thermo-electronic Cooling Unit installed on the top of the CubeSat frame

Figure 20: Front facing camera installed in the CubeSat frame

Figure 10: High definition Raspberry Pi camera used to observe our filtered signal.

Astrionics and Sensor Data

Our GUI

The GUI is a graphical display of data being calculated and retrieved from the Cube-Orange using a Python script. It provides real-time data concerning several internal sensors. Info related to the altitude determination and control system (ADCS), and the electrical power system (EPS). additionally, this provides information based on our last known heartbeat(connection) to the flight controller and its current mode. The graph displays a simple battery voltage trend where the voltage is sampled every second.

GPS

Name Here 3/3+ GPS

Satellite Constellation GPS L1C/A, GLONASS L1OF, BeiDou B1I

Positioning accuracy 3D FIX: 2.5 m / RTK: 0.025 m

Processor STM32F302

IMU sensor ICM20948

Navigation Update Rate 8 Hz

Communication Protocol DroneCAN 1Mbit/s

Operating Temperature -40℃ to 85℃

Dimension 68mmx68mmx16mm

Weight 48.8g

Antenna

Name SiK Telemetry Radio V3

Power 100 mW maximum power

Sensitivity 117 dBm receive sensitivity

Software Open-source SiK firmware

Communication 2-way full-duplex coms through TDM UART interface

Transparent serial link MAVLink protocol framing

Module Interchangeable air and ground modules 915 or 433MHz

Connection Micro-USB port

Pinouts 6-position JST-GH connector

Supply voltage 5V DC (from USB or JST-GH)

Transmit current 100mA at 20dBm

Receive current 25mA

Serial interface 3.3V UART

Weight 23g with antenna

Cube Orange

Processor 32bit ARM® STM32H753 Cortex®-M7

400 Mhz/1 MB RAM/2 MB Flash

32 bit STM32F103

Three redundant IMUs (Accelerometers/Gyroscopes), Two Barometers, One Magnetometer

Sensors All sensors connected via SPI.

ICM 20649 integrated accelerometer / gyro, MS5611 barometer on base board

InvenSense ICM20602 IMU,ICM20948 IMU/MAG, MS5611 barometer on temperature controlled, vibration isolated board

AK099916 MAG

Power Redundant power supply with automatic failover

Servo rail high-power (7 V) and high-current ready

All peripheral outputs over-current protected, all inputs ESD protected

Interfaces 14x PWM servo outputs (8 from IO, 6 from FMU)

S.Bus servo output

R/C inputs for CPPM, Spektrum / DSM and S.Bus

Analogue / PWM RSSI input

5x general purpose serial ports, 2 with full flow control

2x I2C ports

SPI port

2x CAN Bus interface

3x Analogue inputs (3.3V and 6.6V)

High-powered piezo buzzer driver (on expansion board)

High-power RGB LED

Safety switch / LED

Optional carrier board for Intel Edison (now obsolete)

TEC

Product model XY-T01

Power supply DC6.0-30v or 5v micro USB

Temperature control range -50℃-110℃

Temperature control accuracy 0.1℃

Measuring input NTC10K/B3950

Refresh rate 0.5 seconds

Output type relay output 10A

Probe type waterproof NTC probe

Probe's length 0.5 m

High-temperature alarm ALA sound-light alarm

Delay start OPH 0-9999 minutes

Temperature correction -10 to 10℃, actual temperature = measuring temperature + calibration value

Size 68 x 42 x 15 mm/2.68 x 1.65 x 0.59 inches

Front View Camera

Sensor OV5640(1/4'')

Max. Resolution 2592*1944P 15fps

Pixel 5MP

Field of View 60°

Compatible System For WinXP/Win7/Win8/Win10/MAC OSX/Linux/Android

Board Size 26.2*12.7mm / 1.0*0.5in

Lens Diameter 10mm/0.4in

Lens Height 10mm/0.4in

RaspberryPi Camera Module

Sensor Sony IMX477R stacked, back-illuminated sensor, 12.3 megapixel, 7.9mm sensor diagonal, 1.55μm×1.55μm pixel size

Output RAW12/10/8, COMP8

Back focus Adjustable (12.5 mm–22.4 mm)

Lens standards C-mount, CS-mount (C-CS adapter included)

IR cut filter Integrated (Can be removed to enable IR sensitivity. Modification is irreversible.)

Ribbon cable length 200 mm

Tripod mount 1/4”-20

Weight Budget

One of the requirements of the project was to develop a CubeSat with a total weight under 1kg. As per the 1kg per 1U standard (3U = 3kg), the total weight was measured using a portable scale accurate to 0.1 grams. We managed to achieve a weight of 2.485kg.

Table 21: The table outlines the weight of the different components within the CubeSat, as well as the total weight.

Table 22: This table outline the cost of each component as well as the total cost of the project.

Material Budget

We managed to keep our cost below $20,000. A large portion of the cost was related to the photonic chip at about 12k per wafer. As it currently stands, each chips runs for about $333. As the other instruments are consumer level parts,

The rest of the componentry is not nearly as expensive in comparison as we are using consumer level parts that aren't tested and as sensitive as they would need to be for space grade science, as a result, a much smaller portion is taken by our other components.

Next Steps to Launch-Ready CubeSat

Orientation

Figure 23: Magnetorquers or reaction wheels will be added to allow for the orientation to be controlled. This is required to point the orient CubeSat.

Space Grade IR Fiber Camera

Figure 24: A space grade SWIR camera with cooling unit can replace the current HQ RaspberryPi camera. This is required to detect extremely small changes in wavelength in the IR range.

Space Grade Battery and Solar Array

Figure 25: A space grade solar array and battery can replace the current systems to ensure power requirements are met in the vacuum of space under the AM0 solar spectrum.

Space Grade Sun Sensor

Figure 26: A Fine tuned (Digital) Sun Sensor (NFSS-411). These sensors permit the TESERACT to know its orientation relative to our Sun.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse