MYRIADE: CNES Micro-Satellite Program

CNES is currently leading the development of a program of micro-satellites, which has been now blessed with a name in line with the ambition: MYRIADE. The intention is to primarily fulfill the needs of the national scientific research in small space missions. Technology experiments as well as demonstration flights for new mission concepts shall however not be forgotten. The main objective is to make access to space much easier and affordable. The first five scientific and technological mixed missions (which include international cooperation) are under realization and fully funded. The program foundation is strengthened by a specification for a product line with enough flexibility allowing adaptation to each mission. The product line will also support other applications for commercial or national needs. Partnership agreements have been implemented to that effect with ASPI and ASTRIUM. These leading European space companies will be in the micro-satellite trade as a compensation for their contribution to the CNES-led development effort. Construction of satellites at a rate of at least two per year shall be made possible by an industrial structure been set up by CNES in parallel to the development. The strategic objective of CNES is to keep authority on the concept and control of the system by overseeing capability and performances requirements, in concert with the scientific investigators and laboratories. Capacity to implement technological innovations shall also be a cornerstone of MYRIADE endeavor. CNES is contracting with equipment suppliers and has also selected LATECOERE for the AIT activities of the first micro-satellites. This company shall eventually be responsible for the satellite adaptation and therefore it shall tailor the original definition of the functional chains to the specifics of each new mission

UAV-Aided Interference Assessment for Private 5G NR Deployments: Challenges and Solutions

Industrial automation has created a high demand for private 5G networks, the deployment of which calls for an efficient and reliable solution to ensure strict compliance with the regulatory emission limits. While traditional methods for measuring outdoor interference include collecting real-world data by walking or driving, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offers an attractive alternative due to their flexible mobility and adaptive altitude. As UAVs perform measurements quickly and semiautomatically, they can potentially assist in near realtime adjustments of the network configuration and fine-tuning its parameters, such as antenna settings and transmit power, as well as help improve indoor connectivity while respecting outdoor emission constraints. This article offers a firsthand tutorial on using aerial 5G emission assessment for interference management in nonpublic networks (NPNs) by reviewing the key challenges of UAV-mounted radio-scanner measurements. Particularly, we (i) outline the challenges of practical assessment of the outdoor interference originating from a local indoor 5G network while discussing regulatory and other related constraints and (ii) address practical methods and tools while summarizing the recent results of our measurement campaign. The reported proof of concept confirms that UAV-based systems represent a promising tool for capturing outdoor interference from private 5G systems.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Design and Performance of a Communications System for a Low-Cost High Altitude Balloon Platform for Troposphere and Stratosphere Research

AFOSR Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), Integrated Measurement and Modeling Characterization of Stratospheric Turbulence , is a 5-year effort to resolve significant operational issues concerning hypersonic vehicle aerothermodynamics, boundary layer stability, and aero-optical propagation. In situ turbulence measurements along with modeling will quantify spatiotemporal statistics and the dependence of stratospheric turbulence on underlying meteorology to a degree not previously possible. Data from high altitude balloons sampling up to kHz is required to characterize turbulence to the inner-scale, or smaller, over paltitudes from 20 km to 35+ km. This thesis presents the development of a standard balloon bus, based on reliable COTS components, that includes radios operating in Ham/ISM frequencies with high-gain ground station antennas to achieve high telemetry rates that potentially enable sub-cm scale sampling. It also presents the development of controlled descent systems based on reliable COTS components that allow high resolution unperturbed measurements during the descent of the balloon payloads. Both single and double balloon configurations for a controlled descent are investigated while maintaining a suitable cost for mass production of the system. We are also investigating configurations for multiple ground station to allow the use of Single Payload Multiple Ground Stations strategies to facilitate low error rate high volume data downlinking and closely-timed launches. The performance of using some retransmission techniques to download the data over altitudes from 20 to 35+km when the balloon is out of the altitude range of interest (below 20 km) is analyzed; thus, being able to reduce the percentage of packet losses even during slow descent rates, reaching long slant ranges. This thesis is designed and implemented using Arduino IDE and MATLAB for software development and testing, circuit design with National Instrument\u27s Multisim and Ultiboard, transceivers configuration with proprietary software, extensive components and system testing, 3D printing, temperature calibrations using a TestEquity temperature chamber, and actual high-altitude balloon launches for final performance analysis

Contributions to on-board navigation on 1U CubeSats

This thesis investigates the use of GNSS receivers on 1U CubeSats, using the example of BEESAT-4 and BEESAT-9. The integration of such a device on satellites enables highly precise time synchronization, position acquisition and orbit determination and prediction The application fields that depend on an accurate attitude control and orbit determination system and can also be processed by CubeSats are highlighted. Therefore the state of the art of GNSS receivers is described, which are suitable for the use on satellites and could be integrated into 1U CubeSats. Further on it is investigated which subsystems of a small satellite are particularly affected and what the special challenges are to realize a precise positioning with a GNSS receiver. In addition, some developments are presented that have significantly increased the performance of 1U CubeSats in recent years. The system concept of BEESAT satellites is introduced and the evolution of the payload board including the use of the latest sensor technologies for attitude control is described. It is shown how the verification of the satellite's subsystems was performed on the ground, with the focus on testing and simulating the attitude control and the GNSS receiver. The necessary integration steps, the calibration and environmental test campaign are discussed. Both satellites were successfully operated and the results of the on-orbit experiments are presented. It is shown how a three-axis stabilized attitude control was first verified on BEESAT-4 and then a GNSS receiver was successfully operated on BEESAT-9 for more than one year. In addition, the inter-satellite link between BEESAT-4 and BIROS will be analyzed, since it is essential for the relative navigation of satellites. The acquired navigation data was sent to the ground and the identification of BEESAT-9 was carried out using this data. A qualitative analysis of the orbital elements (TLE) of BEESAT-9 was performed systematically due to a daily operation of the GNSS receiver. Furthermore, it was investigated how a small GNSS antenna affects the received signal strength from GNSS satellites and whether this antenna or its amplifier degrades over time. Additionally, an orbit determination and propagation based on the navigation data could be performed and the results are evaluated. The analyzed questions allow a statement about the continuous use of GNSS receivers on 1U CubeSats and if it is necessary to achieve the mission objectives