Status of electrical power supply of OUFTI-1 nanosatellite as of mid-2012: design, implementation, and tests

We describe the principles and performances the OUFTI-1 nanosatellite electrical power supply (EPS), which is designed to provide subsystems with the required voltages and currents, with as high a reliability as possible.OUFTI-1 nanosatellit

PM2.5 low-cost sensor perfomance in ambient conditions

peer reviewedThe use of low-cost air quality sensors to evaluate personal exposure, complement a monitoring network or perform real-time data assimilation is spreading. Although some laboratories and project consortiums have set up their own procedures to assess the performan ce of such systems and although the CEN TC264 WG42 is preparing two standards on that topic, so far the only European reference remains the Guidance for the Demonstration of Equivalence of Ambient Air Monitoring Methods [3] that holds for any kind of device, whether it costs 100 or 10 000 €. This short paper presents the application on a recent data set of some generic statistical tests and the demonstration of equivalence to evaluate the performance of various air quality nodes. The demonstration of equivalence uses an orthogonal regression whereas a majority of papers present a linear model based on total least square. We present the measurement campaign set up, the devices and their main characteristics, as well as the metrics used to assess their performance. We show and discuss the results, whereas in Section 4, we draw our conclusion

Towards a “concurrent design facility (CDF)” for nanosatellites: a back-of-the-envelope calculation of the overall energy budget of OUFTI-1

We give a very compact account of the overall energy budget of the OUFTI-1 nanosatellite, thereby providing a useful guide for future designs, as well as an explanation of why a nanosatellite can, energetically, survive and do useful tasks in space.OUFTI-1 nanosatellit

A digital nonlinear piezoelectric tuned vibration absorber

peer reviewedThis study presents the practical realization of a digital vibration absorber that, owing to the flexibility provided by the digital unit, synthesizes linear and nonlinear shunt circuits. The absorber, composed of a microprocessor and a current source, is connected to the host structure with piezoelectric patches. The performance of both circuits is compared experimentally for a nonlinear host structure. The superiority of a properly-tuned nonlinear absorber over its linear counterpart is validated, but the limits of the nonlinear absorber are also explored. Moreover, the accuracy of the tuning procedure and formulas is assessed through experimental parametric studies

Mitigation of nonlinear vibrations with a digital piezoelectric tuned vibration absorber

This work presents an experimental realization of a digital piezoelectric vibration absorber. A piezoelectric transducer coupled to a structure may convert a part of its mechanical energy into electrical energy. This energy can then be dissipated through an impedance, often called shunt circuit. Depending on the complexity of the circuit and on the required parameters for its physical constituents, its practical realization may be uneasy. A solution to circumvent these issues altogether is to use a digital impedance. Owing to the flexibility offered by the digital processing unit, almost any impedance can be synthesized, including nonlinear ones with arbitrary functional forms. In this work, the digital impedance is used to realize a linear or nonlinear piezoelectric tuned vibration absorber to mitigate the resonance of a nonlinear structure. The superior performance of the nonlinear absorber over its linear counterpart is demonstrated. Various nonlinear functional forms are also tested in the absorber and illustrate the relevance of a principle of similarity (i.e. the same functional form should be used in the absorber as that in the host structure) for performance

Overview of the ground facilities for controlling the OUFTI-1 nanosatellite and for routing its radio-communications through the worldwide D-STAR repeater network

Overview of the current state and upgrade plan of the OUFTI-1 nanosatellite ground segment. The OUFTI-1 project was initiated in September 2007. The OUFTI-1 nanosatellite is a one-unit (1U) CubeSat. Its main payload is - in essence - a D-STAR repeater in space, potentially the first one ever. D-STAR is an amateur-radio (“ham”), digital radio-communication protocol (with associated equipment) allowing the simultaneous transmission of voice and data, such as GPS coordinates and call-signs. The satellite was tested in 2014 and 2015 within the ESA’s Education Office Fly Your Satellite! (FYS) project, and it is now fully qualified and ready for launch and operation in space