Solar-Powered Aircraft: Energy-Optimal Path Planning and Perpetual Endurance

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76439/1/AIAA-40139-801.pd

Design and Implementation of the GPS Subsystem for the Radio Aurora Explorer

Abstract This paper presents the design and implementation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) subsystem for the Radio Aurora eXplorer (RAX) CubeSat. The GPS subsystem provides accurate temporal and spatial information necessary to satisfy the science objectives of the RAX mission. There are many challenges in the successful design and implementation of a GPS subsystem for a CubeSat-based mission, including power, size, mass, and financial constraints. This paper presents an approach for selecting and testing the individual and integrated GPS subsystem components, including the receiver, antenna, low noise amplifier, and supporting circuitry. The procedures to numerically evaluate the GPS link budget and test the subsystem components at various stages of system integration are described. Performance results for simulated tests in the terrestrial and orbital environments are provided, including start-up times, carrier-to-noise ratios, and orbital position accuracy. Preliminary on-orbit GPS results from the RAX-1 and RAX-2 spacecraft are presented to validate the design process and pre-flight simulations. Overall, this paper provides a systematic approach to aid future satellite designers in implementing and verifying GPS subsystems for resourceconstrained small satellites

Design and implementation of automatic dispatch vehicle information and location systems

Bibliography: p. 83-87.This thesis represents the first iteration of a design cycle adapted to provide the framework for the investigation of Automated Dispatch Vehicle Information and Location Systems (ADVIL). The first phase of the process, system analysis, served to identify the system components and define the requirements related to them. In the subsequent phase, system design, alternative means of fulfilling the requirements were examined. This resulted in a strategy for system development that outlined the optimum solution approaches, as well as the software and hardware required to support the proposed approaches. System implementation was in the form of a prototype. The prototype system included a vehicle scheduling algorithm, communication software and a graphics package. The graphics package demonstrated how the locations of fleet vehicles would be displayed for the dispatcher ,and provided a zoom option. Because this was a first version prototype, it should be viewed as a tool for exploration as opposed to a final product. As such, an evaluation of it generated a host of ideas for extending the capabilities and potential of the original system concept. These ideas are presented as recommendations for future research

Spacecraft Identification Leveraging Unsupervised Learning Techniques for Formation and Swarm Missions

The small satellite revolution has opened the door to a new era in satellite development. As spacecraft hardware continues to advance, traditional monolithic satellites can potentially be replaced with cooperative swarms of smaller spacecraft. For mission success, satellites in the group will need to identify their nearest neighbors. This research presents a solution for the spacecraft identification problem using an unsupervised learning architecture that classifies spacecraft from monocular camera images. The algorithm employs on-board learning to identify multiple space objects in an image and track their trajectories over time. Preliminary results show high levels of classification accuracy as well as the ability of the algorithm to properly evolve as the spacecraft swarm changes throughout the simulation

Exo-Ocean Exploration with Deep-Sea Sensor and Platform Technologies

International audienceOne of Saturn's largest moons, Enceladus, possesses a vast extraterrestrial ocean (i.e., exo-ocean) that is increasingly becoming the hotspot of future research initiatives dedicated to the exploration of putative life. Here, a new bio-exploration concept design for Enceladus' exo-ocean is proposed, focusing on the putative presence of organisms across a wide range of sizes (i.e., from uni-to multicellular and animal-like), according to state-of-the-art sensor and robotic platforms, technologies used in terrestrial deep-sea research. In particular, we focus on combined direct and indirect life-detection capabilities, based on optoacoustic imaging and passive acoustics, as well as molecular approaches. Such biologically oriented sampling can be accompanied by concomitant geochemical and oceanographic measurements to provide data relevant to exo-ocean exploration and understanding. Finally, we describe how this multidisciplinary monitoring approach is currently enabled in terrestrial oceans through cabled (fixed) observatories and their related mobile multiparametric platforms (i.e., Autonomous Underwater and Remotely Operated Vehicles, as well as crawlers, rovers, and biomimetic robots) and how their modified design can be used for exo-ocean exploration