Power Budgets for CubeSat Radios to Support Ground Communications and Inter-Satellite Links

CubeSats are a class of pico-satellites that have emerged over the past decade as a cost-effective alternative to the traditional large satellites to provide space experimentation capabilities to universities and other types of small enterprises, which otherwise would be unable to carry them out due to cost constraints. An important consideration when planning CubeSat missions is the power budget required by the radio communication subsystem, which enables a CubeSat to exchange information with ground stations and/or other CubeSats in orbit. The power that a CubeSat can dedicate to the communication subsystem is limited by the hard constraints on the total power available, which are due to its small size and light weight that limit the dimensions of the CubeSat power supply elements (batteries and solar panels). To date, no formal studies of the communications power budget for CubeSats are available in the literature, and this paper presents a detailed power budget analysis that includes communications with ground stations as well as with other CubeSats. For ground station communications we outline how the orbital parameters of the CubeSat trajectory determine the distance of the ground station link and present power budgets for both uplink and downlink that include achievable data rates and link margins. For inter-satellite communications we study how the slant range determines power requirements and affects the achievable data rates and link margins

Upgrading of a Data Communication and Computer Networks Course in Engineering Technology Program

Data network communications is traditionally a course offered by computer engineering technology curricula, with the primary objective to introduce to the fundamental concepts in data communication and computer networks, as well as some level of hands-on component related to this area. Typical topics in such courses are the layered model of data communication, specifically the OSI seven-layered model, Internet routing, communication standards, protocols and technologies, and learning methods used to design the network and send data over the network in a secure manner. In the last decades, the data communication and applications have grown and become ubiquitous in both industry and people\u27s everyday life, alongside with increasing data rates and emerging broadband technologies, i.e., Internet access technologies. The ability to connect with other computers, remote systems, and mobile devices is also contributing to the increased number of applications in our daily life. Consequently, courses related to computer networks become imperative for students in engineering technology programs, as they are essential in preparing the students for the level of technology required on the current job market. However, it is challenging to keep up in classrooms with today\u27s industry requirements for graduates in terms of both content and hands-on activities. Firstly, the course content should be updated with emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, 5G, cybersecurity, etc. The knowledge of emerging communication technologies is crucial for student\u27s awareness of new trends and to prepare them for the industry, especially telecommunication and Information Technology (IT) sectors. Secondly, the course should cover hands-on activities that are aligned with the theoretical upgrades introduced in the class. Such activities should include the use of network analyzer tools for network analysis and communications protocol development, as well as a network simulator to provide students with a technology development environment for network design, troubleshooting, and protocol modeling in a simulated environment. Following these considerations, this paper presents the way the Data Network Communications course was updated as part of an overall curriculum revision in an Electrical Engineering Technology program. The paper discusses the course topics, the course objectives, and the software tools introduced to support the hands-on activities in the class, including the Wireshark software tool, for network troubleshooting, profiling network traffic and analyzing packets. The paper also presents the way the course was received by students, as well as lessons learned after the first semester of offering it in the new format and the modifications planned for future semesters

Reconstructing the Radio

The goal of the research presented in this paper is to examine the techniques used for the construction of early radios, specifically crystal radios. The paper begins with a brief summary of the history that led to the transition from wired to wireless communication. Next, the paper examines the components used in building a crystal radio including basic antenna design and the resonant circuit, and it also takes a close look at the point-contact rectifier, which was a catalyst in the use of radio waves for communications and allowed for even the most inexperienced person to construct their own home radio system. The paper includes a detailed description of the construction of the crystal radio including the winding of a custom-made inductor and shows the construction of a point contact for a galena crystal to act as an AC rectifier

Senior Elective Communications Systems Courses as Pathways to Capstone Projects in Electrical Engineering Technology Program

In any engineering program the capstone project is the most comprehensive work completed by the students, and is regarded as the pinnacle of their engineering studies, with all their course work culminating with this major design, implementation and reporting product. Coming up with the actual topic of the project is sometimes the most difficult part of the project, especially in programs where the project topics are not solely proposed by the faculty, and they are for the student and advisor to develop together. This is especially the case of engineering technology programs, where a large percentage of students have work background (either from military training or industry, as interns or full-time employees) to which they can relate their senior projects, and the programs allow and encourage them to apply their coursework studies to application areas where they have strong hands-on skills. While core courses of any curriculum provide the foundation of the engineering education, the elective courses give the students the chance to refine their education path and focus on the area of their interest. Senior elective courses are defining the areas of specialization within a major, and they may also serve as grounds for the students to explore potential options for the capstone project, and to have the opportunity to get a good starting point for it, ahead of the capstone semester. In this paper, the senior level courses specific to communication systems area of concentration within an electrical engineering technology program are discussed, their course content and the term projects included, and how they offer venues to capstone project choices. The paper presents specific examples of how these course projects gave students successful pathways for capstone projects. The course content that can be covered by the curriculum of an undergraduate technology program is somehow limited, especially for a broad field such as communication systems, and beyond the fundamental theories, the courses can go in more details only on very few narrow areas. Therefore, with a term project in an elective course, students have the opportunity of a semester of deeper study of a topic of their choice, and the learnings and new skills developed can be later applied for the completion of a capstone project. The paper also discusses students’ opinions on the option of developing initial results or skills as part of a course project and continuing such project into a senior project, as well as how their topic selection is related to their background, previous experience and future goals

Lessons from Two Years of ePortfolio Implementation in Engineering Technology Courses

In an undergraduate as well as in a graduate academic setting, an ePortfolio is a collection of student work designed to exhibit student’s achievements, which often includes student’s reflective commentaries. While in academia ePortfolios are used to document the student learning process over time, they have been also well received by employers as work portfolios or showcases. This paper provides detailed explanations of two years of implementation of ePortfolio activities in junior and senior level engineering technology courses. The goal of the paper is to present to the community the best practices learned during the implementation and to provide information on how the ePortfolios can be integrated with other course assignments, enhancing the course outcomes but without raising the burden from the instructor perspective. Class material samples are provided in the Appendix. The best received implementation was observed when: 1) scaffolding of the activity was done along the semester and was aligned with the pre-existing course activities (such as test, HW assignments, etc.), 2) the eP project was made optional for extra credit, 3) detailed instructions were provided, and 4) a website template was provided

Introducing Writing Assignments in Engineering Technology Courses to Enhance Technical Writing Skills and Critical Thinking

This study was prompted by the university wide initiative to improve students\u27 technical writing skills across-the-curriculum by introducing low stakes writing assignments as early as in their freshman year. Effective written communication skills are important for engineering education, with critical thinking being one of the most important aspects of the learning process at the college level. However, the efforts in required core curriculum English and communication courses are not always further integrated into engineering curriculum. Introducing a technical paper writing assignment in lower division engineering courses had the purpose of helping students to be better prepared for major writing assignments in their upper division courses as well as for their capstone project. For this study a writing assignment was introduced in an Electrical Circuits course, for electrical engineering technology students at Old Dominion University in fall 2015. At the end of the semester a survey was distributed to the students to evaluate their opinion on the effectiveness of introducing a writing assignment early in their college education. The research also evaluates the students\u27 opinion on how such assignment can help them better understand the concepts studied in class, improve their studying methodology and enhance their critical thinking

A Mobile Platform Using Software Defined Radios For Wireless Communication Systems Experimentation

A distinctive feature of wireless communication systems is implied by the fact that there is no physical connection between the transmitter and its corresponding receiver, which enables user mobility. However, experimenting with wireless communication systems is mostly done in the lab, where transmitters and receivers are setup on benches, in stationary settings. This prevents students from experiencing fading and other propagation effects associated with mobile wireless channels. This paper describes a mobile platform for wireless communication experimentation that enables students to run experiments beyond the confines of a traditional lab, in realistic settings that cover indoor and outdoor scenarios with both fixed and mobile propagation characteristics. The platform presented consists of a Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) from National Instruments to implement the transmitter, an affordable RTL-SDR USB dongle to implement the receiver, a laptop computer used to program the SDR boards, and equipment for visualizing radio signal characteristics such as a portable spectrum analyzer or oscilloscope. This choice results in a moderate overall cost for the radio hardware required by the platform, which can be easily programmed using open source software such as GNU Radio as well as software packages like Matlab or LabView. For experimentation in wireless scenarios with low mobility (both indoors and outdoors, corresponding to walking speeds) the transmitter and receiver may be placed on push carts, while for higher mobility they may be placed on university owned golf carts moving at faster speeds on the designated campus routes. Furthermore, mobile transmitters and receivers may also be placed in cars driving on the campus streets and through the university parking lots/garages to enable experiments simulating vehicle to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications

Development of a Smart Grid Course in an Electrical Engineering Technology Program

Electric power systems courses have been traditionally offered by electrical engineering technology programs for a long time, with the main objective to introduce students to the fundamental concepts in the field of electric power systems and electrical to mechanical energy conversion. A typical electric power systems course covers a variety of topics, such as general aspects of electric power system design, electric generators, components of transmission and distribution systems, power flow analysis, system operation, and performance measures. In the last decades, electric power systems have significantly modernized alongside with requirement of improvement in system efficiency, reliability, cybersecurity, and environmental sustainability. The current modernized grid is called “Smart Grid,” which integrates advanced sensing technologies, control methods using machine learning approaches, and integrated communications into current electric power systems. Consequently, offered electric power systems courses are required to update in electrical engineering technology as well, to meet the industry needs of a workforce prepared to integrate smart grid technologies, such as advanced sensing, control, monitoring, communication, renewable energy, storage, computing, cybersecurity, etc. However, such updates of the course content are not always easy to implement due to the complexity of smart grid technologies and the limited number of instructors having knowledge of those technologies. In addition, smart grid courses should include a hands-on component aligned with the theoretical upgrades introduced in the course in the form of term projects. Such projects can be on a variety of topics, such as smart home/building, smart meter, smart distribution system, microgrid, communication infrastructure, Distributed energy resources (DERs) (e.g., rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV), wind), electric vehicle (EV), customer engagement, energy generation forecasting, load forecasting, and others. This paper will discuss the details of introducing a new course on smart grids in an electrical engineering technology program, including detailed examples of project selection

Flipped Classroom as Blended Learning in a Fluid Mechanics Course in Engineering Technology

Flipped classroom has gained attention in recent years as a teaching method in which the time allocated for introducing new concepts and the time used for practicing them are inverted, in order to provide more time for problem based learning and class interaction under direct supervision of the instructor. The implementation of this teaching method is comprised of two main components, the pre-class activities, which consist of individual student work and are largely based on pre-recorded videos, and in-class activities, which are group activities supervised by the instructor. This paper discusses the implementation of the flipped classroom method in a Fluid Mechanics course in an Engineering Technology program at a midsize university. The study presented was conducted over four consecutive semesters, the data representing four different groups of students. In the study presented, an important percentage of the students took the course in an online setting, either synchronous or asynchronous mode, which created an atypical situation compared to other implementations of flipped classroom method presented in the literature. It was found that the length or the format of the pre-recorded videos were not critical factors in determining the students to review them before the class. The unconventional setting of the class, including both in class and online students, required originality in handling the in-class activities. The best approach was to delegate students to lead the group discussions associated with solving the problems, while the instructor acted as an observer when the discussions were constructive and as a guide when the solution was getting out of rail or when the students were struggling. A survey was distributed to the students at the end of the course as a post-class activity, concluding the implementation considered in the study. The results of the survey showed that the students were satisfied with the teaching method and found it important in their learning process

A mixed methods study of the follow up of extremely preterm babies in the North East of England

M.D Thesis1. Background Neonatal intensive care medicine has improved considerably over time, leading to increased neonatal survival, and improved survival of preterm babies (babies born before 37 weeks gestation). In 2012, the WHO declared their commitment to reducing the mortality and morbidity related to prematurity by several interventions, including updated approaches to community-based follow up care for preterm babies. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2,490 babies were born in England and Wales in 2018 between 23- and 27- weeks gestation, accounting for approximately 0.3% of all live births. The 2017 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline made recommendations for the developmental follow up of children and young people born preterm and acknowledged the conditions linked to preterm delivery. The follow up of preterm babies determines the baby’s outcomes, their parents’ needs, and informs planning of health and social care resources. Previous research on barriers and facilitators to neonatal follow up showed that the birth of a preterm baby is a stressful event, for both mothers and fathers. Parents develop a different pattern of parenting, stemming from the concept of increased vulnerability of the preterm baby. The communication between parents and health professionals is important, and poor communication increases parental stress levels. Studies underlined the relevance of the relationships established between parents and neonatal staff to parents’ experiences. 2. Aim This study used a mixed methods design to assess the neonatal follow up of extremely preterm babies, focusing on attendance rates in relation to morbidities and demographic characteristics, as well as parents’ and health professionals’ perceptions of the neonatal follow up.3. Methods This study involved two phases. Phase one was an analysis of demographic, morbidity, mortality, and 2- year neurodevelopmental outcomes data of a cohort of babies born before 28 weeks gestation in the North East of England, over a 12-month period between July 2015 and June 2016, recorded in the Badger database. Phase two was a qualitative study of parents’ and health professionals’ (HPs) views, perceptions, and experience of the follow up of extremely preterm babies. Parents were recruited to the study during their attendance for their baby’s follow up appointments and were interviewed using a topic guide. Seventeen semistructured interviews were carried out with 23 parents of babies born before 28 weeks completed gestation, between January and December 2018. Thematic analysis based on the Braun and Clarke model was used. Twenty one-to-one, semi-structured interviews were carried out with HPs involved in the follow up care of preterm babies, between October and December 2018. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.4. Results The recruitment rate for phase one was 61% of the eligible babies; 86.2% of the babies included were born after 24 weeks gestation, with a mean gestation age (GA) of 25+3 weeks and a mean birth weight (BW) of 805 grams. More than three quarters of babies were discharged home on oxygen. Of the cases where information was available, half of the babies showed developmental delay, with half of these cases showing moderate to severe delay. There was no formal diagnosis of cerebral palsy recorded in the Badger database. The analysis of the parents’ interviews identified two key themes: ‘Emotions’ and ‘Here and now’. The first theme, ‘Emotions’, included three subthemes: ‘The emotions related to the preterm birth - a rollercoaster’, ‘The post-traumatic stress syndrome’ and ‘The overprotective parent’. Following the birth of their preterm baby, parents experienced mixed and contradictory emotions, compared to a rollercoaster, which may contribute to developing symptoms suggestive of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Parent participants developed an overprotective type of parenting, as previously described in literature. 4. Results The recruitment rate for phase one was 61% of the eligible babies; 86.2% of the babies included were born after 24 weeks gestation, with a mean gestation age (GA) of 25+3 weeks and a mean birth weight (BW) of 805 grams. More than three quarters of babies were discharged home on oxygen. Of the cases where information was available, half of the babies showed developmental delay, with half of these cases showing moderate to severe delay. There was no formal diagnosis of cerebral palsy recorded in the Badger database. The analysis of the parents’ interviews identified two key themes: ‘Emotions’ and ‘Here and now’. The first theme, ‘Emotions’, included three subthemes: ‘The emotions related to the preterm birth - a rollercoaster’, ‘The post-traumatic stress syndrome’ and ‘The overprotective parent’. Following the birth of their preterm baby, parents experienced mixed and contradictory emotions, compared to a rollercoaster, which may contribute to developing symptoms suggestive of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Parent participants developed an overprotective type of parenting, as previously described in literature. The second theme, ‘Here and now’, included four subthemes: ‘The storytelling’, ‘The coping mechanism’, ‘The impact of being born early’ and ‘The value of the follow up’. Future parents expected a normal term pregnancy, followed by a normal birth; the normality was interrupted by the onset of preterm labour. This interruption marked the beginning of a different experience, the quality of which impacted on the bonding and relationship between baby and parents, and the relationships between parents and HPs. Parents reported that follow up offered reassurance. The analysis of the HPs’ interviews identified two key themes: ‘Communication’ and ‘The Child Not Brought’. The first theme, ‘Communication’, included two subthemes: ‘The Journey’ and ‘The multi-disciplinary team post discharge’. The HPs described the experience of the birth and the follow up of a preterm baby as a journey and continuity of care was a marker of quality. HPs understood that the follow up offers reassurance and support to parents. There was a diversity of job roles of HPs involved in the care and follow up of preterm babies, leading to the formation of a multi-disciplinary team (MDT). Communication occurred in every direction between the members of the MDT, in many ways (written/verbal, formal/informal, paper/electronic). The second theme, ‘The Child Not Brought’ included three subthemes: ‘The impact on the baby’, ‘The NHS point of view’ and ‘Why do parents not attend?’. HPs suggested several potential reasons why parents may not bring their child(ren) to the follow up appointments: parents may not understand the role of the follow up, especially if the child is well; parents fear bad news; families may have a busy life, have too many appointments or have just seen another HP; communication breakdown (related to system or human factors); neglect; distance and travel; psychological issues (fear to leave the house, bad memories linked to the hospital environment). 5. Discussion Findings from this research provide important insights into the views and experiences of parents of preterm babies with regards to their baby’s follow up appointments. The birth of a preterm baby is a stressful event; parents develop a different pattern of parenting, stemming from the concept of the increased vulnerability of the preterm baby. HPs described the birth and follow up of an extremely preterm baby as a journey. The continuity of care and good communication contribute to improving this journey. Due to the complexity of the team involved in the follow up of the extremely preterm baby, there were challenges in communication, at different levels. Relatively small changes in practice, such as allowing for normality by encouraging the parents to read to their baby at night-time, and ensuring adequate communication and appropriate reassurance, could improve the parents’ experience, their engagement with follow up appointments, and therefore their baby’s outcomes. NICE recommends follow up of babies born extremely preterm to school age, however there is no established referral pathway into the paediatric services. Parents value continuity of care, which may be challenging if there is no clear transition process between neonates and paediatrics. Ensuring a smooth transition at every level by designing a clear pathway for the neonatal follow up of extremely preterm babies and the transition to paediatric services may improve the follow up process, parents’ engagement with the system and their baby’s outcomes.South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trus