Towards a CubeSat Mission for a Wideband Data Transmission in E-Band

Schoch, Benjamin; Chartier, Sébastien; Möhr, U.; Koller, Markus; Klinkner, Sabine; Kallfass, Ingmar

doi:10.1109/sharc47220.2020.9034007

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The EIVE CubeSat is a technology demonstration mission with the main payload being an 71-76 E-band transmitter with an analog bandwidth of up to 5 GHz and a maximum data rate of up to 10 Gbit s −1 depending on the modulation format [3]. The objective of the E-band transmitter payload is to investigate the radio link quality with multiple signal modulations under different conditions like weather, slant range and elevation above the horizon [4,5]. The E-band payload consists of two custom-designed Gallium-Nitride (GaN) solid-state power amplifiers and a Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs)-low-noise pre-amplifier, developed at IAF and integrated by RPG [6].…”

Section: The Eive Missionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Lessons Learned and First Results of the E-Band CubeSat EIVE

Koller,

Bötsch-Zavřel,

Eggert

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The 6 Unit CubeSat EIVE was developed to to host a novel high-speed E-band transmitter payload. Challenging aspects for reliable and demanding satellite architectures were revealed during development and operations. Reliable communication buses such as CAN, RS485 or point-to-point links should be preferred over I2C or SPI. Experiences from the implementation of the individual subsystems are presented and lessons learned derived in this paper. The on-board data handling and communication system is based on a system-on-a-chip architecture and uses the CCSDS protocol via S-band. The FPGA section proved advantageous while the use of high-priority commands is essential for in-orbit debugging. The conservative approach to the design of the power system and the high effort to test the thermal design of the EIVE CubeSat led to a stable satellite regarding the power-budget and temperature ranges. The self-developed solar panels and their deployment mechanism worked as intended with many lessons learned in the process. A major part of the time spent on integration was on the harness. The attitude control system is based on self-developed components and commercially acquired units. With most of the attitude control components being tested and calibrated on a best effort basis, more resources should have been committed to testing the GNSS receivers and the star tracker on ground. A stable safe mode was achieved after multiple bugs fixes in the first weeks after the launch. Since then, steady progress towards nominal operation has been achieved.

show abstract

Section: The Eive Missionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• the E-band transmission chain -IAF, RPG & ILH [5] • a Payload On-Board Computer (PLOC) -TAS, ILH [7,8] • a solar cell characterisation payload -IRS, AZURSPACE Most of the digital components are located in a two unit PC104 stack with the remote units connected via the harness to the individual location thereof.…”

Section: System Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons Learned and First Results of the E-Band CubeSat EIVE

Koller,

Bötsch-Zavřel,

Eggert

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although this might seem like a no-go for space missions, COTS components have been used for satellite missions, especially in CubeSats and various University satellites. 11 This suggests that COTS components may also be usable under stratospheric conditions, since the environment is less harsh than in outer space. Nevertheless, components need to be qualified for the use on scientific ballooning missions.…”

Section: Studio Payload Electronicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Status of the STUDIO UV balloon mission and platform

Pahler

Ångermann

Barnstedt

et al. 2020

Ground-Based and Airborne Telescopes VIII

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stratospheric balloons offer accessible and affordable platforms for observations in atmosphere-constrained wavelength ranges. At the same time, they can serve as an effective step for technology demonstration towards future space applications of instruments and other hardware.The Stratospheric UV Demonstrator of an Imaging Observatory (STUDIO) is a balloon-borne platform and mission carrying an imaging micro-channel plate (MCP) detector on a 0.5 m aperture telescope. STUDIO is currently planned to fly during the summer turnaround conditions over Esrange, Sweden, in the 2022 season. For details on the ultraviolet (UV) detector, see the contribution of Conti et al. to this symposium. 1 The scientific goal of the mission is to survey for variable hot compact stars and flaring M-dwarf stars within the galactic plane. At the same time, the mission acts as a demonstrator for a versatile and scalable astronomical balloon platform as well as for the aforementioned MCP instrument. The gondola is designed to allow the use of different instruments or telescopes. Furthermore, it is designed to serve for several, also longer, flights, which are envisioned under the European Stratospheric Balloon Observatory (ESBO) initiative.In this paper, we present the design and current status of manufacturing and testing of the STUDIO platform. We furthermore present the current plans for the flight and observations from Esrange. STATE OF THE ART IN BALLOON-BORNE ASTRONOMYThe idea of using stratospheric balloons to overcome the opacity of Earth's atmosphere for astronomical observations is not new. Historically, the advantages were obvious: spacecraft did not exist or were hardly available and capabilities of airplanes were limited, leaving balloons as the only option to move instruments above most of the atmosphere. Nowadays, the benefits do not seem as clear: both spacecraft and airplanes provide powerful observation platforms and ground-based telescopes invest large efforts into compensating atmospheric influences. However, even in the era of nano-and microsatellites, space observatories are intrinsically expensive and bear operational limitations: development times are long, updates or corrections of the instrumentation are usually not possible after launch, and consumables, such as cryogenic coolant fluids, cannot be refilled or replaced, as seen with the Herschel Space Observatory. Furthermore, rather conservative approaches towards new technologies are used to minimize risks of expensive failure. Ground-based and airborne telescopes, on the other hand, still suffer from fundamental limitations imposed by the atmosphere at certain wavelengths.On the other hand, technological advances have made balloon-borne telescopes more attractive over the last couple of years. These particularly include more reliable balloons and the opening of long-duration flight routes, allowing flight durations of 30 to 40 days on "conventional" long duration routes and promising 50 to 100 days on ultra long duration routes. Consequently, the last couple of...

show abstract

“…Despite their features and functionality, the patch and helical antennas discussed above have not been integrated into their designs with other payloads. To date, remote sensing nanosatellites have used separate locations on the surface of antennas and at the base of the lenses of optical instruments [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]. In the 3U nanosatellite Phoenix, built to study the urban heat island (UHI) using thermal infrared (IR) remote sensing, the lens base and S-band patch antenna are located on different sides of a cube [40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such an approach to the arrangement of components requires the physical reorientation of the spacecraft during the transmission/reception of data. The 6U Cubesat EIVE considered in [41] has no integrated payloads, such as S-and E-band antennas and a 4 K camera on its board. The S-band antennas of the Earth observation nanosatellites Aalto-1 and GOMX-4 are also located separately from other subsystems, such as the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS), Spectral Imager (AaSI) and the NanoCam optical camera [42][43][44], occupying a usable area for solar panels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A High Gain Deployable L/S Band Conical Helix Antenna Integrated With Optical System for Earth Observation CubeSats

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, a new spiral dual-band antenna integrated with an optical system for a small CubeSat spacecraft was proposed. It is challenging to design an antenna with a limited space on a CubeSat platform. To improve the space utilization, an antenna was designed based on the concept of not occupying the sides of the CubeSat. A feature of the proposed antenna system is its compactness, dual-band operation in the L-and S-bands, and possibility of integration with spacecraft cameras. As a result of the study, reflection coefficients of -18 dB and -23 dB and gain of 6.8 dBi and 7.4 dBi, respectively, were achieved at resonant frequencies of 1.7 GHz and 2.45 GHz. The conical shape of the spiral antenna allows the optical system to increase the coverage area, and a simple deployment system with feedback ensures the mission safety. These properties make the proposed antenna suitable for CubeSat systems.INDEX TERMS CubeSat antenna, dual-band antenna, Earth observation, helix antenna

show abstract

Towards a CubeSat Mission for a Wideband Data Transmission in E-Band

Cited by 10 publications

References 4 publications

Lessons Learned and First Results of the E-Band CubeSat EIVE

Lessons Learned and First Results of the E-Band CubeSat EIVE

Status of the STUDIO UV balloon mission and platform

A High Gain Deployable L/S Band Conical Helix Antenna Integrated With Optical System for Earth Observation CubeSats

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About