Engineering Commons^™

Design And Implementation Of Satellite Software To Facilitate Future Cubesat Development, Timothy Whitney, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter project is a campus-wide effort at the University of North Dakota to design and build a low-cost CubeSat-class satellite. The intent is to create a publically- available framework that allows a spacecraft to be built with a parts cost of less than USD $5,000 (excluding mission payload-specific costs). This paper focuses on OpenOrbiter’s software system methodology and implementation.

Current work seeks to create a generalized framework that other CubeSat developers can use directly or alter to suit their mission needs. It discusses OpenOrbiter’s overall design goals with an emphasis on software design. The software architecture is divided into …

An Onboard Distributed Multiprocessing System For A Cubesat Spacecraft Created From Gumstix Computer-On-Module Units, Michael Wegerson, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative at the University of North Dakota [1] aims to make ac-cess to space for research and educational purposes easier by enabling the creation of low-cost CubeSats. It is creating the Open Prototype for Educational Nanosats (OPEN), a framework for developing a 1-U CubeSat space-craft with a parts cost of less than $5,000 [2]. The designs [3], documentation and computer code from this will be made publically available to enable the development of programs at other institutions.

Considering Scheduling Algorithms For An Open Source Software Spacecraft, Calvin Bina, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Small Satellite Development Initiative at the University of North Dakota [1] is working make space research and education more accessible world-wide [2], through the design and public release of a complete set of plans, software and other documents (see [3]) for a 1-U CubeSat. This design targets a parts cost of no more than $5,000 [4]. These lowered costs, combined with the efficiencies of the CubeSat form fac-tor [5] and free-to-qualified-developer launch services [6, 7] should facilitate greater access to space for the ed-ucational, research and other communities.

Work Done On The Operating Software For Openorbiter, Dayln Limesand, Timothy Whitney, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Program aims to develop a tem-plate for a CubeSat spacecraft that can be used world-wide to reduce spacecraft development costs1. Unlike other approaches, which may require $50,000 in upfront hardware costs2 or $250,000 in design expenses2, an OPEN-class spacecraft can be built with a parts budget of under $5,0003. This aims to enable low-cost educa-tional missions and missions in developing regions4.

The Creation Of A Communication Systems For A Small Satellite At The University Of North Dakota, Michael Hlas, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

Software defined radios (SDRs) are poised to significantly enhance the future of small spacecraft communications. They allow signal processing to be performed on a computer by software rather than requiring dedicated hardware. The SDR takes data from the flight computer and converts it into an analog signal that is transmitted via the spacecraft antenna. Because the signal processing is done in software, the radio can be easily reconfigured.

Data is prepared for transmission by TCP stack software onboard the OpenOrbiter Spacecraft and placed in a queue while the spacecraft is listening for a signal from a ground station. When a …

Update On The Development Of A 1-U Cubesat At The University Of North Dakota, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

An overview of the progress on the development of the OpenOrbiter CubeSat is presented. This covers, at a high level, the work that has been performed during the past year and foundational work that occurred prior to this. This poster also discusses future plans for the Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats (OPEN) framework and the OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative. Particular focus is given to the ongoing work to prepare for an orbital launch, which the program has been down-selected for through the NASA ELaNa CubeSat Launch Initiative program.

In addition to this discussion of the program’s origins, goals and …

Scheduling Algorithm Development For An Open Source Software Spacecraft, Calvin Bina, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter project at the University of North Dakota is working to develop a set of designs for a CubeSat class spacecraft as well as a working, modular collection of open source code that can be used by other CubeSat projects as a starting point for development. The availability of these designs and this codebase should foster accelerated development for other CubeSat projects, allowing those projects to focus their effort on their own application area, instead of reinventing the proverbial wheel. One aspect of this is to implement a task scheduler which will run on a Raspberry Pi flight computer …

An Overview Of The Openorbiter Autonomous Operating Software, Dayln Limesand, Timothy Whitney, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter spacecraft aims to demonstrate the efficacy of the Open Prototype for Educational Nanosats (OPEN) framework. Software is an important part of this framework. This paper discusses the operating software for the spacecraft (which runs on top of the Linux operating system to command spacecraft operations). It presents an overview of this software and then pays particular attention to the aspects of software design that enable onboard autonomy. It also discusses the messaging scheme that is used onboard and the testing and validation plan. Finally, it discusses system extensibility, before concluding.

Nanosatellite Scheduling Using A Dictionary Module And A ‘Useful Trick’ With Coded Unsigned Integers, Monilito Castro, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

Schedulers for small spacecraft must satisfy the dual requirement of generating very efficient schedules while concurrently minimizing the resources required to create the schedule. This paper proposes a technique for searching for tasks that can be utilized to fill particular schedule locations. This approach is based on a modular system for storing important variables. This modular system has three important variables: t0, x0 and y0. The variable y is latitude and x is longitude. Time variable t is an integer and each unit represents a time quantum. They are related to each other by three functions Ft, Fx, and Fy. …

Small Satellite Communications Security And Student Learning In The Development Of Ground Station Software, Scott Kerlin, Jeremy Straub, Jacob Huhn, Alexander Lewis

Jeremy Straub

Communications security is gaining importance as small spacecraft include actuator capabilities (i.e., propulsion), payloads which could be misappropriated (i.e., high resolution cameras), and research missions with high value/cost. However, security is limited by capability, interoperability and regulation. Additionally, as the small satellite community becomes more mainstream and diverse, the lack of cheap, limited-to-no configuration, pluggable security modules for small satellites also presents a limit for user adoption of security.

This paper discusses a prospective approach for incorporating robust security into a student-developed ground station created at the University of North Dakota as part of a Computer Science Department senior design …