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 …

Development Of A Ground Station For The Openorbiter Spacecraft, Jacob Huhn, Alexander Lewis, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative[1] at the University of North Dakota is working to design and build a low cost[2] and open-hardware / opensource software CubeSat[3]. The Ground Station is the user interface for operators of the satellite. The ground station software must manage spacecraft communications, track its orbital location , manage task assignment, provide security and retrieve the data from the spacecraft. This will be presented via a graphical user interface that allows a user to easily perform these tasks.

Update On The Operating Software For Openorbiter, Dayln Limesand, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The operating software team of the OpenOrbiter project has been tasked with developing software for general spacecraft maintenance, performing mission tasks and the monitoring of system critical aspects of the spacecraft. To do so, the team is developing an autonomous system that will be able to continuously check sensors for data, and schedule tasks that pertain to the current mission and general maintenance of the onboard systems. Development in support of these objectives is ongoing with work focusing on the completion of the development of a stable system. This poster presents an overview of current work on the project and …

Openorbiter Ground Station Software, Alexander Lewis, Jacob Huhn, Jeremy Straub, Travis Desell, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative[1] at the University of North Dakota is working to design and build a low cost[2] and open-hardware / opensource software CubeSat[3]. The Ground Station is the user interface for operators of the satellite. The ground station software must manage spacecraft communications, track its orbital location , manage task assignment, provide security and retrieve the data from the spacecraft. This will be presented via a graphical user interface that allows a user to easily perform these tasks.

The Use Of Solar Balloons At Und As A Low-Cost Alternative To Helium Balloons For Small Spacecraft Testing And Stem Education, John Nordlie, Jeremy Straub, Chris Theisen, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

Helium-filled latex weather balloons have been utilized for many years to carry small satellite prototypes and subsystems into the stratosphere to allow testing in a “near space” (stratospheric) environment. A variety of environmental factors similar to the space environment can be found in this region, such as a rarified atmosphere, increased thermal stress including very low temperatures, increased solar radiation, the necessity of remote command and control, tracking, and telemetering of data. While this method of flight testing has been well-proven, a recent increase in the price of helium has driven the cost of such test programs to much higher …

Evolution Of The Software Defined Radio (Sdr) For The Open Orbiter Project, Michael Wegerson, Jeremy Straub, Sima Noghanian

Jeremy Straub

Software Defined Radios (SDRs) are an exciting development in radio technology. The SDR uses software to perform many of the tasks that only hardware could previously complete on a traditional analog radio. Such tasks include encoding/decoding or applying filters to reduce noise on the signal. This powerful fusion of software and hardware have allowed SDR to be smaller in size and have a greater functionality than traditional radio setups; a perfect solution for our Open Orbiter satellite. Currently, the implementation we use consists of a simple $20 USB TV decoder for receiving, a Raspberry Pi micro-computer for transmission, and the …

The Use Of The Roofsat For Computer Science And Engineering Education, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

This poster presents an overview of a tool that has been created to provide students with real-world experience in the design, development and operation of control and scientific mission software for a cyber-physical system. The ROOFSAT, developed at UND, is a low-cost analog for a small spacecraft (though in many ways these capabilities also enable similar UAV work). The ROOFSAT was constructed with approximately $1,500 generously provided by the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences out of commercially-available parts. It includes multiple cameras, a pan-tilt mount and the same space-qualified computer hardware which has been used on both spacecraft …

Software Group Of The Openorbiter Project, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

This poster provides an update regarding software development work for the OpenOrbiter project. The software development effort for the OpenOrbiter project currently consists of four teams: payload software development, operating software development, ground station software development and testing. The teams are designing and developing the software needed to create and operate a small spacecraft which can be produced for under USD $5,000 by students, faculty and others around the world. Participating students are gaining valuable real-world experience through the process of designing and developing the spacecraft. Each team is headed by a team lead that is responsible for conducting weekly …

Scheduling For A Small Satellite For Remote Sensed Data Collection, Donovan Torgerson, Christoffer Korvalnd, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

Small satellites, such as CubeSats, serve as excellent platforms for the collection of data that can be supplied to a geographic information system. To serve this need, they require a robust and lightweight task scheduler due to their limited onboard power production capabilities as well as internal space restrictions. Because of these constraints, schedules must be optimized; however, the scheduling optimization process must be performed using limited processing (CPU) power.

Several considerations must be taken into account in order to make a scheduler for these systems. This poster highlights requirements such as inter-dependency of onboard systems, and limited windows of …

Roofsat: Teaching Students Skills For Software Development For Gis Data Collection And Other Activities, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh, Donovan Torgerson, Christoffer Korvald

Jeremy Straub

Small Spacecraft provide an excellent platform for the collection of geospatial data. In order to enable the low-cost creation of small remote sensing space-craft in a university environment, a training pathway for students is required. The Realistic Operational Ob-ject for Facilitating Software Assessment and Testing (RoofSat) serves to provide students with experience developing software for a small satellite platform typi-cal of those used for remote sensing missions. It al-lows software to be tested with hardware that re-sponds in a similar manner to that found on the satel-lite for a fraction of the cost of development. This poster details the goals …

Openorbiter Ground Station Software, Alexander Lewis, Jacob Huhn, Jeremy Straub, Travis Desell, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

OpenOrbiter is a student project at the University of North Dakota to design and build a low cost1 and open-hardware / open-source software CubeSat2. The Ground Station is the user interface for operators of the satellite. The ground station software must manage spacecraft communications, track its orbital location , manage task assignment, provide security and retrieve the data from the spacecraft. This will be presented via a graphical user interface that allows a user to easily perform these tasks.

Testing And Integration Team Project Management, Tyler Leben, Jeremy Straub, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

The Testing and Integration Team plays an integral role in the development of the open source CubeSat known as Open Orbiter. Like any project, the Testing Team’s project can benefit from structure and management to effectively utilize it’s time and resources. CSCI 297 teaches the skills needed to turn a good idea into successful endeavor. By applying skills such as effective planning, setting milestones, dealing with changes and supervising to an actual project, Open Orbiter has transformed from a pipe dream to a real, obtainable goal. Doing this has turned learning about project management into more that just power points …

Openorbiter Payload Software, Tim Whitney, Kyle Goehner, Jeremy Straub, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

The Payload Software team is responsible for developing the image processing and task decomposition systems on the Open Orbiter satellite1. The image processing software performs operations to enhance the quality of the images collected by the onboard camera, specifically, mosaicking, which takes multiple images and stitches them together to make a larger image and super resolution, which takes multiple low resolution images of the same area to produce a higher resolution image2,3,4. The task decomposition part of the system decomposes tasks defined by the user into jobs that then get sent to the operating system to be performed. This system …

Project Management For The Openorbiter Operating Software Team, Kelton Karboviak, Dayln Limesand, Michael Hlas, Eric Berg, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

OpenOrbiter is producing a 1-U CubeSat spacecraft1 to facilitate the construction of low-cost2 spacecraft by others in the future. The Operating Software team is in charge of designing and creating the software that controls most of the CubeSat’s operations such as image capturing, storage management, and temperature sensing. The project management deliverables that we have worked on as a team are the Project Definition, Work Breakdown Structure, and the Project Schedule. The Project Definition defines exactly what our project team will be developing including, but not limited to, what the team is in charge of developing, what its not in …

Ground Station Software Team Project Management, Zach Maguire, Marshall Mattingly, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

In CSCI 297 class we partake in learning the roles of software team leads and developers. With hands on activities that get us involved in what a real manager of a software team may do such as: defining a project, planning a project, developing a work breakdown structure, estimating the work, developing a project schedule, etc. This work is performed in the context of the OpenOrbiter project which seeks to build a low-cost spacecraft1 that can be produced with a parts budget of approxi-mately $5,0002 by schools worldwide. The ground station software team’s purpose within Open Orbiter project is to …

Software For Openorbiter, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Scott Kerlin, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The software development effort for the OpenOrbiter project consists of four teams: operating software development, payload software development, ground station software development and testing. These teams are designing and developing the software required to create a turn-key spacecraft design1 which can be produced at a price point of under USD $5,000 by faculty, students and researchers world-wide2. Through this process, students are gaining valuable real-world experience3,4 in areas of indicated interest5. Each team is headed by a team lead who is responsible for conducting weekly meetings and organizing the activities of the team. During the Fall, 2013 semester, team leads …

Payload Software Design And Development For A Remote Sensing Small Spacecraft, Kyle Goehner, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

Scheduling for a Small Satellite for Remote Sensed Data Collection

A Review Of Online Collaboration Tools Used By The Und Openorbiter Program, Jeremy Straub, Christoffer Korvald

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter program at the University of North Dakota is a student-initiated, student-run effort to design, develop, test, launch and operate a CubeSat-class spacecraft to validate the designs of the Open Prototype for Educational NanoSatellites (a framework that will be made publically-available to allow faster and lower-cost missions at other educational institutions worldwide). OpenOrbiter involves (at various participation levels) over 200 faculty and students spanning five colleges and ten departments. To coordinate this large group of participants who comprise over seventeen teams and work at disjoint hours in a plethora of locations, online project management, software source control and hardware …

The Development Of Payload Software For A Small Spacecraft, Kyle Goehner, Christoffer Korvald, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter project is a multi-department effort to design and build a small spacecraft which will demonstrate the feasibility of the Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats (OPEN) framework. This framework will reduce cost of small spacecraft creation by providing design plans for free. The focus of the payload software group is to design and implement an onboard task processing and image processing service. Currently the project is in the development phase and most large design decisions have been made. This poster presents the major design decisions that have been made for the payload software and how they will affect the …

Sensor And Computing Resource Management For A Small Satellite, Abhilasha Bhatia, Kyle Goehner, John Sand, Jeremy Straub, Atif Mohammad, Christoffer Korvald

Jeremy Straub

A small satellite in a low-Earth orbit (e.g., approximately a 300 to 400 km altitude) has an orbital velocity in the range of 8.5 km/s and completes an orbit approximately every 90 minutes. For a satellite with minimal attitude control, this presents a significant challenge in obtaining multiple images of a target region. Presuming an inclination in the range of 50 to 65 degrees, a limited number of opportunities to image a given target or communicate with a given ground station are available, over the course of a 24-hour period. For imaging needs (where solar illumination is required), the number …

Operating Software, Donovan Torgerson, Miyuru Arangala, Michael Hlas, David Bullock, Dayln Limesand, Cameron Kerbaugh, Daniel Schuler, Mitchell Fossen, Edwin Carlson, Atif Mohammad, Josh Berk, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

No abstract provided.