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 …

The Openorbiter Cubesat As A System-Of-Systems (Sos), Sofiane Chaieb, Michael Wegerson, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh, Benjamin Kading, David Whalen

Jeremy Straub

This paper discusses the use of the system-of-systems (SoS) methodology and SoS engineering (SoSE) to the challenge of the design and operation of a CubeSat-class spacecraft. It considers this in the context of one critical component system, the electrical power system (EPS) which interacts with virtually all other systems onboard the spacecraft. The spacecraft is also considered in the context of being a system-component of a larger mission system-of-systems. The efficacy of SoSE use for this endeavor is considered and recommendations are made for the use of SoS and SoSE by other small spacecraft and, more broadly, spacecraft developers.

Design Of An Electrical Power System For The Openorbiter Cubesat, Sofiane Chaieb, Michael Wegerson, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh, David Whalen

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative aims to create an Open Prototype for Educational Nanosats (OPEN) framework (see [1]) for a complete 1-U CubeSat (10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm, 1.33 kg spacecraft) with a total parts cost of less than $5,000 [2]. In order to supply all spacecraft subsystems with power, an electrical power system (EPS) has been implemented. The EPS generates power using multiple solar panels, stores it in batteries and regulates it to provide continuous levels of power to all of the subsystems of the spacecraft. The EPS has a crucial role in the spacecraft …

Cubesat Deployable Solar Panel System, Thomas Mcguire, Skye Leake, Michael Parsons, Michael Hirsch, Benjamin Kading, Jeremy Straub, David Whalen

Jeremy Straub

CubeSats are small spacecraft with a nominal size of 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm and a mass of 1.33 kg [1] (though some launch providers are now supporting expanded mass levels). While the CubeSat form factor has re-duced the time and cost of spacecraft development, the required resources are still beyond the grasp of many colleges and universities. The Open Prototype for Educational Nanosats (OPEN) aims to solve this problem. OPEN is an inexpen-sive modular CubeSat that can be produced with a parts budget of less than $5,000 [2]. The OpenOrbiter pro-gram is working to develop this …

A Software Defined Radio Communications System For A Small Spacecraft, 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 OpenOrbiter SDR (discussed in [1] and refined in [2]) 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. This process is done in reverse for incoming transmissions, which are received by the SDR and decoded by software. Figures 1 and 2 provide …

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.

Designing An Intelligent Attitude Determination And Control System (Adcs), Michael Wegerson, Matt Partridge, Nathan Crocker, David Schindele, Broc Friend, Levi Lewis, Ben Johnson, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

CubeSat spacecraft have been shown to provide significant cost [1], research [1] and educational benefits [2]. Prior work at UND has demonstrated the efficacy of this form factor of craft for asteroid as-sessment activities [3] and onboard image processing [4]. Work is al-so ongoing to develop a low-cost framework [5] for CubeSat devel-opment to enable activities at UND and at other locations.

Creating A Low-Cost Radio For An Open Cubesat, Michael Wegerson, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

A reliable communication system is key to the success of a CubeSat mission, allowing for data to be trans-mitted to the ground station and commands to be up-loaded to the satellite. To satisfy this need, the OpenOrbiter satellite (a 1-U CubeSat [1], being devel-oped with a target parts budget of under $5,000 [2]) is leveraging previously space-tested [3], low-cost trans-ceiver design which is based on the SI 4463 IC unit. This board design will be included in the publically available Open Framework for Educational Nanosatel-lites (OPEN) allowing others to modify, enhance and/or make use of the design in the future.

Design Of A 1-U Cubesat Structure For The Open Prototype For Educational Nanosats, Benjamin Kading, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

CubeSats are a class of small satellites that have recently gained significant interest and are being developed and used for engineering test missions, bona fide research and various other applications. A 1-U CubeSat (the orig-inal form factor) has nominal dimensions of 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm and a mass of no more than 1.33 kg [1](however, some integrators are now consistently allow-ing higher mass levels). Due to their small size and the demonstrated ability to successfully use consumer-grade electronics in low-Earth orbit, CubeSats cost sig-nificantly less than larger sized satellites [2]. These re-duced costs, however, are still …

The Use Of Additive Manufacturing For Cubesat Design And Testing, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

In developing a small spacecraft, the integration of numerous systems in a small area is a key challenge. It is easy to overlook how various component parts will integrate or have multiple sub-groups utilize un-filled space without realizing that they are creating a resource conflict. Additionally, the manufacturability of the final design is a key consideration. For all of these reasons, developing low-cost and incremental prototypes is a engineering ‘best practice’ for small spacecraft development.

Mechanical Design Of A Low-Cost Deployable Solar Panel Array For A 1-U Cubesat, Thomas Mcguire, Skye Leake, Michael Parsons, Michael Hirsch, Benjamin Kading, Jeremy Straub, David Whalen

Jeremy Straub

CubeSats are small spacecraft with a nominal size of 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm and a mass of 1.33 kg (though some launch providers are now supporting expanded mass levels). While the CubeSat form factor has reduced the time and cost of spacecraft development, the required resources are still beyond the grasp of many colleges and universities. The Open Prototype for Educational Nanosats (OPEN) concept aims to solve this problem. OPEN is an inexpensive modular CubeSat that can be produced with a parts budget of less than $5,000. The OpenOrbiter program is working to develop this set …

Electrical Power System For An Open Hardware Cubesat, Sofiane Chaieb, Michael Wegerson, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh, David Whalen

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter program is developing a complete set of CubeSat hardware and software to facilitate the development of a 1-U CubeSat (10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm, 1.33 kg spacecraft) with a parts cost of less than $5,000. This poster covers the electrical power system (EPS) for that spacecraft. The EPS is an assemblage of components that supplies all spacecraft subsystems with power, while performing health assessment of the battery and electrical buses. The EPS has a crucial role in the spacecraft and thus has to be developed and tested with extreme care.

The EPS generates power using …

Open Prototype For Educational Nanosats Cubesat Structural Design, Benjamin Kading, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

CubeSats are a class of small satellites that have recently gained significant interest and are being developed and used for engineering test missions, bona fide research and various other applications. A 1-U CubeSat (the original form factor) has nominal dimensions of 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm and a mass of no more than 1.33 kg (however, some integrators are now consistently allowing higher mass levels). Due to their small size and the demonstrated ability to successfully use consumer-grade electronics in low-Earth orbit, CubeSats cost significantly less than larger sized satellites. These reduced costs, however, are still beyond …

A Low-Cost Radio For An Open Cubesat, Michael Wegerson, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter small spacecraft development program aims to develop a template that can be used by colleges and universities world-wide to ‘jumpstart’ their own CubeSat development program. It is doing this through the development of designs (and implementations to test the designs functionality) of all basic CubeSat subsystems. A CubeSat can prospectively perform elements of a mission that would otherwise have required the development and deployment of a multi-million dollar satellite, thus, interest in CubeSats in industry and government is strong as well. The Open Prototype for Educational Nanosats (OPEN) design being produced by the OpenOrbiter program may, thus, be …

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 …

Design And Development Of A Payload Area Sub-Structure For A 1-U Cubesat, Tristan Plante, Jordan Forbord, Alexander Holland, Landon Klein, Benjamin Kading, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

Advancements in the miniaturization of electronics and other factors have allowed CubeSats, small satellites that can be created at a much lower cost than a large satellite, to perform numerous useful tasks. CubeSats, which are nominally 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm with a mass of less than 1.33 kg, are also developed in academic institutions to aid student learning; however, the development and launch of CubeSats can be expensive. Because of this, the Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats (OPEN) aims to make CubeSat development more affordable by developing a set of design documents as well as the …

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 …

Design Of An Onboard Distributed Multiprocessing System For A Cubesat, Michael Wegerson, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter program aims to develop a low-cost framework to facilitate the development of CubeSat-class spacecraft (small spacecraft with nominal dimensions of 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm) for a parts cost of less than $5,000. To validate the framework that has been developed, a prototype unit will also be fabricated and tested in low-Earth orbit. In addition to validating the development of Open Prototype for Educational Nanosats (OPEN) framework, the spacecraft will perform on-orbit science. One aspect of the science mission will be to demonstrate and characterize the efficacy of two types of image processing. To this …

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 …

Hardware Design For An Intelligent Attitude Determination And Control System (Adcs), Michael Wegerson, Matt Partridge, Nathan Crocker, David Schindele, Broc Friend, Levi Lewis, Ben Johnson, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

Attitude determination and control is one of the most important subsystems on any satellite, allowing the spacecraft to sense and control its orientation while in orbit. Attitude sensing is achieved by measuring the satellite’s acceleration, rotation, and it’s alinement to Earth’s magnetic field. With its orientation determined, a satellite can use one or several different techniques to regulate its motion. One methods is to use of a pseudo-passive system of electromagnets (called magnetorquers) powered at specific times to use magnetic fields generated by the Earth to exert force on the spacecraft, thereby controlling the rotation of the satellite and facilitating …

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 …

Openorbiter Mechanical Design: A New Approach To The Design Of A 1-U Cubesat, Benjamin Kading, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative is working to create a set of designs and implementation instructions for a 1-U CubeSat, called the Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats. These designs target a total parts cost of below USD $5,000. This design will be made publically available to facilitate its use by others, with or without modification. A ‘side slotted’ CubeSat design (where main circuit boards are placed in slots between the rails on the outside) has been developed for OpenOrbiter. This paper discusses the design choices that were made during the mechanical structure development of the OpenOrbiter CubeSat design, required …

Assessment Of Educational Expectations, Outcomes And Benefits From Small Satellite Program Participation, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

This paper begins to characterize the educational outcomes that can be produced from student participation in a small spacecraft development program. We asked students what benefits they expected to receive from program participation and we asked them, at the end of the semester, what benefits they had received. We also characterized student performance through the use of post-participation Likert-like scale questions and the use of a widely-used questionnaire for assessing student research participation outcomes. We compare benefit expectation and attainment, characterize the level of benefits received across multiple types of participation and assess the effect of program participation on subject-specific …

A Two-Phase Development And Validation Plan For North Dakota's First Spacecraft, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh

Jeremy Straub

The Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats (OPEN) aims to make space more accessible for educational and other uses by driving down the cost of CubeSat development. This paper presents a tentative plan for the use of two orbital missions as part of a two-phase technology demonstration sequence focusing on raising the technology readiness level (TRL) of OPEN to a level suitable for wide use and adoption. It presents an overview of a two-mission development plan including mission objectives, requirements and constraints. The paper considers how the phase one mission’s spacecraft may serve as a lower-cost platform for some users in …

Considering The Educational Benefits Of A Cubesat Program, Jeremy Straub, Samudra Haque, Christopher K. Dinelli

Jeremy Straub

This presentation will provide an overview of work performed at the University of North Dakota with regards to the characterization of educational benefits from small spacecraft development efforts. We report on efforts to characterize benefits that ensued from participation for personal extracurricular enrichment, as part of a formal class (on project management), as part of multiple senior design projects, for independent study credit and for satisfying class project requirements. This assessment has been performed using a standard questionnaire for student research participation as well as custom questionnaires related to program focus areas. We have also analyzed student course performance, where …

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.