Digital Commons Network^™

Ground-Based Magnetic Attitude Determination For Low-Cost Cubesat Missions, Johnny Mccaskill, Evan Jellison, Jackson Holden, Blagoy Rangelov

Small Satellite Conference

Spacecraft Attitude Determination

Attitude is the orientation of a spacecraft relative to an inertial or Earth-fixed frame and is essential for:

• Communication alignment

• Payload pointing

• Stable spacecraft control

Existing Methods & Limitations

Traditional attitude determination systems use multiple sensors, including:

• Star trackers (high accuracy)

• Gyroscopes (rate tracking, drift-prone)

• Sun sensors and magnetometers (coarse estimates)

These systems are typically combined through sensor fusion to achieve high precision. However, they introduce significant challenges for CubeSats:

• High cost and power consumption

• Increased system complexity

• Larger mass and integration requirements

Proposed Approach

This work explores …

Long-Term Software-Defined Formation Flying And Its Application To Space Mimo Communications, Takaya Inamori, Keita Tanaka, Kiyoshi Kinefuchi, Shigeru Sunada, Yousuke Kawabata, Ayumu Nono, Takumi Noro, Yukihisa Otani, Norihide Miyamura, Eiji Okamoto, Yuma Abe, Yoshimi Fujii, Hiroyuki Tsuji, Takuya Okura, Rei Kawashima, Takuto Ogawa, Tomoyuki Miyashita

Small Satellite Conference

Formation flying of multiple small satellites is expected to enable novel space missions that cannot be achieved by a single satellite. Small sized satellites are strongly affected by environmental disturbances and have strict constraints on mass, volume, and power. This study focuses on characteristics that become prominent as satellites are miniaturized, such as the increased influence of space environment and enhanced interactions among onboard components. By utilizing these effects, the research aims to realize propellant-less, software-defined formation flying. The proposed technologies are applied to space MIMO (multiple input multiple output) communications, in which communication capacity is improved by controlling the …

Toward Trainable Ai Agents For Satellite Operations, Haley Calderon, Vaibhav Bhosale, Ketan Bhardwaj, Ada Gavrilovska

Small Satellite Conference

Low Earth orbit is increasingly crowded, and a growing share of it is flown by universities and small operators. These teams must detect and respond to on-orbit anomalies with far less staff, expertise, and tooling than large operators, and a single missed anomaly can end a mission. We present COMET, a ground-based operator agent that helps a small team both detect anomalies and diagnose them. COMET pairs a learned detector with a retrieval-augmented diagnosis stage. An LSTM autoencoder flags anomalous telemetry windows, and a language model explains each one against the mission’s own documentation, procedures, and prior operational records. Because …

Pulse-Q: Space-To-Ground Quantum Key Distribution At The Cubesat Form Factor, Logan Hanssler, Stewart Kristiansen, Ellisian King, Neha Chandran, Unnathi Venkatesh, Selina Gao, Nelson Chan, Mika Sadikario, Joseph Sorel, Lexi Liu, Eleanor Gentry, Rohan Gupta, Juan Ignacio Prieto Asbun, Lauren Ayala, Vincent Redwine, Tian Zhong

Small Satellite Conference

Motivation 

• Quantum key distribution (QKD) offers provably secure communication regardless of the technology available to potential eavesdroppers.
• Space-to-ground QKD facilitates long-distance key distribution without costly terrestrial infrastructure.
• The Polarization-modUlated Laser Satellite Experiment – Quantum (PULSE-Q) is a 12U CubeSat mission to leverage recent innovations in compact quantum sources and optical communication to achieve space-to-ground QKD.

Rapid Integration Of A Secondary Communications Subsystem On Aggiesat6, Alex B. Halbesleben, John F. Connolly

Small Satellite Conference

AggieSat Laboratory (AGSL) is a student-run space program that trains students in systems engineering through hands-on experience in the design, building, testing, and operation of space and space-related systems

AGSL is currently comprised of 107 students, most of whom are undergraduates. Its members work on eight active projects (including a shadow program for underclassmen).

AGSL has demonstrated flight heritage with the deployments of AggieSat2, AggieSat4, and AggieSat6.

The Base Got Hit: Interpersonal Communication Strategies In High-Stress Space Projects, Allison E. Barnes, Avery G. Barriga, John F. Connolly

Small Satellite Conference

The AggieSat Laboratory (AGSL) is a student-driven laboratory with 17 years of space systems experience and flight heritage. As AGSL prepares to launch several space systems over the next three years, reflecting on lessons learned from past projects is critical to improving future reliability and execution. This survey analyzes communication dynamics in past CubeSat and ISS payload projects, specifically within the high-stress phases of Assembly, Integration, and Test (AI&T) and Mission Operations, where a combination of young engineers and high-stakes decision-making can often lead to compounding, avoidable technical anomalies.

This survey identifies specific interpersonal strategies to mitigate human error, including …

Processor And Sensor Interfacing On Fpga For Stp-H12-Vantage Space Mission, Christopher Brubaker, Alan D. George

Small Satellite Conference

Previous SHREC Missions

• STP-H5-CSP – Demonstration of CSP and hybrid COTS + rad-hard architecture
• STP-H6-SSIVP – Parallel and distributed computing with multiple CSPs
• STP-H7-CASPR – Onboard processing with next-gen sensors and apps

STP-H12-VANTAGE

• Visual And Neuromorphic Tracking And Geosensing Experiment
• Correlation of neuromorphic and visual sensor data
• Advancing usage of COTS SoMs supplemented with rad-hard monitoring and watchdog circuitry

Squidsat: A Modular, Open-Source 3u Cubesat Bus For Low-Cost Cubesat Missions, Aaron Bournias, Joseph Dukowitz, Mark Jaber, Tyler Field, Micah Nguyen, Koowum Joshi, Noah Campos, Daphne Riordan, Ryan La Ra, Jonathan Luse, Joshua Sink, Tyler Nielsen, Ricardo Ontivaros, Michael Goryll, Joe Dubois

Small Satellite Conference

CubeSat launches continue to increase yearly, yet over 51% of missions from 2002–2016 failed. Primary faults were often due to power, mechanical, or design issues. Costs still remain high in a market driven by expensive flight-heritage hardware with proprietary designs. In order to counteract such costly practice, Sun Devil Satellite Lab (SDSL) at ASU has developed an open-source, modular 3U CubeSat bus built for low cost reliability. Unlike other bus architectures, SquidSat distributes control across independent microcontrollers linked via a CAN bus. CAN is commanded by the OBC but is capable of independent operation for fault isolation and easier testing. …

Onboard Ai At The Orbital Edge: A Mission Debrief From Stp-H7-Caspr, Evan W. Gretok, Linus Silbernagel, Diego Wildenstein, Michael J. Cannizzaro, Seth Roffe, Alan D. George

Small Satellite Conference

Goals: Enable autonomous Earth observation and onboard sensor data processing with novel compute

Motivations: Growing numbers of spacecraft demand autonomy in operation and data collection

Challenges: Harsh radiation and thermal environment of space over four-year mission lifetime

A Comparative Analysis Of Radio Frequency And Optical Inter-Satellite Link Communications For Leo Mega-Constellations, Alexa Houck, Suryansh Aryan, Kevin Schroeder, Samantha Kenyon

Small Satellite Conference

SpaceNet design  

Software-based testbed for simulating large satellite networks, specifically LEO-based constellations to analyze network behavior, connectivity, routing, and overall communication.  

• Phase one focuses on connectivity and routing: Given the topology and link availability over time, how does my network behave? 
• Phase two focuses on network emulation: Given the topology and link availability over time, how does my network behave? 

Snack Protocol For Reliable High-Throughput Data Transfer On Mtu-Constrained Low-Cost Uhf Radios, Samantha Mallari, Dennis Sarsozo, Miguel Nunes

Small Satellite Conference

• Student CubeSat missions using sub-$100 UHF radios are constrained by small packet sizes, making standard protocols (e.g., TCP, CFDP) too overhead-intensive for payload downlinks.  
• We developed a Selective Negative Acknowledgement (SNACK)-based protocol for the Artemis CubeSat Kit bus to support reliable 160 × 120 LWIR thermal image transmission for the CubeSats for Climate Change Monitoring (C3M) mission  
• A 45-byte SNACK bitmap acknowledges up to 360 packet fragments, minimizing retransmission overhead.  
• Field tests from 5 m to 1.6 km achieved 72.2 kbps peak throughput and ≥98.7% final data integrity.

Austronauts 3u Cubesat Space Weather Payloads Proposal, Tiana Pendray

Small Satellite Conference

CubeSats are becoming increasingly prominent due to their accessibility, affordability and versatility. An emerging field of satellite application is the monitoring of ionospheric space weather, made possible by sensitive instruments that collect data on plasma potential, temperature and ion density. These parameters vary due to changing solar activity in the form of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and solar flares, which can have severe impacts on satellite navigation systems, radio communication networks and orbital estimations. The AUStronauts team at the University of New South Wales is developing a 3U CubeSat with two space weather payloads – an Electrodynamic Tether (EDT) and …

Autonomous Microelectronics See Payload For Validating Terrestrial Predictions In Space, Michael A. Blacconiere, Isaac Hudson, John W. Burgoon, Terrance Sacks, Spencer Westfall, Sajal Islam, Davidson Juhke, George Randel, Jared Harvey, Merek Chertkow, Daniel Loveless

Small Satellite Conference

The radiation environment in space is complex and time-varying, causing major risks for microelectronic applications. Terrestrial radiation sources are used to characterize devices before missions to predict in-orbit error rates. However, these predictions are rarely validated in deployment. The payload, designed by IU CREATE and The Radiation Team, the IUB-SAT-1, integrates IU’s RadFX-IC and commercial SRAMs with well-characterized terrestrial radiation responses into a modular payload to collect on-orbit radiation-response data. Results will refine radiation error-rate models and improves confidence in deploying advanced microelectronics to radiation-rich space environments.

In-Transit Debris Remediation: Dual-Use Logistics For Sustainable Cislunar Smallsat Constellations, Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba

Small Satellite Conference

A Debris Crisis Meets A Logistics Boom: Low- and high-Earth orbit keep accumulating debris faster than the atmosphere can clear it, even as NASA's Artemis and CLPS programs establish routine trans-lunar traffic. The 2009 Iridium-Cosmos collision and later anti-satellite tests proved that single fragmentation events can irreversibly degrade critical orbital shells, raising the specter of Kessler Syndrome. 

• 46,600+ objects tracked on orbit today, with ~130 million sub-cm fragments (ESA, 2025)
• $500K-$2M cost per kilogram for dedicated ADR, fiscally intractable at system scale
• 5-10 / yr large objects must be removed to stabilize LEO (Liou & Johnson)

The Unit-Economics Problem: Purpose-built …

Lessons Learned From The Hyvrid 3u Cubesat Development, Kim Jee Hoon

Small Satellite Conference

Space Object Surveillance System 

• Hanwha Systems’ Next Generation Satellite Laser Ranging (NGSLR) uses the turnaround time of laser emitted from the ground to measure precise distance of satellites or space objects.  
• It is also capable of precise orbit prediction and active response by utilizing high-energy laser. 

Verification Satellite

• CubeSat HYVRID is made to operate as a target satellite of the NGSLR system, verifying the laser ranging, precise orbit prediction, and active response technology.
  • GPS raw data
  • laser detection data
  • images captured before-and-after active response

Aggiesat6 University Cubesat Ops Prep And Leops, Avery G. Barriga, Garrett M. Stevenson, John F. Connolly

Small Satellite Conference

AggieSat6 (AGS6) is a 6U CubeSat designed and developed by students at Texas A&M University (TAMU) as part of the University Nanosatellite Program (UNP) NS-10 cycle. The mission will demonstrate a space-based radio frequency array for Space Domain Awareness (SDA) applications and collect low-energy electron radiation data to improve existing environmental models. Beginning in January 2025, students at TAMU established mission operations architecture, implemented operator training and certification, and prepared to assume sole responsibility for on-orbit operations. The AggieSat6 bus launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in April of 2026. The AGS6 Mission was supported by the University Nanosatellite Program. …

Experimental Analysis Of Cryptography Overhead For Secure Cubesat Telemetry, Tyler Field, Michael Goryll

Small Satellite Conference

Encryption consumes critical and limited resources, such as computing power, energy, and memory. Results from this research has helped SquidSat, a student-led 3u CubeSat launching sometime in 2027-2028, by providing data showing which microcontrollers are most effective for encryption algorithms.

F Prime To Flight Faster: Hardware-In-The-Loop Continuous Integration For Accelerated Cubesat Development, Nate Gay, Saidi Adams, Michael Pham

Small Satellite Conference

Flight software teams iterate quickly in development and then slow down at integration, because the software must be validated against real hardware that is itself still changing. 

Bench testing is manual, intermittent, and happens late. Defects surface days after the commit that caused them, once the context is gone and the change has been built on.

Propellant-Free Formation Keeping Using Environmental Perturbations In Leo Via Orbital Angular Momentum Vector Matching, Yu Seike, Takaya Inamori, Keita Tanaka

Small Satellite Conference

Small-satellite formation flying enables new mission capabilities.

e.g. MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) Communication

Challenge: Conventional formation keeping requires thrusters. Small satellites have limited onboard resources.

Bcon-2 Operations And Pre-Flight Testing, Kenny Blanton, Brayden Kuchenbacker, Dan White

Small Satellite Conference

As part of the Dream Big Phase I mission, Valpo Space Program’s (VSP) satellite BCON-2 is a 0.5U ThinSat CubeSat designed by NearSpace Launch (NSL).

Dimensions: 0.5U ThinSat (10 cm × 10 cm × 5 cm).

• Comms/MCU Board: STM-32 based PocketQube satellite board that utilizes an AX5043 transceiver to manage VHF/UHF radio communications and subsystem connectivity via CAN bus.
• ADCS Payload: Collaborative flight of the University of Luxembourg’s (UniLu) Space Systems Engineering (SpaSys) system; features their PCB-embedded tri-axial magnetorquer coils Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS).
• Square Koch Fractal Antenna: The RF systems remain inactive for this mission due to …

Experimental Investigation On Nanocellulose And Aluminium-Oxide Hybrid Nanofluid As A New Coolant For Radiator, D. Ramasamy, Sivaraos Sivaraos, K. Kadirgama

The Nexus of Sustainability and Energy Technology Journal

Improved efficiency leads to more compact design of the radiator. The research is conducted to prove that addition of Aluminium Oxide and nanocellulose originating from plant base with varying concentration provides a better thermal efficiency compared to usage of distilled water as radiator coolant. The objective of the research is to improve a new radiator coolant based on combination of aluminium oxide and nanocellulose with readily available coolants which is Ethylene Glycol and to investigate the erosion of nanocellulose coolant on automotive radiator. The scope of the research are the nanocellulose dispersed in base fluid which is from 60:40, (EG:W). …

Implementation Of 4-Ir In Scm Of Woven Apparel Industry – A Case Study In Bangladesh For Prosperity And Sustainability, Kaniz Farhana, Nazibah Nowreen Onadee, Farhana Mabia Mim, Fuzail Ahmed Khan Rajit, Md. Fahad Faruk Pavel, S.M. Farhana Iqbal, Abu Shadate Faisal Mahamude

The Nexus of Sustainability and Energy Technology Journal

The significance of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4-IR) for supply chain management (SCM) in the woven clothing industry is emphasized by this survey study. The implementation of cutting-edge technologies that can improve these aspects, like IoT, RFID, blockchain, big data analysis, cybersecurity, and automation, is examined from the viewpoints of woven clothing manufacturers. This investigation seeks to determine Bangladesh's key technological barriers as well as the primary motivator for the weaving RMG's adoption of cutting-edge technologies. Here, a combination of methods, including fieldwork and data collection, has been performed for thorough analysis. The research outlines the current state of affairs …

Evaluation Of Graphene Cathode And Aluminum Ion Ev Battery Performance: A State-Of-The-Art Analysis For Future, Abu Shadate Faisal Mahamude, Kaniz Farhana

The Nexus of Sustainability and Energy Technology Journal

Lithium-ion batteries may eventually be replaced with rechargeable aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) due to their high energy density, increased safety, and plentiful supply of raw materials. The development of appropriate cathode materials for AIBs is a major priority these days. As a result of their better quality, graphene-based cathodes have a great chance of success. Graphene is a relatively new and promising material with a unique set of chemical and physical characteristics. Graphene's high electron conductivity and large specific surface area make it seem like one of the best electron-conducting additions, but there are several other ways to increase the cathode …

Atomistic Insights Into The Interfacial Properties And Thermal Transport Of Mxene–Copper Nanocomposites: A Molecular Dynamics Study, Navid Aslfattahi, Maryam Sadat Kiai, K. Kadirgama, L. Samylingam, Chee Kuang Kok, Mohd A.F. Rosli, Thong Leng Lim

The Nexus of Sustainability and Energy Technology Journal

Understanding the interfacial heat transport mechanisms in Ti₃C₂T_x–copper nanocomposites is essential for developing advanced Thermal Interface Materials (TIM) for electronic and energy systems. This study provides atomistic insights into how MXene surface terminations (–O, –OH, –F), copper crystallographic orientations ((111), (100), (110)), and MXene layer thickness influence thermal conductivity and interfacial thermal resistance. O-terminated MXene exhibited the strongest interfacial adhesion (∼0.45 J/m²) and the highest thermal conductivity (∼68 W/m· K), while F-terminated MXene showed the weakest interfacial bonding and poorest heat transfer (∼45 W/m· K). Increasing the MXene thickness introduced additional phonon …

Theoretical Analysis And Promotion Path Of Coordinated Digital-Intelligent And Green Transformation In Manufacturing Industry, Chaokai Xue, Xiaohui Qu, Laijun Wang, Yifan Yang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The coordinated digital-intelligent and green transformation in the manufacturing industry serves as a key lever for accelerating the sector’s progress towards intelligence, greenization, and integration. This study defines the connotation and key characteristics of the coordinated digital-intelligent and green transformation, constructs a theoretical analysis framework, identifies its current status and challenges, and proposes a promotion pathway based on above work. Drawing upon theories from digital economics, environmental economics, and industrial economics, this study develops an analytical framework characterized by scenario-driven dynamics, technology-enabled transformation, organizational collaboration, and environmental support. It further proposes actionable pathways, including enhancing scenario supply capacity, accelerating the …

Field Research And Policy Recommendations On Coordinated Digital-Intelligent And Green Transformation Of China’S Traditional Manufacturing Industry—Evidence From Key Traditional Manufacturing Industries In Shandong Province, Dingding Xiao, Peng Hui, Shaoni Liu, Xinxin Du, Laijun Wang, Guilong Zhu, Wenbo Guo

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

The coordinated digital-intelligent and green transformation of traditional manufacturing is an important pathway for upgrading traditional industries and accelerating the development of a modern industrial system. Based on field research involving more than 20 representative enterprises in Shandong Province across automobile manufacturing, coal processing, textiles, and petrochemicals, this study systematically examines the practical progress, typical models, major constraints, and policy needs associated with this transformation. The findings show that China’s traditional manufacturing sector is shifting from isolated upgrading to system integration, from production-focused transformation to full life-cycle coordination, and from individual-enterprise initiatives to industrial-chain collaboration. Nevertheless, it still faces insufficient …

Progress, Experience, And Recommendations From Pilot Programs For Coordinated Digital-Intelligent And Green Transformation In Ten Regions Of China, Yingtong Chen, Yupeng Shi, Bin Li, Xue Niu, Qiang Ji, Lin Xiang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Coordinated digital-intelligent and green transformation is an important pathway for advancing high-quality manufacturing development. Focusing on the first batch of comprehensive pilot programs for coordinated digital and green transformation launched in 2023, this study combines literature review, text analysis, and comparative case analysis to examine the practices and phased outcomes of ten pilot regions. It identifies three pathways—digital-enabled green transformation, green-driven digital transformation, and integrated digital-green development—and summarizes key experiences in institutional design, infrastructure restructuring, platform innovation, and tool empowerment. The findings show that the pilot regions have adopted differentiated approaches based on their industrial foundations, resource endowments, and development …

Creating An Updated Risc-V Platform With Hypervisor Support, Carter A. Glatt

Masters Theses

Virtualization has become an important methodology for implementing security and efficiency in embedded systems design. Virtualized environments provide flexibility and scalability of user-space environments, as hardware capabilities allow for multiple environments to run concurrently using the same hardware without impacting system performance or cost metrics. The ability to implement virtualized environments is fundamentally based on the instruction set architecture (ISA), which implements the necessary commands to facilitate the interface between physical hardware and virtual components.

RISC-V is an open-source ISA that can be used to generate platforms that support virtualization through the use of the H-Extension ISA. Previous research into …

On Shrinkage Estimators For Pareto Ii Parameters For Right Censored Type Ii Data, Jubran Abdulameer Labban, Hadeel Alkutubi

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

The aim of this study is to estimate the first two shrinkage estimators for the parameters of the Pareto II distribution with right-censored Type II data. The methods we used in this study are: maximum likelihood and Bayesian. In the Bayesian method, we use non-informative priority, which is Jeffries priority, and we use the squared error loss function. These estimators were compared through Monte Carlo simulation to indicate preference based on the mean square error criterion.

The Self-Aware Room: A Framework For Operational Self-Awareness In Evolvable Blended Environments, David B. Smith

Publications and Research

The Self-Aware Room (SAR) is a room-scale research environment developed within the larger Balanced Blended Space and Blended Reality Performance System research trajectory. Rather than treating the room as a conventional “smart” environment composed of fixed automation technologies, SAR approaches it as an evolvable blended environment made from physical, virtual, conceptual, sensory, computational, and performative relationships. Its defining feature is not any particular sensor, model, or output device, but the set of transformations through which physical activity becomes structured observation, bounded representation, interpreted state, governed decision, and mediated response.

This paper develops the conceptual and methodological foundations of SAR as …