Digital Commons Network^™

An Overview Of The Alabama Burst Energetics Explorer (Abex) Mission, Jared Fuchs, Michael Halvorson, Victor Lopez

Small Satellite Conference

The Alabama Burst Energetics eXplorer (ABEX) project is a 12U scientific and educational mission to investigate Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) through spectral analysis and localization of joint gravitational-wave GRB mergers using wavefront timing analysis. The project is in development by a multi-university collaboration across Alabama with design work conducted by students under faculty advisement. The effort is organized and funded by the Alabama Space Grant Consortium and includes the University of Alabama, University of Alabama in Birmingham, University of South Alabama, Auburn University, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. ABEX will deploy on a super-synchronous orbit and propulsively maneuver to …

Design Simulation And Testing Of A Custom Coprocessor For Cubesatellites In Leo, Justin Heimerl, Allen Spain, Alexandria Lin, David Cotton

Small Satellite Conference

An arms race in the last decade between computing performance and power-reduction has led to accelerated progress in both hardware and software, provisioning fast, efficient algorithms and small, capable, low-power hardware devices. Meanwhile, small satellites have become increasingly important in defense and commercial missions, due to their low resource consumption in terms of power, space, and cost. Improvements in computer vision algorithms and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) edge computing introduce a means of addressing challenges posed for spacecraft in the realm of autonomy and perception. The University of Georgia’s Small Satellite Research Laboratory has been working to address these obstacles in …

United States Military Academy (Usma) Space Engineering And Applied Research (Spear): A Cadet's Idea Becomes Reality, Chalie L. Galliand

Small Satellite Conference

Last year, the United States Military Academy (USMA) graduated its first cohort of fully qualified Space Professionals. The Class of 2020 included the first graduates of USMA’s Space and Missile Defense Program. The program was born out of a capability deficit identified by COL Thomas Pugsley, the founder of the Small Satellites Research Group at West Point, over 12 years ago. This was detailed in his paper, Army Space Education: Closing the Gap with Operational Space, presented at the 23rd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites. This new program has ignited inspiration among the Corps of Cadets. A couple of …

Real-Time Satellite Component Recognition With Yolo-V5, Trupti Mahendrakar, Ryan T. White, Markus Wilde, Brian Kish, Isaac Silver

Small Satellite Conference

With the increasing risk of collisions with space debris and the growing interest in on-orbit servicing, the ability to autonomously capture non-cooperative, tumbling target objects remains an unresolved challenge. To accomplish this task, characterizing and classifying satellite components is critical to the success of the mission. This paper focuses on using machine vision by a small satellite to perform image classification based on locating and identifying satellite components such as satellite bodies, solar panels or antennas. The classification and component detection approach is based on “You Only Look Once” (YOLO) V5, which uses Neural Networks to identify the satellite components. …

Development Of Formation Flying Cubesats And Operation Systems For The Canyval-C Mission: Launch And Lessons Learned, Geuk-Nam Kim, Sang-Young Park, Taeyang Lee, Dae-Eun Kang, Namgyu Kim, Soobin Jeon, Eunji Lee, Youngbum Song

Small Satellite Conference

The CubeSat Astronomy NASA and Yonsei using Virtual telescope ALignment for Coronagraph (CANYVAL-C) is a technology demonstration mission that shows the concept of a virtual space telescope using two CubeSats in formation flying. The final goal of the mission is to obtain several images of the solar corona during an artificial solar eclipse created by the two CubeSats, Timon (1U CubeSat) and Pumbaa (2U CubeSat). To implement this mission, two CubeSats in formation flying and a ground segment have been developed. The CubeSats were constructed mainly with commercial off the shelf components, sharing the bus architecture. The payload of each …

Upmsat-2 Micro-Satellite: In-Orbit Technological Demonstration For Education And Science, Elena Roibás-Millán, Javier Pérez-Álvarez, Santiago Pindado, Javier Cubas, Ángel Sanz-Andrés, Sebastián Franchini, Isabel Perez-Grande, Gustavo Alonso, Andrés García-Pérez, Marcos Chimeno-Manguan, Ignacio Torralbo, Juan Zamorano, Juan Antonio De La Puente, Jorge Garrido, Alejandro Alonso, Alejandro Gómez-San Juan, Javier Piqueras, Lilian Peinado, Arturo González-Llana, José Miguel Álvarez Romero, Juan Bermejo

Small Satellite Conference

The UPMSat-2 micro-satellite was launched on September the 3rd 2020 at 01:51:10 UTC from Kourou spaceport in French Guyana. The VV16 Vega Flight has been the first low Earth orbit rideshare commercial flight with a total of 53 satellites (7 of them micro-satellites) to be released by the launch vehicle, arranged in the modular SSMS (Small Spacecraft Mission Service) dispenser. UPMSat-2 is an educational, scientific and in-orbit technological demonstration microsatellite project led by the IDR/UPM research institute from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain. This mission can be considered as a logical extension of the IDR/UPM Institute activities focused on …

Design Of An Imaging Payload For Earth Observation From A Nanosatellite, Elliot Saive, Liam Droog, Katelyn Ball, Jari Swanson, Elizabeth Chao, Michael G. Lipsett, Amina E. Hussein, Carlos F. Lange, Bruce F. Cockburn, Duncan G. Elliott

Small Satellite Conference

A compact imaging payload consisting of visible-near infrared and short-wave infrared capability is being developed to demonstrate low-cost wildfire monitoring among other Earth observations. Iris is a 1U multispectral push-broom imager that is capable of generating spectral data pertinent for wildfire science and wildfire risk analysis from a CubeSat platform. This payload is slated to fly on-board Ex-Alta 2, the University of Alberta’s second CubeSat and Alberta’s contribution to the Canadian CubeSat Project, to be deployed from the International Space Station in 2022. Iris features four closely integrated designs: optical, structural, electronics, and firmware. The mechanical and electronic interfaces of …

Space-Based Ionosonde Receiver And Visible Limb-Viewing Airglow Sensor (Sirvlas): A Cubesat Instrument Suite For Enhanced Ionospheric Charge Density Measurements, Andrew Healey, Benjamin Cohen, Santiago Lisa, Ryan He

Small Satellite Conference

Spatially and temporally varying plasma in the ionosphere refracts passing electromagnetic waves, affecting services including over-the-horizon radar, global positioning systems, and long-distance amateur radio communication. The reliability of these services requires accurate measurements of the charge density of ionospheric plasma. Current methods for estimating ionospheric charge density include ground-based radar soundings in the high frequency (HF) band and airglow limb sensing, typically in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrum. SIRVLAS is a low-cost, compact instrument suite for these measurements designed by blair3sat, a high school satellite team based in Montgomery County, Maryland. It takes electron density measurements below the F peak …

Hack Modular On-Board Computer For Edge Computing In Micro-Satellites, Emilio Fazzoletto, Alessandro Di Paola, Eugenio Scarpa

Small Satellite Conference

Argotec HACK OBC offers unprecedent flexibility thanks to its design developed from scratch to be modular and easily reconfigurable.

Different standard modules, based on both state-of-the-art SoCs and FPGAs, can be assembled without the need of external harness to face a wide variety of applications, from spacecraft management to hardware acceleration. The design leverages a mix of rad-hard, defense-grade and automotive components carefully selected to enable the execution of demanding edge-computing tasks while ensuring a reliability level significantly higher than standard CubeSat avionics. Each HACK module is designed to be powered by a single +5V DC rail and has …

A Modular Hardware And Software Architecture For A Student-Designed Biocubesat Prototype Using Autonomous Operations, Mateusz Zalasiewicz, Aqeel Shamsul, Giovanni Sinclair, David Cullen, Adrien Bolliand, Amin Chabi, Miguel Martinez De Bujo, Romain Giraud, Hector Lleo, Tommaso Tonina, Nikita Shetti, Raj Panchal, Sathesh Raj, Thomas Retraint, Michael Cooke, Timothy Etheridge

Small Satellite Conference

BAMMsat-on-BEXUS is a student-led project aiming to design, manufacture, and fly a CubeSat-compatible payload on a stratospheric balloon. The payload – BAMMsat (Biology, Astrobiology, Medicine, and Materials Science on satellite) – is a modular CubeSat-format laboratory termed a bioCubeSat. The mission is realized under the bilateral REXUS/BEXUS programme run by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA), with the Swedish payload share available to students through a European Space Agency (ESA) collaboration. The core objective of the prototype payload is to perform a technology demonstration of the core bioCubeSat technology, demonstrating its capability to support …

Model Based Systems Engineering For Cubesat Mission Reliability, Tatyana Rakalina, Michel Izygon, Lui Wang, Isabelle Conway, Silvana Radu, Naoki Ishihama, Martin Feather, Arthur Witulski, John Evans

Small Satellite Conference

Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is moving to the forefront of small spacecraft development. The benefits of SysML as a language for the elucidation of the system architecture for CubeSats is well understood and is implemented in standard model formats. Concurrently, the benefits of the evolving development of MBSE for assurance has been recognized and is emerging as Model Based Mission Assurance (MBMA), which promises the development of integral assurance stakeholder views into the model as well as the production of useful products from the model. In this regard, the assurance organizations of NASA, ESA, and JAXA are exploring jointly …

Mata-Cloud: A Cloud Detection And Dynamic Attitude Correction Evaluation Software, Vanessa Tan, Julie Ann Banatao, John Leur Labrador, Lia Cristina Mabaquiao, Floyd Ferrant Fortes, Marc Caesar Talampas

Small Satellite Conference

With the increasing demand for high-resolution images from earth observation satellites, there is a need to optimize the usability of the images being downloaded in the ground stations. Most captured satellite images are not usable for certain applications due to high cloud cover percentage. To address this problem, this research demonstrates a cloud detection and dynamic attitude correction evaluation software. This software explores two key experiments. First is evaluating different image processing and machine learning-based approaches to detect cloud cover. The cloud detection algorithms were evaluated based on their accuracy, latency, and memory consumption. The second is exploring dynamic attitude …

Innovations In The Field Of On-Board Scheduling Technologies, Temenuzhka Avramova, Alessandro Benetton, Christian Cardenio, Riccardo Maderna

Small Satellite Conference

Space missions are characterized by long distances, difficult or unavailable communication and high operating costs. Moreover, complexity has been constantly increasing in recent years. For this reason, improving the autonomy of space operators is an attractive goal to increase the mission reward with lower costs. This paper proposes an onboard scheduler, that integrates inside an onboard software framework for mission autonomy. Given a set of activities, it is responsible for determining the starting time of each activity according to their priority, order constraints, and resource consumption. The presented scheduler is based on linear integer programming and relies on the use …

Development And Launch Of The World's First Orbital Propellant Tanker, James Bultitude, Zach Burkhardt, Maya Harris, Mark Jelderda, Srinivasan A. Suresh, Logan Fettes, Daniel Faber, Jeremy Schiel, James Cho, David Levitt, Devin Kees, Sergio Gallucci

Small Satellite Conference

This paper describes the development of Orbit Fab’s Tanker-001 Tenzing mission, the world’s first orbital propellant tanker. The development of a robust orbital propellant supply chain is critical to accelerating the growth of government and commercial space activities. The widespread availability of spacecraft refueling has the potential to provide a number of revolutionary benefits. High-value space assets could have their operational lives extended, as they would no longer be constrained by the amount of propellant stored onboard for maneuvering. On-orbit servicing missions would become more efficient, as servicing vehicles could be refueled and repeatedly used. A large orbital propellant supply …

Low-Power Boards Enabling Ml-Based Approaches To Fdir In Space-Based Applications, James Murphy, John E. Ward, Brian Mac Namee

Small Satellite Conference

Modern satellite complexity is increasing, thus requiring bespoke and expensive on-board solutions to provide a Failure Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR) function. Although FDIR is vital in ensuring the safety, autonomy, and availability of satellite systems in flight, there is a clear need in the space industry for a more adaptable, scalable, and cost-effective solution. This paper explores the current state of the art for Machine Learning error detection and prognostic algorithms utilized by both the space sector and the commercial sector. Although work has previously been done in the commercial sector on error detection and prognostics, most commercial applications …

Smartsat Constellation - A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach For Decentralized Coordination, Rajesh Aggarwal, Junghwan Kim, Deepanshu Agarwal, Ayushi Tiwari, James Baldo

Small Satellite Conference

With rapid advancements in satellite technology, the amount of low earth orbit satellites has grown significantly which are primarily deployed for weather monitoring, earth observation or military purposes. Due to this reason, there has been an increased interest in enhancing the level of autonomy and cognition, onboard satellites to achieve optimal data collection. Optimal data is said to be collected when the satellites in a small sat constellation work together to collect information. This means that even if one of the satellites has missed out on some important information, the others can still collect them. A satellite constellation can be …

A Cost-Effective And Feasible Approach For Cubesat A.D.C.S. Validation, Mike Melendez, Zachary Gaines, Katherine Orozco

Small Satellite Conference

Over the last year, Cal Poly Pomona has made a significant push to become a consistent space-faring university through the development of CubeSats. These small satellites are complex in many ways, but arguably one of the most important and elaborate areas in development is the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS). In taking on the developmental challenge of ADCS design and implementation on the BroncoSat-1 Satellite, the team at Cal Poly Pomona wanted to have the ability to validate the on-orbit control systems. To accurately test the satellite's control system, an on-orbit environment needs to be simulated in a lab …

Heater-Free, Lowest Power Consumption & Highest Volume Availability Gas-Generator Propulsion System - Most Suitable For Micro To Nano Satellites, Tiago Monteiro Padovan, Junichiro Kawaguchi

Small Satellite Conference

Patchedconics, LLC. of Japan successfully delivered a gas generator propulsion system to a Japanese venture satellite company, ALE, in 2019, and now presents the new product featuring Heater-free, Lowest Power Consumption & Highest Volume Availability Gas-Generator Propulsion System. It is the most suitable solution for Micro to Nano Satellites with significant cost reduction.

To create such propulsion units, which fit especially for micro to nano satellites, key intellectual assests were developed. This system continuously vaporizes a liquidized gas in space. Vaporizing systems are not new technology. However, Patchedconics way is different, and allows gas generation without heater, through its proprietary …

Attribution Of Responsibility After Failures Within Platform Ecosystems, Brian Dunn, Matthew L. Jensen, Ryan Ralston

Data Analytics & Information Systems Faculty Publications

Increasingly, new hardware and software are embedded within ecosystems that include a platform and modules. Ideally these ecosystems perform reliably. However, if an ambiguously sourced failure occurs within one of these ecosystems, users are left to distribute blame across the various components of the ecosystem. The actual distribution of this blame, however, can be difficult to predict. This study investigates attribution of blame and discontinuance recommendations for ecosystem components after an ambiguously sourced failure. To extend platform ecosystems and attribution theory, we conducted a scenario-based experiment investigating the negative consequences of failure for platform and module components and the contingent …

Alfanet: A Database Of Alfalfa-Bacterial Stem Blight Protein–Protein Interactions Revealing The Molecular Features Of The Disease-Causing Bacteria, Raghav Kataria, Rakesh Kaundal

Plants, Soils and Climate Student Research

Alfalfa has emerged as one of the most important forage crops, owing to its wide adaptation and high biomass production worldwide. In the last decade, the emergence of bacterial stem blight (caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae ALF3) in alfalfa has caused around 50% yield losses in the United States. Studies are being conducted to decipher the roles of the key genes and pathways regulating the disease, but due to the sparse knowledge about the infection mechanisms of Pseudomonas, the development of resistant cultivars is hampered. The database alfaNET is an attempt to assist researchers by providing comprehensive Pseudomonas proteome …

A Profile Of Wild Pig Hunters In Texas, Usa, Rachael L. Connally, Maureen G. Frank, Gary E. Briers, Nova J. Silvy, Keith M. Carlisle, John M. Tomeček

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a widespread exotic, invasive species that poses ecological, agricultural, and human health risks in invaded areas. Wildlife managers often manage wild pig abundance and expansion to mitigate these risks. The diversity of stakeholders involved in the issue of wild pig management complicates efforts to manage the species, and, to be successful, wildlife professionals should consider the human dimensions associated with wild pig management. The prevalence of privately owned lands in Texas, USA necessitates cooperation to enact effective management policies. In this study, we investigate the factors that affect a hunter’s likelihood to participate …

Understanding The Effects Of Climate Change Via Disturbance On Pristine Arctic Lakes—Multitrophic Level Response And Recovery To A 12-Yr, Low-Level Fertilization Experiment, Phaedra Budy, Casey A. Pennock, Anne E. Giblin, Chris Luecke, Daniel L. White, George W. Kling

Watershed Sciences Student Research

Effects of climate change-driven disturbance on lake ecosystems can be subtle; indirect effects include increased nutrient loading that could impact ecosystem function. We designed a low-level fertilization experiment to mimic persistent, climate change-driven disturbances (deeper thaw, greater weathering, or thermokarst failure) delivering nutrients to arctic lakes. We measured responses of pelagic trophic levels over 12 yr in a fertilized deep lake with fish and a shallow fishless lake, compared to paired reference lakes, and monitored recovery for 6 yr. Relative to prefertilization in the deep lake, we observed a maximum pelagic response in chl a (+201%), dissolved oxygen (DO, −43%), …

Human-Bear Conflict And Community Perceptions Of Risk In The Zanskar Region, Northern India, Kirti Chavan, Sophie M. Watts, Tsewang Namgail

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) is an endangered subspecies of brown bear (U. a. spp.) and is found throughout the Himalayan region of south and central Asia. We describe the type of and the current level of human–bear conflict (HBC) with Himalayan brown bears in the Zanskar region of northern India and suggest potential mitigation methods. Between July and September 2018, we interviewed 218 households across the Zanskar region, all of whom had experienced HBC. Participants reported increasing numbers of HBC events in the last 4 years. The most common form of HBC was damage …

Informational Signage Increases Awareness Of A Rattlesnake In A Canadian Urban Park System, Jonathan D. Choquette, Alexis V. Hand

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Human–snake conflict results in negative outcomes for people and snakes, and if left unmanaged, could undermine conservation efforts. One approach to managing conflict between people and snakes is to use signage to inform members of the public on the presence of venomous snakes and measures to prevent snakebites. To be an effective tool, however, signs must first be noticed, then read and understood by the target audience. As part of conservation efforts targeting eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus) in southwestern Ontario, Canada, we tested the effectiveness of signage at increasing awareness of its presence, status and threats, and …

Online Prehealth Advising: Impact Analysis Spring 2017 To Fall 2020, Alasdair Ekpenyong, Mykel Beorchia

Publications

At Utah State University, various online, Canvas-based advising programs complement the traditional in-person advising program. The online prehealth advising service assists students who are considering health professions graduate school.

This report explored the association between online prehealth advising participation and student persistence to the next term at Utah State University.

The Impact Of A Spill Or Pollution Accident On Firm Environmental Activity: An Empirical Investigation, Rick Hardcopf, Rachna Shah, Suvrat Dhanorkar

Management Faculty Publications

Spill and pollution (SP) accidents cause significant damage to the natural environment. They also result in financial costs and reputational losses for the offending firm. As such, understanding how firms respond to such crises is of significant interest to firm stakeholders, such as investors, customers, regulators, NGOs, employees, and local communities. In this study, we examine whether publicly disclosed SP accidents cause firms to alter their approach to environmental management, as expressed by the adoption of environmental management practices (EMPs). Using a unique panel data from 2002 to 2013, representing over 400 publicly-traded US manufacturing firms, we find that in …

An Analysis Of Electromagnetic Flowmeters: A Numerical Study, Kade J. Beck

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As water scarcity increases, improved water management through better water measurement is of critical global significance. Today, the most common way to measure water in drinking water and wastewater systems is to use an electromagnetic (magnetic) flowmeter. A magnetic flowmeter has many components, and their accuracy can be compromised if not installed or calibrated correctly. The purpose of the present study was threefold. Each of the three components has been named to help the reader understand the context of the study without getting lost in the details.

The Idealist. Using mathematical programs, the spacing of two types of magnetic flowmeter …

Transplanting Mature Mountain Big Sagebrush Plants Yields High First-Year Survival In Dryland Pasture Restoration, Elizabeth C. Bailey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Approximately 10-20% of global dryland ecosystems are severely degraded, an amount that is expected to increase, threatening the environment and ecosystem services that 38% of the global population relies upon. Human activities such as agriculture, livestock grazing, mining and urban development have contributed to the degradation and loss of rangelands worldwide. A need for reestablishing sagebrush in disturbed landscapes across the Western United States, including dryland pastures, has been identified but traditional, primarily seeding-based, restoration methods have largely been unsuccessful. To improve restoration outcomes, there has been increased interest in the planting of containerized greenhouse “tubelings”, but transplanting of mature …

Deep Learning Data And Indexes In A Database, Vishal Sharma

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A database is used to store and retrieve data, which is a critical component for any software application. Databases requires configuration for efficiency, however, there are tens of configuration parameters. It is a challenging task to manually configure a database. Furthermore, a database must be reconfigured on a regular basis to keep up with newer data and workload. The goal of this thesis is to use the query workload history to autonomously configure the database and improve its performance. We achieve proposed work in four stages: (i) we develop an index recommender using deep reinforcement learning for a standalone database. …

Effect Of High-Intensity Ultrasound On Bubble Dynamics, Oxidation, And Crystallization Behavior Of Fats, Juhee Lee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) provide desired texture, stability, and extended shelf life in food products. These types of lipids have been commonly used in food industry. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided to remove generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status of PHOs in 2015 due to the association between PHOs and coronary heart disease (CHD), type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Hence, it is necessary to find alternative new healthy lipids or novel processing conditions that can be used to replace the functionality of PHO. Among the processing methods to be used in alternative PHOs fats, high-intensity …