Development of a Molecular Assessment High-Resolution Observation Spectrometer (MAHOS) for Microsatellites

Compact and lightweight sensors with a high-frequency resolution are required for the passive observation of atmospheric water and oxygen emission lines at a reduced cost and power consumption. A molecular assessment high-resolution observation spectrometer (MAHOS) is developed as a compact, low power, digital fast Fourier transform spectrometer to be installed on a microsatellite. MAHOS has a compact design with dimensions of 0.154×0.125×0.040 m3 and mass of 0.7 kg. It uses only a few materials including a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) module with a lightweight aluminum alloy box. The highly stable spectrometer exhibits a sampling speed of 2.6624 GS/s and 16 384 frequency channels. The stability of the spectrometer is longer than 1200 s within the 1-GHz bandwidth. Thermal dissipation is achieved through a heat conductive gel filled in the gap between the most heat-generating component, the FPGA, and the aluminum alloy case. Results of a finite element analysis indicate that the design is stiff and stable enough to survive in the launch environment. Thermal analysis indicates the durability of the system during operation. Even in space where heat dissipation is not possible, self-heating temperatures are not a problem for the FPGA. In the future, the performance of the spectrometer will be verified by conducting environmental tests.

For more about this article see link below. 

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9468678

Software-Defined Radios for CubeSat Applications: A Brief Review and Methodology

CubeSats have revolutionized the way scientists and students perceive space. The majority of CubeSat communication is greatly limited by the AX.25 standards, the small communication window, the available transmission power, and the available bandwidth at VHF/UHF band. As a result, CubeSat radios could only establish low data rate links which restrict the communication capabilities of a CubeSat mission. In this article, a brief review of current software-defined radios (SDRs) used in space missions is given. In addition, two different design methodologies for SDRs for CubeSats are proposed that can be used as a guideline for CubeSat developers. Finally, a high data rate SDR for the UOW CubeSat project is presented that address all the above limitations. The radio operates at S-band, employs quadrature amplitude modulation with a maximum data rate of 60 Mb/s consuming 2.6 Watts in transmit mode and 0.4 Watts in receive mode. The digital signal processing functions and the mode control of the radio are orchestrated by a field programmable gate array system-on-chip. The analog radio frequency domain is accommodated by a 4-layer printed circuit board with dimensions of 92 mm × 88 mm. The goal of the UOW CubeSat radio is an adaptive, on-flight reconfigurable communication platform that will revolutionize the current communication capabilities of the CubeSats and expand nanosatellites mission perspectives.

For more about this article see link below. 

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9229089