| Description |
IntroductionCubeSat is a small satellite that can perform small missions, and it is able to send this data that it collects from space to earthusing radio waves. In addition to transmitting telemetryto the earth station, CubeSat alsouses UHF radio communicationto receive telecommands from the ground station, forthe mission to be a success. To ensurethat the communication between the ground station and CubeSat is up to standard,a FlatSatneeds to be built, which simulates the CubeSat. The FlatSat is located on the groundand contains a similar transceiver as the satellite.Thismakes it possible for the CubeSat team to troubleshoot CubeSat’s systemsfrom the ground. DescriptionWe proposeto make an affordableUHF communication system for theFlatSatmodel that will be able to simulate telemetry transmission and receiving telecommands from the ground station. To achieve this, CubeSat’s communication requirements have been made available.Toverify the effectiveness of this transceiver, we will be working in closecooperation withSpace Concordia Space Craft team with their CubeSat Mission known as SC-ODIN. The transceiver needs to operate in the UHF amateur frequency range of 435 to 438 MHz.The goal will be to design a power efficient telecommunication system, with variable transmission power between 1 and 2 Watts. Two modulation schemes that will be investigated for this project are BPSK and GMSK, with a minimum bitrate of 4800bps. The communication bus between the transceiver and the on-board computer will need to be chosen based on desired performance. Some of the available communication interfaces are USB, I2C, CAN, SPI, and UART. |