Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Theses and Dissertations Thesis Collection 2010-09 NPS-SCAT communications system : design, test, and integration of NPS' first CUBESAT Mortensen, Cody K. Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School http://hdl.handle.net/10945/5107 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS NPS-SCAT; COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DESIGN, TEST, AND INTEGRATION OF NPS’ FIRST CUBESAT by Cody K. Mortensen September 2010 Thesis Advisor: James H. Newman Second Reader: James A. Horning Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED September 2010 Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE NPS_SCAT; Communications System 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Design, Test and Integration of NPS’ First CubeSat 6. AUTHOR(S) Mortensen, Cody K. 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Naval Postgraduate School REPORT NUMBER Monterey, CA 93943-5000 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING ADDRESS(ES) AGENCY REPORT NUMBER N/A 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. IRB Protocol number: N/A 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) The Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) first CubeSat, NPS Solar Cell Array Tester (NPS-SCAT), will be the foundation for future advances in CubeSats at NPS. NPS-SCAT demonstrates the capability of the CubeSat form factor as a technology test bed for a single experiment – a solar cell tester. This thesis discusses and explains the design, testing, and integration of two full TT&C sub-system for NPS-SCAT. The primary and secondary transceivers will both use the amateur frequency band through an approved AMSAT license. This thesis explains the concept of operations of NPS-SCAT, which drove the data requirements for the TT&C. This thesis also explains the testing of the primary and secondary transceivers and the design, test and integration of the antennas. Finally, this thesis will discuss the TT&C ground station construction, methodology, testing and the frequency coordination access. 14. SUBJECT TERMS Satellite, CubeSat, NPS-SCAT, solar cell tester, 15. NUMBER OF communications, patch antenna, half-wave dipole antenna, beacon, PAGES TT&C, amateur satellite frequency coordination request, anechoic 166 chamber, voltage standing wave ration (VSWR), carrier-to-noise 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY 19. SECURITY 20. LIMITATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT REPORT PAGE ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239-18 i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK i i Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited NPS-SCAT; COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DESIGN, TEST, AND INTEGRATION OF NPS’ FIRST CUBESAT Cody K. Mortensen Lieutenant, United States Navy B.S., University Of Wyoming, 2002 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER SCIENCE IN SPACE SYSTEMS OPERATIONS from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL September 2010 Author: Cody Kim Mortensen Approved by: James Hansen Newman Thesis Advisor James A. Horning Second Reader Rudolph Panholzer Chairman, Space Systems Academic Group iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK i v ABSTRACT The Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) first CubeSat, NPS Solar Cell Array Tester (NPS-SCAT), will be the foundation for future advances in CubeSats at NPS. NPS-SCAT demonstrates the capability of the CubeSat form factor as a technology test bed for a single experiment – a solar cell tester. This thesis discusses and explains the design, testing, and integration of two full TT&C sub-system for NPS-SCAT. The primary and secondary transceivers will both use the amateur frequency band through an approved AMSAT license. This thesis explains the concept of operations of NPS-SCAT, which drove the data requirements for the TT&C. This thesis also explains the testing of the primary and secondary transceivers and the design, test and integration of the antennas. Finally, this thesis will discuss the TT&C ground station construction, methodology, testing and the frequency coordination access. v THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK v i TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ............................................1 A. CUBESAT – WHERE DID IT ORIGINATE? WHAT IS IT? ......1 B. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CUBESATS AND THEIR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS ..............................3 1. CubeSats Prior to 2007 ........................3 2. 2007 CubeSats .................................4 3. 2008 CubeSats .................................5 4. 2009 CubeSats .................................6 5. 2010 CubeSats .................................7 C. A BRIEF HISTORY OF NPS’ SMALL SATELLITE DESIGN PROGRAMS AND THEIR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS ...........8 1. PANSAT ........................................9 2. NPSAT1 .......................................10 3. TINYSCOPE ....................................11 4. NPS-SCAT .....................................12 D. THESIS OBJECTIVES .................................13 II. DISCUSSION OF NPS-SCAT’S MISSION AND COMMUNICATION REQUIREMENTS ...........................................15 A. NPS-SCAT CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS ....................15 1. Overview .....................................15 2. Start-Up Sequence ............................16 3. Normal Operations Sequence ...................17 a. Beacon (Secondary Transceiver) Antenna Deploy Task .............................17 b. Data Collect Task .......................18 c. MHX (Primary Transceiver) Wakeup Task ...19 d. Transmit MHX (Primary Transceiver) Task .20 e. Receive MHX (Primary Transceiver) Task ..21 f. Beacon (Secondary Transceiver) Transmit Task ....................................22 g. Receive Beacon (Secondary Transceiver) Task ....................................23 B. DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR EACH SYSTEM .................24 1. Overview .....................................24 2. Solar Cell Measurement System (SMS) ..........25 3. Electrical Power Supply (EPS) ................26 4. Temperature Sensors ..........................27 5. FM430 Flight Module ..........................28 C. POWER REQUIREMENTS FOR TRANSCEIVERS ...............29 1. Primary Radio (Microhard Systems MHX2400) ....29 2. Secondary Radio (UHF Transceiver Designed by Cal Poly) ....................................30 vii III. SCAT TRANSCEIVERS METHODOLOGY AND TESTING ..............33 A. PAST WORK ON SCAT TRANSCEIVERS ....................33 1. Primary Transceiver ..........................33 2. Secondary Transceiver (Beacon) ...............34 B. PRIMARY TRANSCEIVER SPECIFICATIONS AND TESTING ....34 1. MHX 2400 Specifications ......................34 2. Link Budget ..................................35 a. Uplink ..................................36 b. Downlink ................................38 3. Data Budget ..................................40 4. Radio Testing ................................42 a. Current Draw ............................42 b. Carrier-To-Noise ........................44 c. Configurations ..........................48 C. SECONDARY TRANSCEIVER (BEACON) SPECIFICATIONS AND TESTING ...........................................52 1. UHF Transceiver (Beacon) Specifications ......55 2. Link Budget ..................................56 a. Uplink ..................................56 b. Downlink ................................58 3. Data Budget ..................................59 4. Radio Testing ................................60 a. Current Draw ............................60 b. Carrier-To-Noise ........................62 IV. SCAT ANTENNA CONSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY AND TESTING ......67 A. PAST WORK ON NPS-SCAT TRANSCEIVER ANTENNAS ........67 1. Primary Radio Antenna ........................67 2. Secondary Radio Antenna ......................68 B. PRIMARY TRANSCEIVER ANTENNA .......................69 1. Design .......................................69 2. Specifications ...............................70 3. Antenna Testing ..............................71 a. VSWR ....................................71 b. Anechoic Chamber and Antenna Patterns ...74 C. SECONDARY TRANSCEIVER (BEACON) ANTENNA ............77 1. Design .......................................77 2. Specifications ...............................81 3. Antenna Testing ..............................82 a. VSWR ....................................82 b. Antenna Gain Pattern Testing ............84 V. SCAT GROUND STATION METHODOLOGY AND FREQUENCY COORDINATION ...........................................89