1 / 16

WVU Returns to RockSat 2010: A Research and Education Project

WVU Returns to RockSat 2010: A Research and Education Project. West Virginia University Rocketeers Student team : N. Barnett, R. Baylor, L. Bowman, M. Gramlich, C. Griffith, S. Majstorovic, D. Parks, B. Pitzer, K. Tewey, E. Wolfe Faculty advisors : Y. Gu, D.J. Pisano, D. Vassiliadis

mary
Download Presentation

WVU Returns to RockSat 2010: A Research and Education Project

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. WVU Returns to RockSat 2010: A Research and Education Project West Virginia University Rocketeers Student team: N. Barnett, R. Baylor, L. Bowman, M. Gramlich, C. Griffith, S. Majstorovic, D. Parks, B. Pitzer, K. Tewey, E. Wolfe Faculty advisors: Y. Gu, D.J. Pisano, D. Vassiliadis June 2010

  2. Mission Statement • The mission of WVU RockSat is to design, build, and test three atmospheric and plasma physics experiments: a temperature measurement, a vector magnetic field probe, and a radio-sounding plasma-density measurement. We expect to obtain height profiles for the first two experiments and get a proof of concept for a novel plasma measurement.

  3. Mission Overview: Radio Board • Measured variable: plasma density. • Processes: solar UV produces ionosphere >85 km. • Objectives: • Emit radio pulse which is reflected where index of refraction=0 • Measure density profile; identify E layer peak • For high-activity conditions: high-density patches descend to E-layer altitudes (“spread-F” effect)

  4. Mission Overview: Main Board • Measured variable: temperature. • Processes: atmosphere heating/cooling mechanisms. • Objective: identify layers based on temperature profile • Measured variable: terrestrial magnetic field. • Processes: field controls charged-particle motion. • Objectives: • Measure vector B, dependence on latitude, geocentric distance. • For high S/N: detect low-frequency waves

  5. Mission Research • Magnetic field: – Strongly involved in plasma structure and dynamics. – Experiment measures power-law decrease of field magnitude with geocentric distance. – differences in Earth's magnetic field can be caused by the interaction between charged particles from the Sun and the magnetosphere of a planet

  6. WVU Functional Block Diagram Main Board Power Supply RBF G Flash Memory Reg uMag X/Y/Z DI G I T A L uController Geiger Counter A D C Thermistor Temperature Inertial Sensor Z Accel Ax/Ay/Az Gyro X/Y P/Q/R Legend Battery Mag X/Y/Z Power/Reg Comp/Store Sensors Power flow Comm/Con Data flow

  7. uProcessor: Netburner MOD5213 Programming Language: C++ Programming Requirements: Periodic Interrupt Timers (PIT) 8 Analog to Digital Pins Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) 5 Digital GPIO Pins Write 19 sensor channels to binary text file Write to external storage using a serial port additional serial port for uploading software

  8. Main Board PCB Vertical Breakout Board

  9. Geiger Counter Included a Geiger counter in payload to help verify Plasma Density experiment

  10. WVU in RockSat 2010: Functional Block Diagram Radio Board Power Supply G RF in ANT Regs Fixed-f Pulse Tx ANT Pre-amp & Power filter RF out Super het LO Swept-f Pulse Tx ANT IF Amplifier uController A D C Flash Memory 10

  11. Transmitter Schematic

  12. Latest testing • Transmitter works on PCB when high-resonance frequency (>2 MHz) inductors are used. • If in addition, inductances are high, then we can use low capacitances.

  13. Receiver Schematic

  14. Programmable Circuit Elements • Programmable Capacitor used to control Transmitting and receiving frequencies • The Mod5213 PIT is used to control the digital capacitor (Max 1474) • We control simultaneously multiple capacitors: useful in extending range or resolution of effective capacitance

  15. Final Payload

  16. Concluding Remarks • Constructing our RockSat payload was a great hands on learning experience for experimental design and build. • WVU looks forward to participating in the next RockSat.

More Related