Optimized communications protocol for low earth orbit cubesat

Thumbnail Image
Files
DESAI-UNDERGRADUATERESEARCHOPTIONTHESIS-2018.pdf (1.09 MB)
Author(s)
Desai, Baijun
Advisor(s)
Sankar, Lakshmi
Editor(s)
Associated Organization(s)
Organizational Unit
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics was established in 1931, with a name change in 1962 to the School of Aerospace Engineering
Organizational Unit
Organizational Unit
Series
Series
Collections
Undergraduate Scholarship
Supplementary to:
Permanent Link
http://hdl.handle.net/1853/60362
Abstract
The purpose of this document is to describe and analyze the implementation of a communications protocol to transfer data between a CubeSat and ground station. The mission of the CubeSat is to track debris in low earth orbit (LEO). Data transfers to and from the satellite include images, telemetry, commands, and processed data. The communications channel operates on a half-duplex connection with a single linearly polarized half-wave UHF dipole attached to the CubeSat, and a circularly polarized Yagi-Uda antenna on the ground station. Data will pass through a Software Defined Radio (SDR) and on the ground station over packet radio. The challenges faced in designing the protocol include high packet loss, short and infrequent access times, high delay times, variable signal strength, and limited power. The designed protocol will be implemented and tested on the CubeSat. It is evaluated against other existing communications protocols for performance.
Sponsor
Date
2018-05
Extent
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Undergraduate Thesis
Rights Statement
Rights URI