(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-04-28)
Choi, Thomas
The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is scheduled to support five different
small satellite missions within the next three-year frame (2017 to 2020). Because many
missions will share the same ground station system, a flexible and reliable ground station
system has been developed at Georgia Tech campus and Georgia Tech Research Institute
facility since Fall 2015. In addition to the missions expected to fly, more mission concepts are
being developed which could be funded and become actual flight missions. Proper trade
study and budgeting is necessary to select a proper communication hardware and establish a
link that is functional and efficient. This paper is written to provide a user guide for current
and potential communication subsystem engineers for small satellite mission teams at
Georgia Tech, who will utilize the ground station system, select flight hardware according to
requirements, and test communication links.