GENSO, CubeSats and Space Dial Tone

GENSO, CubeSats and Space Dial Tone
Naveen N. Purushotham Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Univ. of New Mexico
Craig J. Kief
Configurable Space Microsystems Innovations and Applications Center (COSMIAC)
R. Scott Erwin, Joshua F. Androlewicz and James Lyke
AFRL, Space Vehicle Directorate
and
Julius R. Jackson
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Central State University
This Research funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory
Problems to be Solved
Problems to be Solved
How do we break the mold of one ground station –
o do e b ea t e o d o o e g ou d stat o o
one e
satellite for science missions?
For a 3‐6 month mission, is it worth it to build a ground ,
g
station?
How do we facilitate the Ground segment to make it g
easier to get educational missions to space?
Can a larger community capitalize on these efforts?
g
y p
Background – GENSO
Background Global Education Network for Satellite Operations (
(GENSO) is a software standard which allows each )
f
h h ll
h
ground station on the network to communicate with non local spacecraft and transmit data to different
non‐local spacecraft and transmit data to different ground terminals that have access to the specific satellite.
GENSO was developed primarily by volunteers in the educational
by volunteers in the educational / amateur radio community. ESA took the lead under auspices of the International Space Education Board
GENSO Network Details
GENSO Network Details
*AUS = Authentication Server
*GSS = G
Ground
d St
Station
ti S
Server
*MCC = Mission Control Client
AUS – Primary in
Vigo/Backup planned
for Cal Poly to
supportt ELaNA
EL NA
MCC
with
GSS
GSS
One MCC will be assigned for
each GENSO registered
spacecraft when fully functional
MCC
CC o
on
Laptop
GSS
All GSS receive and distribute a piece of
the puzzle but only one MCC sees the
entire picture. Since the GSS is tied to a
physical ground station, it only sees what is
available during a pass whereas the MCC
has access to the aggregate of all
downloaded data.
Background and Current Status
Background and Current Status
• GENSO
GENSO Release 1 (R1) was delivered in 2009, and the current phase Release 1 (R1) was delivered in 2009 and the current phase
is regarded as "beta testing by invitation only"
• R1 is officially receive only. As of now, R1 has shown the capability to support manual transmissions. A human has to be at the GSS to push the transmit authorization
• GENSO R2 should be transmit and receive. R2 is still in development GENSO R2 should be transmit and receive R2 is still in development
but we hope it will become operational in 2011
• Besides Cal Poly and COSMIAC, there are no known GENSO GSS sites in the US • Current European Developers Forum meets weekly at 1am Albuquerque time for an online IM session
Albuquerque time for an online IM session
• GENSO downloads audio (stored as wav files) and data (packets)
GENSO – Hardware Details
GENSO Hardware Details
• With GENSO, any hardware can be used but you have to write your own drivers
i
di
– Pros: any hardware can be used
– Cons: virtually no drivers exist for any hardware
Cons virtually no drivers exist for any hardware
• Process to become active with GENSO is to: –1
1. Complete and submit an application for the GENSO Complete and submit an application for the GENSO
network – 2. Download the software – 3. If your equipment is not currently supported, write your own drivers, test them and then submit for future releases.
GENSO ‐ Future
GENSO • We
We need developers
need developers
• COSMIAC, Cal Poly and Drexel have created a US based developers group –
b dd l
Weekly telecoms kl
l
on Tuesday evenings
• SDR ahead?
SDR – A pathway to merge all the above
SDR allows dynamic reconfiguration of one piece SDR
allows dynamic reconfiguration of one piece
of hardware to perform multiple radios capabilities thus reducing the need for many
capabilities thus reducing the need for many racks of different radio equipment.
Firehose Radio
COSMIAC CubeSat
Board
ETTUS USRP Board
COSMIAC Initial Ground Station
• Began satellite communications efforts two years ago – sister site on base 6 months ago
• Utilized HAM radios for testing: AO‐51, AO‐27, etc.
• SDR with Ettus
Current COSMIAC Ground Station
Current COSMIAC Ground Station
The ground station is the g
communication link between the satellite, GENSO and other SDR activities The
other SDR activities. The GENSO system controls the tracking, position and frequency channel control.
10
CubeSat Initial Objectives
CubeSat Initial Objectives
• Started in 1999: Stanford‐Cal Poly Team
• Facilitate Access to Space:
– Rapid Development Time (1‐2 years, Student Career)
– Low‐Cost
L
C
– Launch Vehicle Flexibility
• U
Use Standards (22 pages)
St d d (22
)
• University Projects
• Industry, Radiation and Larger Satellite Testbed
11
Some Facts as of 2009
Some Facts as of 2009
•
•
•
•
28 CubeSats in LEO (44 Launched)
28
C beSats in LEO (44 La nched)
Over 100 Developers Worldwide
Dedicated Workshops/Meetings
CubeSat Industrial Suppliers
pp
These slides
Th
lid courtesy
t
off
Dr. Jordi Puig-Suari at Cal
Poly
Who Cares about CubeSats?
Who Cares about CubeSats?
• Boeing Colony II
• AFRL SBIR and XR Solicitations
AFRL SBIR and XR Solicitations
• NSF and ELaNA Solicitations
• Not all missions can be done with CubeSats but…
• Reasonably fundable testbed for new communications R
bl f d bl t tb d f
i ti
techniques, space weather and other algorithm verification • By far the #1 cause of program failures is failures to be funded – that accounts for probably 98% of failed missions
funded –
that accounts for probably 98% of failed missions
Rick Fleeter – The Logic of Microspace
13
Space Dial Tone?
Space Dial Tone?
• Is there a way to merge
y
g
•
•
•
•
•
GENSO
Space Plug‐and‐play
Space Plug
and play Architecture (SPA)
Architecture (SPA)
SDR
RF Ground Stations
RF Ground Stations
CubeSats
Plug‐and‐play Communications
Analogy /Generalization
l
/
l
• Typical Communications Between People on the G
Ground involve “dial tone metaphor”
d i l “di l t
t h ”
– Actual dial tone used on land lines
– Emergence of cellular telephony
Emergence of cellular telephony
• Mimics the dial tone metaphor • Changing vendors doesn’t alter the concept of communications
• Contrasting picture with space communications
– Changing from AFSCN, TDRSS, ham radio, etc involves f d
fundamental changes in how we work with ground l h
i h
k ih
d
architectures – No concept like the dial tone
Why not a space dial tone?
Eventual Expansion to multiple communications architectures
h
• Just as one would shop for cell p
phones / plans, cubesat developers will be able to explore different comm
explore different comm options using different “phone instruments” but same “space TDRS
dial tone” access concept
• Each connects to cubesat through same modular
through same modular interface
• Each allows user to connect to same universal portal (space BGAN
dial tone) to access information
Amateur radio
Iridium,
Etc.
Simplified Universal Portal Architecture
BGAN
TDRS‐MA
Amateur radio
802.11 (lab test)
WiMax
(lab test)
Z B5
Z B5
Z1
Z2
ZB4
TDRSS
ground
BGAN Terminal(s)
ZB2
ZB1
adapter
Y2
Amateur radio stations
U1
U1
adapter
U1
U1
U1
U1
Internet
Y1
U1
Y1
Y1
Y1
Universal portal server
Y2
Space Dial Tone Users
SMS text “twitter”