Session
Technical Session VII: 11th Annual Frank J. Redd Student Scholarship Competition
Abstract
A small vector magnetometer has been constructed for DTUsat { a Danish CubeSat student project at the Technical University of Denmark. The presented magnetometer is used for attitude deter- mination in conjunction with sun sensors, and supply local _eld measurements for the magnetotorquer controller. Present launch date is June 30th, 2003 from Plesetsk, Russia. Constraints on mechanical size, mass, and power consumption due to the small satellite outline have lead to the development of a highly integrated magnetometer system. Excellent performance is achieved using integrated magnetoresistive thin _lm sensors with on-chip bias coil. Accuracy better than 50nT over the full operating range of -10_C to 70_C is achieved through careful circuit design and compensation in both hardware and software. The single PCB holds all magnetometer circuits including sensors, measurement circuits, synchronous serial interface for control and readout, and latch-up detection. This paper describes design, circuit topology, performance tests, and satellite level calibration of the vector magnetometer.
Presentation Slides
Compact Vector Magnetometer for Pico Satellites
A small vector magnetometer has been constructed for DTUsat { a Danish CubeSat student project at the Technical University of Denmark. The presented magnetometer is used for attitude deter- mination in conjunction with sun sensors, and supply local _eld measurements for the magnetotorquer controller. Present launch date is June 30th, 2003 from Plesetsk, Russia. Constraints on mechanical size, mass, and power consumption due to the small satellite outline have lead to the development of a highly integrated magnetometer system. Excellent performance is achieved using integrated magnetoresistive thin _lm sensors with on-chip bias coil. Accuracy better than 50nT over the full operating range of -10_C to 70_C is achieved through careful circuit design and compensation in both hardware and software. The single PCB holds all magnetometer circuits including sensors, measurement circuits, synchronous serial interface for control and readout, and latch-up detection. This paper describes design, circuit topology, performance tests, and satellite level calibration of the vector magnetometer.
