Session
Pre-Conference Workshop Session VIII: Communications
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
The Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite project abbreviated as "BIRDS” project started with a first-generation constellation of five 1U satellites in October 2015. Currently, BIRDS project is on its fourth-generation of CubeSat constellation. The 1U CubeSats in each generation follow the heritage of the previous satellites. The Communication subsystem has undergone multiple iterations to improve the performance on orbit. Until the second-generation of satellites (BIRDS2 CubeSat constellation), the two-way communication between the satellite in orbit and the ground station was difficult even though the ground test results seemed promising. BIRDS3 satellites went through major changes and succeeded in establishing a strong link between the satellite and the ground station. This paper describes findings that were made based on the on-orbit test results of the previous satellites that caused difficulty in the communication and some of the major changes that were made on both the BIRDS3 satellite side and the ground station side to improve the communication. BIRDS3 satellites have been operating exceptionally better in the orbit. The orbital link measurement resultis also included in this paper.
Improvement of Communication System for 1U CubeSat
Utah State University, Logan, UT
The Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite project abbreviated as "BIRDS” project started with a first-generation constellation of five 1U satellites in October 2015. Currently, BIRDS project is on its fourth-generation of CubeSat constellation. The 1U CubeSats in each generation follow the heritage of the previous satellites. The Communication subsystem has undergone multiple iterations to improve the performance on orbit. Until the second-generation of satellites (BIRDS2 CubeSat constellation), the two-way communication between the satellite in orbit and the ground station was difficult even though the ground test results seemed promising. BIRDS3 satellites went through major changes and succeeded in establishing a strong link between the satellite and the ground station. This paper describes findings that were made based on the on-orbit test results of the previous satellites that caused difficulty in the communication and some of the major changes that were made on both the BIRDS3 satellite side and the ground station side to improve the communication. BIRDS3 satellites have been operating exceptionally better in the orbit. The orbital link measurement resultis also included in this paper.
