Session
Technical Poster Session 12: Systems
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
A constellation of remote sensing small satellite system has been developed for infrastructure monitoring in India by using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Payload. The low earth orbit (LEO) constellation of the small satellites is designed in a way, which can cover the entire footprint of India. Since India lies a little above the equatorial region, the orbital parameters are adjusted in a way that inclination of 36 degrees and RAAN varies from 70-130 degrees at a height of 600 km has been considered. A total number of 4 orbital planes are designed in which each orbital plane consisting 3 small satellites with 120-degrees true anomaly separation. Each satellite is capable of taking multiple look images with the minimum resolution of 1 meter per pixel and swath width of 10 km approx. The multiple look images captured by the SAR payload help in continuous infrastructure monitoring of our interested footprint area in India. To support the mission, each small satellite is supplied with earth sensors, sun sensors, GPS to accurately determine its position and attitude, and Control Moment Gyro (CMGs) which is capable of high slew rate maneuver with precise pointing at minimum power utilization. Further, each small satellite is equipped with a communication payload that uses X-band and VHF antenna, whereas the TT&C will use a high data-rate S-band transmitter. The satellite requires a powerful set of batteries to operate along with an origami-designed solar panel with the implementation of GaN-FETs to improve the performance and efficiency of solar power conversion. The paper presents only a coverage metrics analysis method of our designed constellation for our India footprint by considering the important metrics like revisit time, response time, and coverage efficiency. The data processing for the captured images is not presented here. The result shows that the average revisits time for our constellation ranges from about 15-35 min which is less than an hour and the average response time for this iteratively designed constellation ranges from about 25-120 min along with hundred percent coverage efficiency most of the time. Finally, it was concluded that each satellite has 70kg of total mass and costs around $ 0.75M to develop.
Article
Constellation Design of Remote Sensing Small Satellite for Infrastructure Monitoring in India
Utah State University, Logan, UT
A constellation of remote sensing small satellite system has been developed for infrastructure monitoring in India by using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Payload. The low earth orbit (LEO) constellation of the small satellites is designed in a way, which can cover the entire footprint of India. Since India lies a little above the equatorial region, the orbital parameters are adjusted in a way that inclination of 36 degrees and RAAN varies from 70-130 degrees at a height of 600 km has been considered. A total number of 4 orbital planes are designed in which each orbital plane consisting 3 small satellites with 120-degrees true anomaly separation. Each satellite is capable of taking multiple look images with the minimum resolution of 1 meter per pixel and swath width of 10 km approx. The multiple look images captured by the SAR payload help in continuous infrastructure monitoring of our interested footprint area in India. To support the mission, each small satellite is supplied with earth sensors, sun sensors, GPS to accurately determine its position and attitude, and Control Moment Gyro (CMGs) which is capable of high slew rate maneuver with precise pointing at minimum power utilization. Further, each small satellite is equipped with a communication payload that uses X-band and VHF antenna, whereas the TT&C will use a high data-rate S-band transmitter. The satellite requires a powerful set of batteries to operate along with an origami-designed solar panel with the implementation of GaN-FETs to improve the performance and efficiency of solar power conversion. The paper presents only a coverage metrics analysis method of our designed constellation for our India footprint by considering the important metrics like revisit time, response time, and coverage efficiency. The data processing for the captured images is not presented here. The result shows that the average revisits time for our constellation ranges from about 15-35 min which is less than an hour and the average response time for this iteratively designed constellation ranges from about 25-120 min along with hundred percent coverage efficiency most of the time. Finally, it was concluded that each satellite has 70kg of total mass and costs around $ 0.75M to develop.
