Session
Weekend Poster Session 1
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
Traditional CubeSat Attitude Determination Control Systems (ADCS) leverage the Earth's magnetic field to point and detumble satellites using magnetorquers. Very few commercially available devices, however, generate adjustable uniform magnetic fields with a sufficiently large volume to test these ADCS in 12U satellites before launch. Furthermore, the existing devices are cost-prohibitive for smaller universities and organizations interested in developing small satellites. To assuage this challenge, we developed MCCATS: a modular, low-cost, and footprint-efficient test bed capable of generating a large volume of uniform and programmable magnetic field. The MCCATS design is based on the Merritt coil, which contains four large coils on each of the three axes. In comparison to the more ubiquitous Helmholtz coils, Merritt coils generate a larger ratio of usable volume to total cage volume. When simulated, our Merritt coil design took up less than one-third of the floor space of existing Helmholtz cages that produce a similar usable volume. Furthermore, instead of requiring 3 expensive programmable power supplies (1 per axis), we designed a system that utilizes one constant power supply and three self developed programmable coil drivers, providing a budget-friendly and flexible alternative for driving the Merritt cage. The resulting testbed was designed to be capable of generating magnetic fields up to 2.5 gauss that can be oriented in a single specified direction or configured for rotation.
Merritt Coil CubeSat Attitude Test System (MCCATS)
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Traditional CubeSat Attitude Determination Control Systems (ADCS) leverage the Earth's magnetic field to point and detumble satellites using magnetorquers. Very few commercially available devices, however, generate adjustable uniform magnetic fields with a sufficiently large volume to test these ADCS in 12U satellites before launch. Furthermore, the existing devices are cost-prohibitive for smaller universities and organizations interested in developing small satellites. To assuage this challenge, we developed MCCATS: a modular, low-cost, and footprint-efficient test bed capable of generating a large volume of uniform and programmable magnetic field. The MCCATS design is based on the Merritt coil, which contains four large coils on each of the three axes. In comparison to the more ubiquitous Helmholtz coils, Merritt coils generate a larger ratio of usable volume to total cage volume. When simulated, our Merritt coil design took up less than one-third of the floor space of existing Helmholtz cages that produce a similar usable volume. Furthermore, instead of requiring 3 expensive programmable power supplies (1 per axis), we designed a system that utilizes one constant power supply and three self developed programmable coil drivers, providing a budget-friendly and flexible alternative for driving the Merritt cage. The resulting testbed was designed to be capable of generating magnetic fields up to 2.5 gauss that can be oriented in a single specified direction or configured for rotation.
