Design and development of a smart picosatellite

• Main Author: Tay, Willie Shao Liang
• Other Authors: Low Kay Soon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Satellite telecommunication
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/61195
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Miniaturised satellites have been gaining popularity and widely explored due to its huge cost saving potential, and its ability to customise payloads for specific missions. Using of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products in miniaturised satellites not only further pushes down the cost of production and launch, but also helps in saving time and allows easier implementation for its systems. Modern smartphone, an advanced COTS pocket-sized technology product, was experimented and used as part of the main hardware due to its high computing power. Taking advantage of its size, weight, high functionality, and various miniaturised in-built sensors, modern smartphones also fitted the requirements that can be used to carry out basic flight operations during satellite mission. Its memory saving capabilities as well as the flexible operating system also further endears researchers to thoroughly explore this option. This project focuses on building a power subsystem to extend the operation time of the smartphone used in the miniaturised satellite, as well as extending the range of Wifi signal from ground station to take advantage of the smartphone's Wifi capabilities to communicate and send data to the ground station. Solutions will be researched and explored, before carefully chosen and experimenting, to try and meet the objectives of the project.