Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Optimization of error correcting codes in FPGA fabric onboard cube satellites(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2019) Tamke, Skylar Anthony; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Brock LaMeresThe harmful effects of radiation on electronics in space is a difficult problem for the aerospace industry. Radiation can cause faults in electronics systems like memory corruption or logic flips. One possible solution to combat these effects is to use FPGAs with radiation mitigation techniques. The following Masters of Science thesis details the design and testing of a radiation tolerant computing system at MSU. The computer is implemented on a field programmable gate array (FPGA), the reconfigurable nature of FPGAs allows for novel fault mitigation techniques on commercial devices. Some common fault mitigation techniques involve triple modular redundancy, memory scrubbing, and error correction codes which when paired with the partial reconfiguration. Our radiation tolerant computer has been in development for over a decade at MSU and is continuously being developed to expand its radiation mitigation techniques. This thesis will discuss the benefits of adding error correcting codes to the ever developing radiation tolerant computing system. Error correcting codes have been around since the late 1940's when Richard Hamming decided that the Bell computers he did his work on could automate their own error correcting capabilities. Since then a variety of error correcting codes have been developed for use in different situations. This thesis will cover several popular error correcting method for RF communication and look at using them in memory in our radiation tolerant computing system.Item An electrical power system implementing fixed power point tracking with temperature compensation(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2017) Zack, Kevin William; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Brock LaMeresFor the past decade Montana State University (MSU) researchers have been developing a Radiation Tolerant Computing System (RTCS) to support the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASA) technology road map for space technology. The next iteration of this effort is a free flying CubeSat being developed in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department named RadSat-g. This thesis addresses the Electrical Power System (EPS) of the satellite avionics in support of RTCS for RadSat-g. One of the main problems that CubeSat developers face is the small amount of solar power generated due to available space for solar cell placement on the small frame of a CubeSat. Charging the battery from the solar panels generally employ one of two types of energy transfer methods, direct energy transfer and power point tracking. Direct energy transfer's disadvantage is the strings of solar cells need to be tuned to the battery and as such has the potential to leave valuable space on the solar panel unused. Power point tracking has the advantage of the ability to utilize variable string lengths, this allows each solar panel to have the maximum number of cells and therefore exploit the maximum available power. In terms of CubeSat power availability, the RTCS has a substantial power requirement, so power point tracking is required for the satellite to be power positive. To accommodate this requirement, a new EPS needed to be researched, designed and built. This new EPS, named Phoenix v2.3 EPS, meets the needs of the RadSat-g mission while leveraging components with flight heritage from past MSU Space Science Engineering and Laboratory missions.Item Design, fabrication, and implementation of an embedded flight computer in support of the ionospheric-thermospheric scanning photometer for ion-neutral studies CubeSat mission(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2017) Handley, Matthew Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Brock LaMeresAs society increasingly relies on space-based assets for everything from GPS-based directions and global communications to human-driven research on the ISS, our understanding of space weather becomes vital. Timely predictions of a solar storm's impact on the ionosphere are imperative to safing these assets before damaging storms hit, while minimizing downtime during lighter storms. The topside transition region (TTR) is a global boundary where the concentration of O+ significantly decreases due to charge exchange with H+ and He+ from the thermosphere, as well as protons and neutral atomic oxygen from the plasmasphere. When high-energy electrons in the ionosphere intercept O+ ions, they combine and release photons at 135.6-nm. The Ionospheric-Thermospheric Scanning Photometer for Ion-Neutral Studies (IT-SPINS) mission will provide 135.6-nm nightglow measurements from a 3U CubeSat equipped with a high-sensitivity UV photometer. The CubeSat will spin about orbit normal, sweeping its photometer field of view through the ionosphere. Ground-based post processing will yield 2D altitude/in-track images of O+ density, providing weighting parameters for models of the TTR. This low-earth orbit (LEO) small satellite mission is a collaboration between the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, SRI International, and Montana State University (MSU). This research describes the design, fabrication, and implementation of the space flight computer (SFC) hardware and software responsible for handling all commands, telemetry, and scientific data required by this National Science Foundation (NSF) funded mission. The SFC design balances requirements derived from the mission objectives while leveraging heritage hardware and software from MSU's many successful CubeSat missions (HRBE, FIREBIRD, FIREBIRD-II) and payloads (EPISEM) [1-3]. This low-power (100 mW) embedded computer features dual 16- bit PIC microcontrollers running at 16 MHz with only 96 kB of RAM and runs the microC/OS-II real-time operating system (RTOS). The SFC also includes a TCXO-driven mission elapsed time clock with plus or minus 2 ppm temperatures stability, a 1 GB NAND flash for data storage, and interfaces to all other subsystems in the satellite. The SFC has passed all standalone testing. It is currently being integrated and tested with the entire IT-SPINS spacecraft and is planned to fly in late 2018.Item Low cost range and attitude determination solution for small satellite platforms(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2009) Greenfield, Nathan Joseph; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Joseph A. Shaw; David M. Klumpar (co-chair)The ability to determine the range and attitude between two satellites can be a challenging venture. It can be made more challenging when considering the use of such a system on a small satellite. Successful implementation of a small and low power range and attitude sensor could open potential doors to multiple small satellite constellations and formation flying maneuvers. After successfully demonstrating an electromagnetic docking system on a one-dimensional air track, it was determined that continued work into two and three-dimensional systems would require a more functional range and attitude sensor than was originally used. Such a sensor would have to be small enough for use aboard a small satellite, require little power while operating and provide accurate data over the required range of operation, all while maintaining a minimal monetary cost. The SATellite Range and Attitude Imaging SystEm (SATRAISE) was developed to meet this demand. In order to meet all of the listed requirements, a system based on an embedded Linux computer platform was developed. The hardware for the system utilized consumer grade, commercially available parts, including a standard computer webcam and LEDs. The software for the system made use of existing image processing libraries in order to facilitate the detection and identification of target points in frames captured by the webcam. Following successful integration of the hardware and implementation of the required software, the SATRAISE was characterized under a variety of operating conditions in order to verify the accuracy, stability and power requirements of the system. The results showed that the SATRAISE met or exceeded all of the established design goals.Item Focused investigations of relativistic electron burst intensity, range, and dynamics space weather mission global positioning system(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2011) Wilz, Mackenzie Charles; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Joseph A. ShawThe FIREBIRD mission (Focused Investigations of Relativistic Electron Burst Intensity, Range, and Dynamics) is a low earth orbit, space weather, CubeSat mission which is comprised of a two satellite constellation. This constellation is responsible for the measurement of relativistic electron microbursts with very fine spatial and temporal resolution. To achieve the spatial and temporal requirements of the mission, a global positioning system (GPS), for the purpose of navigation position and timing, is to be implemented on both satellites within the constellation. The integration and testing of this subsystem is integral to the mission's success. The GPS hardware must be capable of fulfilling the requirements of the mission in order for the science data to be interpreted reliably. This means that the GPS hardware must not only be accurate but precise as well. Also, a driver must be implemented in software in order for this data from the GPS hardware to be received, interpreted, and stored by the command and data handling subsystem.