The Ohmlettes team after a presentation during the fall semester

Team Ohmlettes
  • Siera Kiana Camacho
  • Zachary Butler
  • Thomas Flynn
  • Miles Iola
  • Maxwell Moroco
  • Matthew Patricoski

Watch the Demo Video  Download the Project Poster

Project Sponsor: University Corporation for Atmospheric Research’s (UCAR) High Altitude Observatory (HAO)

UCAR’s High Altitude Observatory needs a custom designed PCB board dedicated to the control and communication systems between their on-board computer (OBC) and solar camera on a CubeSat. HAO is primarily focused on astrophysics research and thus commissioned the control board for a CubeSat project in which they hope to measure the magnetic fields within the solar corona at high spectral and spatial resolution. Without this control board, the OBC would have no way to directly communicate, control, and configure commands to the optical payload rendering the camera unusable.

The control board will be addressing a multitude of design challenges that HAO has addressed. The control board must be able to provide variable control to the solar camera and provide a power distribution network for the peripherals used. This system must also be designed with components similar in performance to those rated for operation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to allow for minimal design changes in future space bound iterations. Since there is no simple access for repairs or data extraction once the satellite is launched, redundancies will be needed to ensure the proper operation of this device.

The Polarization and Energetics in Line Emission (PELE) control board provides a solution for these requirements by utilizing the diverse capabilities of ultralow power microcontrollers and a custom designed PCB. PELE has high signal integrity characteristics and contingencies that make it ideal to operate in the LEO environment. It operates with low power consumption in its active state and ultra-low power consumption in its dormant state. A custom PCB provides adjustable variable amplitude square wave signals which are necessary for the configuration of the solar camera. The optical array, which will collect data on a wide variety of solar radiation, is configurable by the microcontroller via commands sent from the OBC. Important considerations such as onboard communications, low power operations, and contingency states are also necessary for the control board’s effective operation. 

HAO is primarily focused on astrophysics research; PELE provides a unique capability to study solar radiation that can be used for many forms of astrological data collection. Positioning a coronagraph in LEO improves the ability to collect data, and thus HAO commissioned this control board for a CubeSat project in which they hope to measure the magnetic fields within the solar corona at high spectral and spatial resolution. In addition to HAO, the entire solar physics community as well as the electronics industry will benefit from this project. Anyone who wants to perform high resolution spectrography with fine tuning capability can utilize this device for their own research. Aside from solar radiation analysis, the control board would also be effective in the evaluation and control of LCD screens.

The highly customized nature of the project platform is uniquely tailored to HAO’s needs. This project bridges the technological and financial disparity between ground-based solar observatories and exoatmospheric orbital observatories. While large scale upper atmosphere observatories such as the Hubble telescope can cost over ten billion dollars between development and upkeep costs, cubesat projects regularly cost less than five hundred thousand dollars to produce and operate. This approach allows for expedient developmental iteration, time and cost-effective operation, and future development flexibility.