Benjamin Kading

OpenOrbiter Mechanical Design: a New Approach to the Design of a 1-U CubeSat

The OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative is working to create a set of designs and implementation instructions for a 1-U CubeSat, called the Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats. These designs target a total parts cost of below USD

The OpenOrbiter CubeSat as a system-of-systems (SoS) and how SoS engineering (SoSE) Aids CubeSat design

5,000. This design will be made publically available to facilitate its use by others, with or without modification. A ‘side slotted’ CubeSat design (where main circuit boards are placed in slots between the rails on the outside) has been developed for OpenOrbiter. This paper discusses the design choices that were made during the mechanical structure development of the OpenOrbiter CubeSat design, required to keep it within the mass, volume and monetary budgets. Choices like the design of the aluminum support structure, fastener mechanisms, circuit board layout and science package support structure are all discussed and their ease of construction and efficacy are considered. A discussion of ongoing work on the spacecraft’s mechanical fabrication and other subsystems is also presented. The paper also discusses how the design can, prospectively, be utilized by others and the ‘bigger picture’ benefits provided by the design approach and open hardware concept.

A Novel Deployable Array Architecture for Micro to Full Sized Satellites

This paper discusses the use of the system-of-systems (SoS) methodology and SoS engineering (SoSE) to the challenge of the design and operation of a CubeSat-class spacecraft. It considers this in the context of one critical component system, the electrical power system (EPS) which interacts with virtually all other systems onboard the spacecraft. The spacecraft is also considered in the context of being a system-component of a larger mission system-of-systems. The efficacy of SoSE use for this endeavor is considered and recommendations are made for the use of SoS and SoSE by other small spacecraft and, more broadly, spacecraft developers.

Enhancing head and helmet-mounted displays using a virtual pixel technology

This paper provides an overview of several techniques that can be used on spacecraft of various sizes to increase the longevity of onboard solar power generation capability and – in some cases – via this, overall mission life. Three designs that shield solar panels until they are needed for use and which can, prospectively, provide other benefits are presented. A conventional design is also discussed, for purposes of comparison. Mass and volume analysis is used to demonstrate the cost (in terms of mass and volume) for the proposed solutions and compare this to the benefit provided by the extension in mission lifespan (and the value produced by this). A qualitative analysis is also performed, discussing other prospective benefits of the three proposed designs. A discussion of appropriate times to use the designs is also included.

A virtual pixel software and hardware technology to increase projector resolution

Head and helmet-mounted displays utilize pixels to display a digitized approximation of the real world. These displays must have a higher pixel density (as compared to a monitor or projected image) to create the same level of perceived resolution. This paper proposes a virtual pixel technology which incorporates a virtual pixel creation function. Each physical pixel’s configuration is based on the virtual pixels that it contributes to, allowing lower pixel density display hardware to produce the approximation of a higher pixel density. The paper provides an overview of the proposed technology and how it is applicable to head/helmet-mounted displays and considerations related thereto.

A virtual pixel technology to enhance the resolution of monitors and for other purposes

Increasing the resolution of the LCD (or similar) display used in projectors (in conjunction with increased light emissions, etc.) increases the resolution of the projected image and/or the distance that the projector can be from its screen. While increasing the size of the LCD panel represents one approach to producing increased resolution, this increases projector size and weight. This paper proposes the introduction of a mechanism to allow multiple pixels to be combined to create a higher resolution output image than the LCD (or similar) display used to create virtual pixels, increasing the effective resolution of the projector.

Characterization of a Large, Low-Cost 3D Scanner

Current monitor and television displays utilize pixels to display an approximation of the real world collected by a camera or generated computationally. This paper proposes a virtual pixel technology which incorporates coloring LCD combination. Each physical pixel’s configuration is based on a weighted average of the virtual pixels it contributes to. This allows lower pixel density displays to produce the approximation of a higher pixel density, while lowering production cost. The paper provides an overview of the proposed technology, discusses its application to monitors and extension to other areas and concludes with a discussion of the next steps to its development.