Autonomous Spacecraft Impact Monitoring and Repair (Status: On-Going)

Sisteems Engineering is engaged in a project to design an autonomous system that will monitor impact forces on spacecraft panels and, if necessary, repair damages that may have occurred during the impacts.  The motive behind this project is to increase the safety and performance of spacecrafts since unexpected events such as impacts from foreign objects during operation can severely damage a spacecraft, hindering the mission to be unsafe and unsuccessful. 

The impact monitoring system will use a network of strain gauges attached to a 12in x 12in aluminum plate to model a spacecraft panel.  The network of strain gauges will be hooked up to a computer to process the gauge readings.  Software will be developed to use the strain gauge readings to deduce the magnitude and position of the forces applied to the plate.  Using this information, analysis can be performed to determine if the impact forces have damaged the spacecraft in a way that would affect the mission.  Ultrasonic waves will be sent through the material and will be analyzed to determine the extent of the damage.

If the system detects critical damage, a self-healing mechanism will be activated in the location determined by the impact monitoring system.  Self-healing techniques that will be examined in this project include an epoxy/resin repair method and heating of composite material.  The goal is to have the self-healing system work autonomously with the impacting monitoring system.

Satellite Broadcasting System (Status: On Hiatus)

Sisteems Engineering is engaged in a project to design a satellite broadcasting system that will broadcast audio and data to a Sisteems Engineering designed receiver.  The motive behind this project is to design a low budget system capable of transmitting high quality audio and data to targeted receivers within a specified area.  This provides an alternative to public radio and commercial satellite radio since users can uplink their own audio and data and receive with little or no quality loss.  This project will consist of three main segments: the ground segment, space segment, and user segment.

The first segment is the ground station and is used to uplink information to the satellite.  The ground station segment will encode, modulate, and transmit audio and data to the satellite, the space segment.  The main components that make up this segment include an encoder, transmitter, and transmitting antenna. 

The space segment will receive the uplinked information, convert, amplify and broadcast the information down to the receivers on earth.  The main components that make up this segment include a receiving antenna, receiver, mixer, amplifier, transmitter, and transmitting antenna.  The space segment of this project will be achieved by placing the payload at high altitudes using a scientific research balloon. 
The final segment is the user segment, which will receive and output the broadcasted information.  The audio portion of the receiver will demodulate the audio information, process and amplify the signal to audible levels.  Since sound quality is a priority, the user will have access to audio equalizers on the receiver to make the most of the listening experience.  The information broadcasted will be displayed on the units LCD screen.  The main components of the receiver are the receiving antenna, signal processor, equalizer, sound amplifier and interface.

More information can be found on the Sisteems Engineering Wiki.