GISTDA Reduces CubeSat Cost and Measurement Time

GISTDA National Space Agency Captures CubeSat Opportunity

The Company: GISTDA National Space Agency

Thailand has long used space-based information for the management of its natural resources. Yet, it relied on imported technology until the founding of GISTDA. In addition to enhancing and improving the utilization in remote sensing and geo[1]Informatics, the goal of GISTDA is to scale up the country’s innovations in space technology and aerospace manufacturing at their GALAXI laboratory. Traditionally, importing a medium or large (> 500 kg) lower Earth orbit (LEO)/ medium Earth orbit (MEO)/greater Earth orbit (GEO) satellite could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, including workforce training and technology transfer. Such an investment would significantly overshadow the national budget allocated for GISTDA’s space programs. With the advent of smaller satellites, GISTDA recognized the opportunity to initiate its satellite development. Because of continuous technology miniaturization, current satellite development and launch costs have decreased significantly for these smaller devices. GISTDA embarked on designing, building, and testing an indigenous 3U CubeSat and small satellites. The space agency worked with King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok and Mahanakorn University of Technology to develop a 1U CubeSat engineering model beginning in 2016.

The Challenges: From Big to Small Satellites

Officially, the CubeSat’s mission was to capture an image of the Earth. Yet the project had another purpose — to enhance Thailand’s capacity for the engineering and development of satellite systems. CubeSats are a distinctively low-cost class of a nanosatellite that can weigh less than three pounds and come in a standard size and shape. The average CubeSat size is “one unit” or “1U” measuring 10 x 10 x 10 centimeters. The project is challenging technically because system construction occurs in a compact space. These subsystems include the onboard computer, electrical power system, and communication and control system. Also, the communication and telemetry subsystems of miniaturized satellites demand a trade-off between size and power. The satellite’s small footprint allows only a smaller antenna, limiting antenna gain and signal strength. The satellite team used FieldFox to easily validate antenna performance in the lab according to the vendor’s specifications. With additional lab testing, the team can ensure that the telemetry and transceiver subsystem meets the expected performance in a compact space together with the diplexer, switches, and other subsystems. Any single failure in the components or subsystems will render the CubeSat useless in space — wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Solution: FieldFox Deployed in Lab and Field

To support this level of testing, GISTDA partnered with Keysight Technologies to set up the RF satellite lab. That lab, which houses multiple instruments, serves as a training and electronic test center for the engineers. Key to the lab is the FieldFox handheld combination analyzer, which helped to meet both performance and budget requirements. FieldFox offers the flexibility of portability (3 kg includes the battery) and precise in-depth measurement that matches benchtop results. The instrument has up to 11 types of option-enabled applications. This scenario requires four types of applications: network analysis, spectrum analysis, power measurement, and cable and antenna analysis. Well-tested algorithms from Keysight’s high-performance vector network analyzers (VNAs) enhance the network analysis performance. For spectrum analysis, FieldFox includes the same PowerSuite measurements used in Keysight benchtop signal analyzers — enabling fast, accurate, and one-button characterization of channelized communication systems. With the InstAlign capability, you can instantly make accurate power measurements in the field — even when the temperature fluctuates. By leveraging the same user interface, engineers can easily maneuver between different applications in a single instrument.

The Results: Cost and Time Savings

With FieldFox, engineers only need to familiarize themselves with one unified user interface despite conducting four various kinds of test measurements for the satellites:

1. Power measurement
2. Spectrum analysis
3. Network analysis
4. Cable and antenna analysis

By quickly leveraging the different measurement applications, the engineers gain a better

understanding of the performance of overall system operations and individual subsystems.

The engineers can focus on what matters most: the reliability of the satellite before launching.

GISTDA saved 45% by purchasing FieldFox instead of opting for multiple benchtop

solutions. The solution also helped to reduce the overall measurement time by 20% when

using FieldFox for multiple measurement applications. FieldFox will certainly aid GISTDA in

meeting stipulated project deadlines and budget requirements.