Spring Semester

Unit(s) of Assessment	Weighting Towards Module Mark( %)
2-hour closed book examination paper; 3 sections – answer one question from each section.	70%
PC-Based Assignment on Earth Observation Image Interpretation – 2000-3000 word report.	30%
Part-time Students: As Above

Through a series of lectures, exercises and coursework, the module aims to give an introduction to the applications of spacecraft and the design of suitable payloads, covering the principal areas of communications, navigation, remote sensing and space science and astronomy. The module forms a key part of the undergraduate programme in Space Technology and Planetary Exploration (STPE) complementing the spacecraft platform design material in the Satellite Bus Subsystems module (EE3.SBS).

Knowledge of EE2.ism (Introduction to Space Mission Design) and EE3.dyc (Dynamics and Control of spacecraft) is useful background.

To introduce the student to the key applications of robotic spacecraft, and to the operating principles, design and operation of their payloads. It is complementary to the EE3.sbs SPACECRAFT BUS SUBSYSTEMS module, which deals with the spacecraft bus itself.

• Be familiar with a wide range of spacecraft designed to meet communications, navigation, remote sensing and space science mission objectives. 
• Understand the key aspects of their payload designs.
• Be able to apply their knowledge to the preliminary design of payloads suitable for meeting similar objectives.

COMMUNICATIONS & NAVIGATION (12 hours) – Dr Craig Underwood

[1] Introduction: Development of SatComs, orbits, technology trends; overview of satellite Earth station technology.

[2-5] Communications link: antennas, beam-width, directivity; transmission equation, EIRP, free-space loss; noise, thermal noise, noise figure, noise temperature, antenna noise, system noise, G/T, intermodulation noise; link design: carrier-to-noise ratio, Eb/No, signal quality, modulation schemes. Access schemes – FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, packet-switching.

[6-9] Communications Payload Design: receivers, LNAs; frequency converters, mixers, local oscillators; channelisation, IMUX, OMUX and filters; HPAs (SSPAs, TWTAs); linearity, 3rd order intercept point, intermodulation products; transponder design; antennas.

[10-12] NavSats: position finding, orbits for GNSS, basic principles of GNSS (pseudo ranging), factors affecting accuracy; GPS; Europe ’s Galileo programme; applications.

PASSIVE AND ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING (11 hours) – Dr Craig Underwood

[13-16] Active Remote Sensing: Radar fundamentals, transmission and reception of radar pulses; the radar equation; radar cross-sections; polarization and Doppler effects; radar altimetry - applications; LIDAR, Laser profiling. Scatterometry - applications (sea waves); SLAR; Synthetic Aperture Radar: Introduction; basic principles, system-level payload design, example systems and applications – oceanography and ice-monitoring

[17-20] Passive Remote Sensing: Review of basic optics: telescopes - refractive and reflective; field of view; swath width; resolution; Rayleigh criterion; filters, beamsplitters; detectors (thermal IR and visible) PIN diodes, CCDs, film; performance, noise, D*, NEP; atmospheric transmission and scatter; passive microwave systems.

[21-23] Image Processing: radiometric and geometric correction; basic image enhancement and noise removal; transform methods; image classification; NDVI. Applications: Atmosphere, weather and climate studies; oceanography, SST, ocean colour; land applications: geology, agriculture.

SPACE SCIENCE AND ASTRONOMY (7 hours) – Dr Craig Underwood

[24-26] High Energy Photons: astronomy above the atmosphere; definition of UV, EUV, X-ray and gamma-ray wavelengths. X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, sources detection, imaging and spectroscopic techniques: Geiger counters; proportional counters – ability to discriminate between photons and cosmic-rays; microchannel plates, imaging proportional counters, X-ray CCDs. Imaging with honeycomb collimators and grazing incidence reflecting telescopes (e.g. Wolter type), Bragg spectrometers.

[27-29] Cosmic Radiation and Plasma Environment: Sun as a source of particles: the solar wind, solar magnetic field, solar rotation rate, solar (Sun-spot) cycle – correlation with solar flares, particle fluxes and energies. Sun-Earth interactions: the shape of the Earth’s magnetosphere – bow-shock and geotail regions: shielding. Plasmasphere and detection instruments. High energy Galactic-Cosmic Rays: mean composition – protons, alphas and
heavy- ions; flux and energy; Coincidence / anti-coincidence techniques to form cosmic-ray “telescopes”; solid state detectors, PIN junctions.

[30] Satellite Astronomy and Space Probes: The Hubble Space Telescope and its results; the principal missions to the planets: Mariner, Voyager, Galileo, etc.; Solar and interplanetary studies.

ISBN: 0-415-18962-4 £30.00 (A)

12 August 2010