OPTIMIZATION OF CUBESAT GROUND STATIONS FOR INCREASED SATELLITE NUMBERS

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18Jun_Writt_Andrea.pdf (1.59 MB)
Authors
Writt, Andrea J.
Subjects
small satellites
SmallSats
cube satellites
Cubesats
Monte Carlo simulation
Mobile CubeSat Command and Control
MC3
satellite operations center
SOC
pass conflicts
ground station optimization
ground station saturation
Advisors
Newman, James H.
Minelli, Giovanni
Date of Issue
2018-06
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
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Abstract
This thesis contributes to the growing body of research concerned with the issue of the increasing numbers of government small satellites (SmallSats) and the limited number of ground stations available to support these missions. To understand this “many satellite, few ground station” problem, a Monte Carlo simulation is used to identify the point at which a single ground station is expected to be overwhelmed, specifically looking at the case of the Mobile CubeSat Command and Control (MC3) ground station at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). Ground station saturation is defined in terms of data downlink requirements and the increasing number of conflicting passes as the number of SmallSats grows. An assessment of when one ground station becomes insufficient for a growing number of SmallSats is the result. The MATLAB software tools created to generate these scenarios are generic and can be used to extend this work to investigate other scenarios of SmallSats and multiple ground stations.
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Thesis
Description
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/10945/59624
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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.
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