ECE 710     Satellite (Spacecraft) Design


Winter Term  (2020w)       last updated 2020-3-30

Video of a CubeSat
This interdisciplinary course on space mission engineering and satellite design covers such diverse topics as satellite power, communications, control, imaging, computer, mechanical and thermal systems.  Space is a harsh environment to design for.  Course projects can be chosen from an area of the student's expertise. 

This course is offered as a grad course so both senior undergraduate and graduate students can register in it.  Undergraduate students must get approval of the instructor.

Course web page:    http://www.ualberta.ca/~delliott/ece710
eClass page and forum
 
Course Resources
Calendar Description
Marking Textbook
Term work
Lecture Notes
General Course Info Sample exams

Course announcements can be found here.
Questions can be posted here (and postings optionally delivered to your email).  If you know the answer to a question (a difficulty, not a problem solution), by all means post it.  Please read prior postings to see if your question has been asked and answered.  Create a new topic for most questions (unless it's a request for elaboration).
Use email for questions of a confidential nature.
Professor Duncan Elliott 780-492-5357 ICE 11-281

 

General Course Info

Lectures Tues&Thurs 17:00-18:20 in ETLC e1-008

Office hours
 

Outline

Ch.
Topic

Background
21
Power systems
22
Thermal control
19
Attitude control
22
Mechanical requirements & testing
16
Communications
20
On-board computing
15
Payloads
17
Imaging
8,9,10
Orbits
7
Space environment & radiation
24 Reliability
1,3,4,14 Space Mission Engineering and Satellite Design



If there is interest and time
18,26
Propulsion systems
29
Mission operations
30
Satellite disposal
(ask more questions and we'll cover less material but in greater depth)

Marking

Tentative Marking scheme for ECE 710.

Items that were/were denoted with ?? are tentative and are to be decided by majority vote in class by deadlines set by instructor.
Bonuses (>100%) may be available on some marked materials and will be carried forward.

Term work 30%
Problem Sets, app notes, CAD tool discovery
Project
70%

Jan 30
Feb 14
Feb 28
Mar 11
Mar 20
Mar 27
Apr 7
Apr 8
Design project
Proposal
Literature search and bibliography
Feasibility calculations
3-5 minute pitch presentation
Literature search and bibliography II
Design calculations
Final presentation
Final report
Final Exam 0% cancelled ??5 aid sheets 8.5x11 inch, hand written, any information
3 hours

Problem sets are due in class at the beginning of the lecture before being solved in class.  Mutually beneficial collaboration is encouraged, provided that the names of all collaborators are cited on the problem set ("worked with ..."), immediately below the student's name.  Marking will be based on effort, with a possible exception of multiple-week assignments at the end of term.  Please do not put student id numbers on problem sets or any other materials to be returned in class.  (Yes, put your student ID on final exams.)

Past handouts, unclaimed graded materials, etc. can be picked up from a box near ECE reception.

Submissions will not normally be re-graded more than two weeks after the first day these have been returned in class. 

The examination aid sheets must be in the student’s own handwriting (both sides, no photocopies or printouts), may be no larger than 21.59 by 27.94 cm (8.5x11 inch) paper, like a formula sheet, but may contain any information.

Deferred examinations and Re-examinations may contain multiple components (including an oral component) as designed by instructor.

If you wish to discuss private information, let me know that you'd rather not talk in the classroom.

In the past, students have indicated that audio recording stifles the asking of questions in lectures.  To keep everyone comfortable, audio or video recording or photographs by students requires the written consent of all students, unless Accessibility Resources indicates special needs.

Grade Determination Method

In this course, raw marks will be calculated up until after the final exam.  The percentage grade will be converted to a letter grade according to the calendar definitions of those grades and the degree of mastery of the material.

Code of Student Behaviour

The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at www.governance.ualberta.ca) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.

Policy about course outlines can be found in the University Calendar.

Project

Design a significant integrated circuit and verify its functionality and performance through pin-to-pin simulation and other verification.  Your design (or one of your designs) must contain  a full-custom portion and must contain some digital circuits.  Pick a topic you are passionate about.  Some of my suggestions are online.
 
Present your work and results in a 10-20 minute seminar plus questions.  You will need to rehearse your presentation in advance.  Bring a USB memory key with a PDF or PPT presentation, or your own laptop.  In this short presentation time, give an overview of the application of your chip, the chip's overall performance, and then descend into a few details where you employed clever tricks, found some interesting trade-offs, or otherwise have a chance to teach your fellow designers something interesting.

The main part of  final report will be in the form of a well-written 3-8 page "IEEE 2-column format paper" with embedded figures [LaTeX and MS Word templates].  (See me if you want to use a different format.)  In your abstract and introduction, clearly describe what you achieved.  Devote approximately a column to background and past work, with references to the literature, properly cited.  Properly quote and reference text and figures from other sources.  Describe analysis, simulations and, if applicable, selection between design alternatives.  Discuss speed-power-area trade-offs.  Compare standard cell to full custom implementations if applicable.  Include block diagrams, schematics and layouts (including full chip and custom blocks).  In a box, summarize the major performance of your project.

Your report may contain any number of pages of appendix in any format (separate PDF preferred, hard copy permitted).  Include as applicable:
index to appendices
drawings
source code, commented and human readable, a link to a repository (e.g. github)

Each page must have a title or enough information for me to figure out what I'm looking at.
hierarchical schematics, if applicable
annotated simulations, if applicable
other verification: evidence

Your report must be submitted electronically and will become public unless other arrangements have been made.

Submit a hard copy declaration with the quoted text below and your list of exceptions..All group members must sign and date their own signature.
"The design elements of this project and the report are entirely the original work of the authors and have not been submitted for credit in any other course except as follows:"
provide a descriptive list of exceptions that reference your citations [], e.g.
tachyon emitter schematic adapted from [1]
portions of the transporter beam design were previously submitted in ECE595 course report [2]

Textbook

Space Mission Engineering: The New SMAD (SME-SMAD) [Wertz, Everett and Puschell, 2011]
The book is not expensive for a textbook, but shipping is charged so consider combining orders.

Lecture Notes

The most important material will be covered on the white board.  Please ensure you have a complete set of notes.
Selected lecture notes will be made available online one week after the lecture.  A preliminary version may be available beforehand.
Use your ccid (Campus Computer ID) to access course materials.

Term Work

updated ~weekly
PS
Due
Assignments,
Past exams
Solutions
in class & online
1



2



3



5