Advancing Engineering Education through University Ground Stations

Michael Irving Buchwald; Michael C.F. Bazzocchi

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: AERO 1: Rocketry and Space Education
Tagged Division: Aerospace Division (AERO)
Page Count: 20
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42590
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42590
Download Count: 116

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Paper Authors

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Michael Irving Buchwald Clarkson University

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Michael I. Buchwald, Aerospace Engineering BS, a 2023 honors graduate of Clarkson University. At Clarkson University he graduated with a pre-teaching minor. He pursuing a master's degree and will be going to graduate school in the fall for aerospace engineering.

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biography

Michael C.F. Bazzocchi Clarkson University

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Dr. Michael C.F. Bazzocchi is an Assistant Professor at Clarkson University and Director of the Astronautics and Robotics Laboratory (ASTRO Lab). Previously, Dr. Bazzocchi held positions at the University of Toronto (Canada) in Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, the Institute for Robotics and Mechatronics, the Toronto Institute of Advanced Manufacturing, and the Institute for Aerospace Studies. He was a researcher in Onboard Space Systems at Luleå University of Technology (Sweden). Dr. Bazzocchi also worked for the RHEA Group as a spacecraft concurrent design engineer on the Canadian Space Agency satCODE (satellite concurrent design) project.

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Abstract

Ground stations are essential for space missions to conduct data retrieval, telemetry, tracking, and control. Knowledge of these functions and ground station operations are necessary for the education of future aerospace engineers. In fact, ABET accreditation requires that a subset of these astronautical engineering topics be taught in all aerospace engineering curricula. In the past, ground station use has been limited to government and private space sectors due to their cost. As a result, this has led to few laboratory activities that employ ground station technologies in engineering programs. More recently, the cost of ground station components has decreased, along with an increase in publicly available designs, making ground stations more accessible to universities. Leveraging the newfound accessibility of ground stations in aerospace education, this paper develops an approach for the implementation of a university ground station and pedagogical activities designed for aerospace engineering students. The aerospace engineering pedagogy that has been developed in this paper began with the construction of learning objectives. The learning objectives were developed using Bloom’s Taxonomy in conjunction with knowledge of aerospace engineering curricula. These objectives were created using the six major categories of cognitive processes from Bloom: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create in conjunction with specific verbs corresponding to the six categories. The learning objectives were compartmentalized into three sections telecommunications, orbital mechanics, and data collection and analysis. These sections ensure alignment of the learning objectives with courses within the aerospace engineering curriculum through the use of hands-on ground station activities that fulfill ABET criteria. The format and structure of these activities were based on a literature review of different engineering laboratory manuals and their activities for similar topics. These activities focus on the use of an on-campus ground station for laboratory experiments. Ground stations provide students the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of telecommunications and orbital mechanics through hands-on interactive activities where students will apply their knowledge and skills to analyze real-world problems using the ground station. These activities were designed to use software and online resources to operate and collect the data from the ground station. Several resources were utilized to ensure the functionality and integration of the constructed on-campus ground station for the desired learning objectives. In order to ensure the accessibility of the developed approach, the open-source SatNOGS: Satellite Networked Open Ground Station was employed in this work. SatNOGS provides several different configurations of varying antennae, rotators, and rotator controllers for many different types of ground stations. The ground station selected was chosen based on its ability to connect with the learning objectives. This study develops, outlines, and discusses the design and application of a university ground station along with laboratory pedagogy for aerospace engineering programs.

Citation
Format

Buchwald, M. I., & Bazzocchi, M. C. (2023, June), Advancing Engineering Education through University Ground Stations Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42590

TY - CPAPER
AB - Ground stations are essential for space missions to conduct data retrieval, telemetry, tracking, and control. Knowledge of these functions and ground station operations are necessary for the education of future aerospace engineers. In fact, ABET accreditation requires that a subset of these astronautical engineering topics be taught in all aerospace engineering curricula. In the past, ground station use has been limited to government and private space sectors due to their cost. As a result, this has led to few laboratory activities that employ ground station technologies in engineering programs. More recently, the cost of ground station components has decreased, along with an increase in publicly available designs, making ground stations more accessible to universities. Leveraging the newfound accessibility of ground stations in aerospace education, this paper develops an approach for the implementation of a university ground station and pedagogical activities designed for aerospace engineering students.
The aerospace engineering pedagogy that has been developed in this paper began with the construction of learning objectives. The learning objectives were developed using Bloom’s Taxonomy in conjunction with knowledge of aerospace engineering curricula. These objectives were created using the six major categories of cognitive processes from Bloom: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create in conjunction with specific verbs corresponding to the six categories. The learning objectives were compartmentalized into three sections telecommunications, orbital mechanics, and data collection and analysis. These sections ensure alignment of the learning objectives with courses within the aerospace engineering curriculum through the use of hands-on ground station activities that fulfill ABET criteria. The format and structure of these activities were based on a literature review of different engineering laboratory manuals and their activities for similar topics. These activities focus on the use of an on-campus ground station for laboratory experiments. Ground stations provide students the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of telecommunications and orbital mechanics through hands-on interactive activities where students will apply their knowledge and skills to analyze real-world problems using the ground station. These activities were designed to use software and online resources to operate and collect the data from the ground station. Several resources were utilized to ensure the functionality and integration of the constructed on-campus ground station for the desired learning objectives. In order to ensure the accessibility of the developed approach, the open-source SatNOGS: Satellite Networked Open Ground Station was employed in this work. SatNOGS provides several different configurations of varying antennae, rotators, and rotator controllers for many different types of ground stations. The ground station selected was chosen based on its ability to connect with the learning objectives. This study develops, outlines, and discusses the design and application of a university ground station along with laboratory pedagogy for aerospace engineering programs.
AU - Michael Irving Buchwald
AU - Michael C.F. Bazzocchi
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Advancing Engineering Education through University Ground Stations
UR - https://peer.asee.org/42590
DO - 10.18260/1-2--42590
ER -