published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (LL.M.). / Written for the Institute of Air & Space Law. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/07/28). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S. in Astronautical Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, Dec. 2004. / Thesis Advisor(s): Brij N. Agrawal. Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-104). Also available online.

Project report (M. For.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. M.S. 1993. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-62). Also available via the Internet.

Effectiveness of solar radiation pressure in the three-axis attitude control of present day and next generation of large communications satellites is investigated. A simple two-flap configuration is used with optimization of the direction of the applied control moment rather than the magnitude of the weak solar radiation pressure. Simulations were carried out in the presence of varying orbital eccentricity and inclination, solar aspect angle and controller dynamics parameters. Time histories of librational response against orbital position are presented for controlled and uncontrolled conditions. The results suggest the semipassive controller to be quite effective over a wide range of system parameters and it can meet the exacting pointing accuracy demanded by large communications satellites. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mechanical Engineering, Department of / Graduate

The equations of motion for a satellite with a rigid central body and a pair of appendages deforming due to thermal effects of the solar radiation are derived. The dynamics of the system is studied in two stages: (i) librational dynamics of the central body with quasi-steady thermally flexed appendages; (ii) coupled librational/vibrational dynamics of the spacecraft. Response of the system is investigated numerically over a range of system parameters and effect of the thermal deformations assessed. The study indicates that for a circular orbit, the flexible system can become unstable under critical combinations of system parameters and initial conditions although the corresponding rigid system continues to be stable. However, in eccentric orbits, depending on the initial conditions, thermally flexed appendages can stabilize or destabliIize the system. Attempt is also made to obtain an approximate closed-form (analytical) solution of the problem to quickly assess trends and gain better physical appreciation of response characteristics during the preliminary design. Comparisons with numerical results show approximate analysis to be of an acceptable accuracy for the intended objective. The closed-form solution can be used with a measure of confidence thus promising a substantial saving in time, effort, and computational cost. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mechanical Engineering, Department of / Graduate

There is an ever increasing need for low-cost communication systems in the world. One such system, low-earth-orbit satellites, can provide store-and-forward, as opposed to real time, communication for many earth stations. The advantages and disadvantages of such a system is presented. Material covering protocols and communications architectures is elaborated upon for the use of amateur radio communications. Doppler shift and its effect on satellites in low-earth-orbit is examined. Efficiency and throughput of the Amateur X.25 Protocol will be explored. The last chapter entails the analysis of the PACSAT experiment. / Master of Science

Master of Science

The need for absolute radiometric calibration of space-based sensors will continue to increase as new generations of space sensors are developed. A reflectance-based in-flight calibration procedure is used to determine the radiance reaching the entrance pupil of the sensor. This procedure uses ground-based measurements coupled with a radiative transfer code to characterize the effects the atmosphere has on the signal reaching the sensor. The computed radiance is compared to the digital count output of the sensor associated with the image of a test site. This provides an update to the preflight calibration of the system and a check on the on-board internal calibrator. This calibration procedure was used to perform a series of five calibrations of the Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM). For the 12 measurements made in TM bands 1-3, the RMS variation from the mean as a percentage of the mean is (+OR-) 1.9%, and for measurements in the IR, TM bands 4,5, and 7, the value is (+OR-) 3.4%. The RMS variation for all 23 measurements is (+OR-) 2.8%. The absolute calibration techniques were put to another test with a series of three calibration of the SPOT-1 High Resolution Visible, (HRV), sensors. The ratio, HRV-2/HRV-1, of absolute calibration coefficients compared very well with ratios of histogrammed data obtained when the cameras simultaneously imaged the same ground site. Bands PA, B1 and B3 agreed to within 3%, while band B2 showed a 7% difference. The procedure for performing a satellite calibration was then used to demonstrate how a calibrated satellite sensor can be used to quantitatively evaluate surface reflectance over a wide range of surface features. Predicted reflectance factors were compared to values obtained from aircraft-based radiometer data. This procedure was applied on four dates with two different surface conditions per date. A strong correlation, R('2) = .996, was shown between reflectance values determined from satellite imagery and low-flying aircraft data. Of the 32 predicted reflectance values only six had a difference greater than 0.01. A mean difference of .0007 was obtained for the 32 cases. In addition, a procedure had to be developed to obtain uncorrected digital counts from processed satellite imagery.