Breadboard used for ARKSAT sensor testing

Author: Ben Harp | Major: Mechanical Engineering and Physics | Semester: Spring 2024

My name is Ben Harp. I am studying Mechanical Engineering and Physics and doing research with Dr. Huang. The focus of my research is attitude (position and orientation) sensing systems for CubeSats. After graduating I plan on going to graduate school for Aerospace Engineering.

CubeSats are small satellites that many universities and businesses use for relatively cheap research in space. The state-of-the-art CubeSat attitude determination systems are either not very accurate or very expensive. My goal is to develop a highly accurate system that has a relatively low cost. Cheaper sensors tend to be relatively inaccurate but by calibrating and characterizing these sensors I will be able to draw a more accurate value from the data they output. The gross inaccuracies are easy to deal with, but it becomes more and more difficult as the changes become finer. To deal with the finer inaccuracies, I have started to develop a simulation environment for the CubeSat.

At the end of my freshman year, I wanted to begin research in Aerospace and knew that Dr. Huang was the primary Aerospace faculty member. After reaching out to him and joining his lab, I worked on various projects and then when given a choice between them, I chose the one I’m currently working on.

The biggest thing I’ve learned from research is how difficult it is to do something new. In a classroom setting there are obviously difficult concepts and assignments, but all those things have already been done before. Because of this, there are tons of textbooks and other resources out there to help. Having to create unique solutions and create new processes forces me to think in a different way than I do in my normal coursework.

I met with Dr. Huang and the other students in his lab once a week. At that meeting I presented the work I had done that week and Dr. Huang and the other students gave me feedback and suggestions about my work. These meetings were very helpful because they not only allowed me to ask questions and receive feedback but also forced me to practice presenting my work and explaining it to other people. Towards the beginning I worked more with other students because we were all learning the language that the satellite control system uses for programming. After that, we all split into our own research focuses.

I went to an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics student conference in April. The conference was a great experience because it allowed me to practice technical writing about my research and preparing a presentation. Dr. Huang was very helpful in giving me insight into technical presentations. The style was mostly different to how I had created presentations in the past. It was also cool to get to talk to students at other universities that share similar interests to mine.

I am going to be working on this project for most of next year. After the launch of a CubeSat called ARKSAT-2, depending on several factors, I may work on a different project within the same lab.