Four Students Build Radio System, Contact Space Station

Humber College now sports a rooftop antennae, and after receiving approval from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in late 2008, Gino Cunti and Paul Je of Toronto, Patrick Neelin and Kevin Luong of Ontario sent a signal into space on February 2, 2009.

Many “ham” operators were quick to point out that schools communicate with the ISS routinely through Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) (http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/) – however, most are made using a traditional ham radio, and individually, only handfuls of professional engineers have previously been successful.

So what did they do that was so unique? ARISS engineer Steve McFarlane commented, “They built their own transmitters, that's a challenge in itself. From a technological standpoint it's very impressive because they didn't use off the shelf equipment.”

With full college course loads, they worked nights and weekends over the past 18 months, designing and constructing everything from scratch themselves, including the transmitter, antennas and their own unique tracking system and software. "We had to build this system to NASA specifications ... this isn't one of your parents' CB radios," said their teacher Mark Rector. "It’s much more complex than that.”

The final design consisted of two redundant back-up radio-communication arrangements, each of which has tracking software, VHF transceivers, PIC micro-controller interface units, azimuth and elevation gimbal devices, plus antennae and power systems. Each use the100W transmitter and ultra-sensitive receiver coupled to a Circular Polarized satellite antenna mounted on a fully articulated system, with 180 degrees of rotation in elevation and 360 degree rotation in azimuth.

The system mimics how NASA itself communicates with the ISS – and NASA officials inspected the system to ensure it met specifications. Good thing, since reaching the station in its very narrow contact window is no easy feat while it travels at 28,000 kilometres an hour 400 kilometers overhead in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Their first attempt got only static, so Gino Cunti appealed hopefully a second time: “NA1SS this is VA3JUV Humber College checking in for scheduled contact, do you copy?”

And when a NASA voice from space finally came on the line, the breathless faculty, students and reporters burst into applause – and Paul Je burst into tears. Patrick Neelin spoke for the group, “I got maybe an hour of sleep last night, reflecting on the progress we've made ... and how we were told we were crazy and we'd never be able to do this.”

Operation First Contact also stimulated campus by holding a contest to select questions for the astronauts, whereby one student inquired about floating space debris, while another asked about the view of Earth from space.

“Up here I've seen the world from a different viewpoint,” Astronaut Sandra Magnus answered. “I see it as a whole system, I don't see it as individual people or individual countries. We are one huge group and we're all in it together.”

Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame (http://www.telecomhall.ca/pdf/humbercollege.pdf) announced that it will pay tribute to this innovative NASA-approved satellite radio-communication system to make voice radio contact with astronauts, at the Telecom Laureate Awards at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, in October of 2009.

Written and guest posted by Heather Archuletta of Pillow Astronaut.

Sources:
http://www.thespec.com/article/506268
http://www.thestar.com/article/533738
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090202.wcollegeradio0202/BNStory/Technology/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090202.wcollegeradio0202