Lancing College Discloses Crucial Evaluation of Design for UK's CanSat Project Submission
A team of students from Lancing College in the UK has submitted their entry for the Critical Design Review (CDR) in the UK CanSat project. According to the competition guidelines, the UK CanSat project aims to challenge young students aged 14 to 19 to design and build a satellite that can relay telemetry data about atmospheric conditions, which could potentially aid space exploration. The team's primary objective is to collect temperature and pressure readings, with their secondary mission being the collection of GPS data for use on planets with accessible GPS infrastructure, such as Earth. Following their Preliminary Design Review (PDR), the group is now submitting their CDR.
The team consists of six individuals, each bringing relevant skills to the project. Their satellite transmits six metrics every second, including temperature, pressure, altitude readings, latitude, and longitude. An Arduino Nano Every serves as the main processor, with a BMP388 sensor providing the temperature and pressure readings, while a BE880 GPS module captures the altitude readings and GPS data. The RFM69HCW module enables radio transmission and reception using LoRa technology.
The team outlines their project plan, progress, and risks in a Gantt chart, while cataloguing their inventory of skills. They also design and develop mechanical and electrical designs, construct the satellite circuitry and receiver wiring, and create a PCB in KiCad. Flow charts for the software have been developed as well. The use of Blender for data visualization and ChatGPT to generate an example data file for testing purposes are notable additions to their approach. Mechanical aspects such as parachute design and composition, as well as a high-visibility finish, are also addressed meticulously.
Various tests have been conducted to ensure the suitability of the students' design, and an outreach program has been initiated to showcase their achievements within their school community and online. We at our website extend our best wishes to these talented students for their submission and a successful launch on March 4th.
The core technology behind this project is LoRa, which is frequently employed in Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor monitoring applications. Examples of such projects include soil moisture and temperature monitoring with ESP32 and LoRa, smart agriculture and environmental sensing, industrial monitoring and predictive maintenance, asset tracking with Multi-mode Positioning, and peer-to-peer LoRa networks for custom applications. These projects, like the Lancing College CanSat project, use LoRa to transmit sensor or positional data over long distances with low power consumption, mirroring the telemetry and remote sensing aspects of CanSat missions.
- The Lancing College team's satellite, designed for the UK CanSat project, utilizes LoRa technology for radio transmission, just like projects such as soil moisture and temperature monitoring with ESP32 and LoRa.
- In their CanSat project, the Lancing College team relies on an Arduino Nano Every for data processing, while a BMP388 sensor provides temperature and pressure readings, and a BE880 GPS module captures altitude data and GPS coordinates.
- For self-development and learning, the Lancing College team uses tools like Blender for data visualization, ChatGPT for generating test data, and KiCad for creating their PCB designs.
- The Lancing College CanSat project, aiming to aid space exploration through telemetry data, mirrors other applications of technology like IoT and sensor monitoring, such as smart agriculture, industrial monitoring, and asset tracking.
