The Firefly Satellite Mission at Siena
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The Firefly Satellite Mission at Siena Student Participation • 12 Undergraduates • 3 High-school Students • 3 Departments – Physics & Astronomy – Computer Science – Environmental Studies • Classroom Integration – PHYS 230: Electronics – PHYS 250: Computational Selected Student Projects • VLF Receiver Design • Data Processing • Digital Filter Design • GIS & Lightning Mapping Students building satellites! Some Firefly Team Members
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The Firefly Satellite Mission at Siena. Student Participation. Selected Student Projects. VLF Receiver Design Data Processing Digital Filter Design GIS & Lightning Mapping. 12 Undergraduates 3 High-school Students 3 Departments Physics & Astronomy Computer Science - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of The Firefly Satellite Mission at Siena
The Firefly Satellite Mission at Siena
Student Participation• 12 Undergraduates• 3 High-school Students• 3 Departments
– Physics & Astronomy– Computer Science– Environmental Studies
• Classroom Integration– PHYS 230: Electronics– PHYS 250: Computational
Selected Student Projects• VLF Receiver Design• Data Processing• Digital Filter Design• GIS & Lightning Mapping
Students building satellites!
Some Firefly Team Members
Some Cool Lightning Facts
Lightning Strikes
What are VLF and ELF Waves?
VLF waves recorded at
Siena College
VLF Waves at About 24.8 KHz
How to make this Computation?Speed of light: c = 186,000 Miles/Sec (300,000 KM/Sec)Frequency: f = 24,800 Cycles/SecWave Length: = c / f Miles (or KM) / Cycle
1 Cycle = 7.5 Miles (12 KM)
Amplitude (Peak-to-Peak)
Distance traveled over time
Radio S
ignal
Lighting-VLF Studies in Antarctica?
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Ground-basedVLF Monitors
SID– Low Cost
(~$150)– Single band– 1 sample/5
seconds– Preassembled &
tuned– Students build
antenna– Available free
to underserved schools from Stanford University.
AWESOME– Moderate cost (~$3000) – Broadband; sample rate of
100kHz on each channel – Capture ELF/VLF frequencies ~30 Hz - 50kHz– Dual use system: Daytime: monitor solar
activity Nighttime: monitor
atmospheric phenomena (e.g. lightning)
– So sensitive that nearly any signal above the ambient Earth noise floor can be detected
– Data useable for ionospheric and solar researchers
See http://solar-center.stanford.edu/~SID
What is a VLF RECEIVER
AWESOME VLF RECEIVER
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/SID/AWESOME/
Student Deployed VLF Antennas at Siena College
Summer in NY Winter in NY
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Firefly will employ on-board and
ground-based VLF measurements.
12Courtesy of Stanford University
• Undergraduate physics major Robert Carroll was the student lead on the lightning photodetector design.
• A primary task was to calculate the field of view of the photodetector and the overlap function.
• Minimum and maximum field of view were calculated based on the geometry of the photo detector and collimator.
Students building satellites!
The Firefly Satellite MissionStudent Profile
Firefly’s Optical and VLF Board
• Andrew, a junior high school student, works on the Lego MINDSTORM mission.
Students building satellites!
The Firefly Satellite MissionStudent Profile
