FUNcube pictures released

AMSAT-UK has released images of the Command, Control and Telemetry (CCT) board being developed for the FUNcube Amateur Radio satellite

FUNcube is the latest satellite project being developed by AMSAT-UK members.

In addition to a telemetry beacon FUNcube will carry a 435 to 145 MHz linear transponder for SSB/CW operation. It will be the first time that a satellite this small has carried such a transponder.

The CCT (Command, Control & Telemetry) Board is one of the circuit boards being designed and made by a number of members of the AMSAT-UK FUNcube development team..
Its function is to control what the satellite does in realtime, for example.

• Automatically switch the satellite from ‘education mode’ to ‘amateur mode’.

• Gather readings from more than 30 sensors on the satellite, eg temperatures, battery voltages, currents etc, and convert them ready for downlinking via the beacon transmitter.

• Collect and store the data from the Material Science Experiment for a whole orbit to demonstrate variations in thermal performance of material having different surface finishes when in a vacuum and with, effectively. no gravity.

• Monitor the main battery voltage, and switch the satellite into a low power mode if the battery voltage drops below a certain preset level.

The board will also contain the vital circuitry to deploy the 2 metre and 70 cms antennas after the satellite is deployed from the rocket. It will process the readings from the various sensors, and apply Forward Error Correction (FEC) so that stations receiving the telemetry on the ground can do so error free. The board will communicate with the rest of the satellite via a system known as an I2C bus.

The pictures can be seen on the FUNcube site at
http://www.FUNcube.org.uk/

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