Both for sounding rockets and satellites, it is important to measure the floating potential of the spacecraft. For previous events with intense auroral activity, the DMSP F6 and F7 satellites have been estimated to charge to several hundred volts negative. In extreme but rare cases, satellites in eclipse in the auroral region can charge to levels below -2 kV. Such events can lead to arcing around solar panels, endangering the entire satellite. Developing a Floating Probe that can measure spacecraft floating potentials in the entire range up to -2 kV can hence solve both scientific issues for plasma diagnostics and reliability issues for satellites buses.
A first iteration of a prototype has already been designed and initial tests have been performed in the UiO 4DSpace plasma chamber. However, a number of limitations have been identified and needs to be resolved. The aim of this project is to continue the development and complete the first version fully working prototype, demonstrating that it can meet the design goals of resolving floating potentials up to at least -1500 V, with a time resolution of better than 1 ms.
The main scope of the proposed master thesis work will be to develop a new iteration of the analog front-end electronics, improve and complete the digital readout, and verify the design in the UiO 4DSpace plasma chamber. The digital backend is currently based on an existing solution using a TMS570 Hercules microcontroller from Texas Instrument, but an FPGA based solution can be considered.
The interested student should preferably have some knowledge and experience in analog electronics, embedded software development in C/C++, RTOS, performing experiments including the use of basic instrumentations such as power supplies, oscilloscopes and source measurement units. If an FPGA solution is considered, experience with VHDL will be an advantage.
The thesis work will be carried out with co-supervision from an industrial partner, Eidsvoll Electronics AS, which has developed space instrumentation for decades.
For further details on EIDEL see www.eidel.no, or contact Dr. Tore André Bekkeng (tab@eidel.no)