HighBeam Research - Newspaper archives and journal articles
Options
Cancel changes
Follow us:
  • Subscription benefits
  • Log in
  • Sign up for a free, 7-day trial
  • Publications
  • Research topics
  • Topics home
  • People
    • Artists and Entertainers
    • Company executives
    • Historical figures
    • Politicians and Government officials
    • World Leaders
  • Issues and Events
    • Health and Medicine
    • Historical Events
    • Religion and Theology
    • Science and Technology
  • Places
  • Organizations
  • A-Z
    • A-G
    • H-O
    • P-T
    • U-Z
    • 0-9
  • Publications home
  • Journals
    • Academic journals
    • Business journals
    • Education journals
    • Math and Engineering journals
    • Medical journals
    • Science and Technology journals
    • Trade journals
  • Magazines
    • Business magazines
    • Computer magazines
    • Education magazines
    • Industry magazines
    • Lifestyle magazines
    • Medical magazines
  • Newspapers
    • International newspapers and newswires
    • Reports, newsletters, and transcripts
    • U.K. newspapers
    • U.S. newspapers and newswires
  • Reference works and books
    • Almanacs
    • Dictionaries and thesauruses
    • Encyclopedias
    • Non-fiction books
  • Subscription benefits
  • Log in
  • PUBLICATIONS HOME
  • Journals
    • Academic journals
    • Business journals
    • Education journals
    • Math and Engineering journals
    • Medical journals
    • Science and Technology journals
    • Trade journals
  • Magazines
    • Business magazines
    • Computer magazines
    • Education magazines
    • Industry magazines
    • Lifestyle magazines
    • Medical magazines
  • Newspapers
    • International newspapers and newswires
    • Reports, newsletters, and transcripts
    • U.K. newspapers
    • U.S. newspapers and newswires
  • Reference works and books
    • Almanacs
    • Dictionaries and thesauruses
    • Encyclopedias
    • Non-fiction books
Home » Publications » Math and Engineering journals » EE-Evaluation Engineering » June 2010 »
  • Save
    This article has been saved!
    You may organize and add notes about this article below.
    This article has been saved!
    View all saved articles
  • Export

    To export this article to Microsoft Word, please log in or subscribe.

    Have an account? Please log in

    Not a subscriber? Sign up today

  • Print
  • Cite

    MLA

    Lombardi, Mark.R.. "Communications test tools: a study of the Cassini-Huygens mission.(AEROSPACE/DEFENSE TEST)(Product/service evaluation)." EE-Evaluation Engineering. NP Communications, LLC. 2010. HighBeam Research. 22 Apr. 2018 <https://www.highbeam.com>.

    Chicago

    Lombardi, Mark.R.. "Communications test tools: a study of the Cassini-Huygens mission.(AEROSPACE/DEFENSE TEST)(Product/service evaluation)." EE-Evaluation Engineering. 2010. HighBeam Research. (April 22, 2018). https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-228903678.html

    APA

    Lombardi, Mark.R.. "Communications test tools: a study of the Cassini-Huygens mission.(AEROSPACE/DEFENSE TEST)(Product/service evaluation)." EE-Evaluation Engineering. NP Communications, LLC. 2010. Retrieved April 22, 2018 from HighBeam Research: https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-228903678.html

    Please use HighBeam citations as a starting point only. Not all required citation information is available for every article, and citation requirements change over time.

Communications test tools: a study of the Cassini-Huygens mission.(AEROSPACE/DEFENSE TEST)(Product/service evaluation)

EE-Evaluation Engineering
EE-Evaluation Engineering

See all results for this publication

Browse back issues of this publication by date

June 1, 2010 | Lombardi, Mark.R. | Copyright
COPYRIGHT 2009 Nelson Publishing. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights or concerns about this content should be directed to Customer Service.
  • Permalink

    Create a link to this page

    Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

    <a href="https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-228903678.html" title="Communications test tools: a study of the Cassini-Huygens mission.(AEROSPACE/DEFENSE TEST)(Product/service evaluation) | HighBeam Research">Communications test tools: a study of the Cassini-Huygens mission.(AEROSPACE/DEFENSE TEST)(Product/service evaluation)</a>

For aerospace engineers, 2010 marks the tenth anniversary of a technical triumph. Ten years ago, Boris Smeds made the discovery that would eventually make him a hero. What he uncovered was a design limitation on the communications link between the Huygens probe and the Cassini Spacecraft. To make matters even more interesting, the spacecraft was already many years into its journey toward Saturn. Without Smeds' discovery, a substantial portion of the Huygens mission would not have come to fruition.

Smeds discovered that, while the communications system worked fine in static testing, it would fail when Huygens separated from Cassini because the planned relative velocities between the two would render the communications link inoperative. The issue at hand, Doppler shift, was well known, but until recently, practical electrical testing was not readily available.

We can learn a great deal about Doppler shift and the tools available to communications system developers by recreating critical parts of the Cassini-Huygens mission using today's innovations in simulation and test. In this way, we can highlight the subtle, yet key, aspects of Doppler shift and how Smeds' discovery could have been easily missed given the state of available test tools more than a decade ago.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The first challenge in recreating the Cassini-Huygens mission is calculating and visualizing the multi-year mission's path to Saturn. While the software was available to engineers designing the mission, it was specialized and custom built.

Today's engineers have access to very powerful off-the-shelf, physics-compliant, dynamic analytical software. For this recreation, I used Satellite Tool Kit (STK) Simulation Software from Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI) to visualize and model the mission's conditions.

It is important to note that I am not an aerospace engineer. I point this out because, like many engineers specializing in other areas, I need the data generated by such software to perform my job. It is the availability and usability of STK software that have allowed me to accurately model the Cassini-Huygens mission.

Once a mock-up of the mission's circumstances was modeled and understood, I then coupled the data output by STK to a new class of test instrument called a channel simulator. The T400CS Channel Simulator from RT Logic uses modeling data to recreate, in a physics-compliant way, the electrical perturbations that this unique transmitter-receiver pair experienced in January 2005. The end result is an illustration of how, even with a clear understanding of Doppler effects (for example, the designers used Doppler to measure atmospheric conditions on Titan), it actually was the subtle differences between carrier Doppler and signal Doppler that brought on potential disaster. …


To read the full text of this article and others like it, subscribe today!



Related articles on HighBeam Research

Ascribe Higher Education News Service
NASA Observations Help Determine Titan Wind Speeds.

Ascribe Higher Education News Service; February 9, 2005

700+ words
Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- Strong westerly winds of up to about 400 kilometers per hour (250 miles per hour) buffeted the Huygens probe as it descended through Titan's upper atmosphere last month, according to NASA-led observations of the probe…
Science
Mission to Saturn Rises From Ashes.(Brief Article)

Science; July 13, 2001

By GAVAGHAN, HELEN; 700+ words
Last year, space scientists got some very bad news: A flaw in a communications device imperiled the high-profile Cassini-Huygens mission. If the problem wasn't fixed, nearly all the data from the Huygens probe, which the Cassini spacecraft is supposed to release while orbiting Saturn's moon Titan…
The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, WV)
Telescope at Green Bank: to help study Saturn moon

The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, WV); January 4, 2005

By Rick Steelhammer; 668 words
rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com The Green Bank Telescope, along with other radio telescopes in the United States, Japan, China and Australia, will help study the winds of Saturn's moon Titan later this month, as the European Space Agency's Huygens spacecraft plunges into Titan's atmosphere. The…
AZ Daily Star
Huygens' 6 instruments have special jobs

AZ Daily Star; December 24, 2004

By Anne Minard, ARIZONA DAILY STAR; 523 words
The shoebox-sized instrument on the Huygens probe designed by the UA's Martin Tomasko is called the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer. It contains four cameras, which will capture the brightness of Titan's sky and send back panoramic, pie-shaped photo mosaics of its surface. The cameras boast no…
See all related articles »

Publication Finder

Browse back issues from our extensive library of more than 6,500 trusted publications.

Popular publicationson HighBeam Research

The Economist (US)
Political magazines
Harper's Magazine
Cultural magazines
Daily Mail (London)
U.K. newspapers
The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
Massachusetts newspapers
The Nation
Political magazines
Visit Cengage Brain
  • Company
  • About us
  • Subscription benefits
  • Group subscriptions
  • Careers
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact us
  • Help topics
  • FAQ
  • Search tips
  • Using the Research Center
  • Billing questions
  • Rights inquiries
  • Customer Service
  • Cengage Learning Network
  • Questia
  • CengageBrain.com
  • HighBeam Business
  • ed2go
  • MiLadyPro
  •  
HighBeam Research
Follow us:

HighBeam Research is operated by Cengage Learning. © Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.

The HighBeam advertising network includes: womensforum.com GlamFamily