Performance Analysis of a UHF/VHF Communication System on an Orbiting Small Satellite

Over the course of the DANDE satellite mission the satellite’s communication system has not been thoroughly reviewed in order to determine the quality of its connection to the COSGC ground station over time. This paper will focus on what factors, either environmental, ground station based, or satellite based, have influenced the ability of the DANDE mission operations team to uplink and downlink data with the satellite. Particular emphasis will be placed on the amount of data downlinked by the operations team, the signal strength and position of receipt of DANDE beacons, the overall stability of the satellite platform, and the general practices of the mission operations team.