Teaching Complex Electronic System Design: a Small Satellite as Case Study

Satellites are not necessarily something huge and expensive. Small satellites have been designed (or are being designed) by several universities, as part of the engineering education process; they are mostly presented at SETC (Space Technology Education Conference, [1]). These satellites must fit within tight cost constraints, for the launch and the actual satellite hardware. They are usually launched using empty spaces available in the carriers of large commercial satellites (which makes launching costs affordable). Several such projects are under way and, to make possible design reuse and to keep costs as low as possible, some standards for the size and launch gear have been defined [2]. The educational benefits of small satellites for aerospace engineering education are already established [2]. This paper addresses the benefits for electronic engineering education, by describing the design and development of a small “educational” satellite named PicPot (acronym of the Italian words for Small Satellite of Politecnico di Torino). Emphasis is placed on the overall organization, design partitioning, some details of actual hardware, and the use of such projects in microelectronics education curricula.