Assisted Design of Small Satellite Electrical Power System Architecture

The Electrical Power System (EPS) is a critical subsystem for satellites, and one of the most common points of failure for CubeSats. The complicated and bespoke design process of the EPS creates great room for error, exacerbated by the lack of readily available design methodologies and recommendations.

This project builds upon open source programs such as PowerCubeSat, publicly available data, and established methodologies from renewable energy engineering to produce a design assistance tool for the development of EPSs for small satellites. A procedure is developed to simulate and predict the orbital conditions of arbitrary satellite missions and the environmental conditions which will effect solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation. Telemetric data from the BIRDS-3 CubeSat constellation is analysed to validate the operation and output of each stage of the project. An algorithm is designed and implemented as a software tool to size the battery and arrangement of solar PV panels on a small satellite.

A testing simulation platform is constructed to verify the operation of the EPSs recommended by the sizing tool. The process identified significant oversizing of batteries in the design of small satellites, increasing their bulk and thus cost of launch and propulsion, for little tangible gain. The system advised that a 83 % reduction in energy storage capacity would remain feasible, while reducing EPS mass by 73 %. The final tool allows for rapid modelling of potential mission plans and abstract EPS designs to gauge feasibility before full-scale design and development commences.