CubeSat Optical Grating Displacement Sensor
Channel: UNLVECE
Date: 2018-02-17

CubeSat is a 10cmx10cmx10cm satellite with compact design and variety of applications. Dr. Ke-Xun Sun published Grating Angular and Integrated Sensors for LISA Applications back in 2005. Based on that, it is possible to design compact version of optical grating angular displacement sensor for the use of CubeSat. Comparing to conventional mirror technique for displacement sensing, optical grating sensor is able to achieve precision adjustment down to nanometer.
The purpose of this project is to design optical system for CubeSat Optical Grating Angular Displacement Sensor utilizing a specialized diffraction grating and quadrant photodiodes with longer wavelength laser to improve precision. The target market expands from educational research use to profitable commercial use. For this project, InGaAs quadrant photodiode has been chosen as laser detector. Using four photodiodes, precision of angular displacement sensing can be focused into Nano-scale. A microcontroller is programmed to analyze data collected from sensor for further mechanical rotation.
Even though the cost might be comparably bigger than reflective mirror, the success of project would eventually benefit not only for LISA applications but also for future spacecraft control.