INTEGRATION OF LEDS AS AN ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR CUBESATS

The recent reduction in launch costs coupled with lower development costs has lowered the barrier of entry for satellite development and deployment, resulting in increasing numbers of satellites launched for civil, commercial, and educational institutions in the past decade. CubeSats are often manifested as secondary payloads onboard launch vehicles and are often deployed into the same orbit over a short time period. It has become difficult or impossible to immediately distinguish and track a specific satellite with traditional tracking methods using their onboard radio frequency (RF) communication systems. This thesis focuses on using light emitting diodes (LED) installed on a CubeSat to achieve tracking of the CubeSat in low-earth orbit (LEO) shortly after deployment and to that then utilize the LED payload to transmit the operating status or operational data to the ground stations.Military Expert 5, Republic of Singapore Air ForceApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited