Acoustics & Sonar Engineering Radar, Missiles & Defense Systems ...

Ground Systems Design and Operation
Summary
This three-day course provides a practical
introduction to all aspects of ground system design and
operation. Starting with basic communications
principles, an understanding is developed of ground
system architectures and system design issues. The
function of major ground system elements is explained,
leading to a discussion of day-to-day operations. The
course concludes with a discussion of current trends in
Ground System design and operations.
This course is intended for engineers, technical
managers, and scientists who are interested in
acquiring a working understanding of ground systems
as an introduction to the field or to help broaden their
overall understanding of space mission systems and
mission operations. It is also ideal for technical
professionals who need to use, manage, operate, or
purchase a ground system.
Instructor
Steve Gemeny is Director of Engineering for
Syntonics. Formerly Senior Member of
the Professional Staff at The Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory where he served as Ground
Station Lead for the TIMED mission to
explore Earth’s atmosphere and Lead
Ground System Engineer on the New
Horizons mission to explore Pluto by 2020. Prior to
joining the Applied Physics Laboratory, Mr. Gemeny
held numerous engineering and technical sales
positions with Orbital Sciences Corporation, Mobile
TeleSystems Inc. and COMSAT Corporation beginning
in 1980. Mr. Gemeny is an experienced professional in
the field of Ground Station and Ground System design
in both the commercial world and on NASA Science
missions with a wealth of practical knowledge
spanning more than three decades. Mr. Gemeny
delivers his experiences and knowledge to his students
with an informative and entertaining presentation style.
What You Will Learn
• The fundamentals of ground system design,
architecture and technology.
• Cost and performance tradeoffs in the spacecraft-toground
communications link.
• Cost and performance tradeoffs in the design and
implementation of a ground system.
• The capabilities and limitations of the various
modulation types (FM, PSK, QPSK).
• The fundamentals of ranging and orbit determination
for orbit maintenance.
• Basic day-to-day operations practices and
procedures for typical ground systems.
• Current trends and recent experiences in cost and
schedule constrained operations.
January 23-25, 2012
Columbia, Maryland
$1690 (8:30am - 4:00pm)
"Register 3 or More & Receive $100 00 each
Off The Course Tuition."
Course Outline
1. The Link Budget. An introduction to
basic communications system principles and
theory; system losses, propagation effects,
Ground Station performance, and frequency
selection.
2. Ground System Architecture and
System Design. An overview of ground
system topology providing an introduction to
ground system elements and technologies.
3. Ground System Elements. An element
by element review of the major ground station
subsystems, explaining roles, parameters,
limitations, tradeoffs, and current technology.
4. Figure of Merit (G/T). An introduction to
the key parameter used to characterize
satellite ground station performance, bringing
all ground station elements together to form a
complete system.
5. Modulation Basics. An introduction to
modulation types, signal sets, analog and
digital modulation schemes, and modulator -
demodulator performance characteristics.
6. Ranging and Tracking. A discussion of
ranging and tracking for orbit determination.
7. Ground System Networks and
Standards. A survey of several ground
system networks and standards with a
discussion of applicability, advantages,
disadvantages, and alternatives.
8. Ground System Operations. A
discussion of day-to-day operations in a typical
ground system including planning and staffing,
spacecraft commanding, health and status
monitoring, data recovery, orbit determination,
and orbit maintenance.
9. Trends in Ground System Design. A
discussion of the impact of the current cost and
schedule constrained approach on Ground
System design and operation, including COTS
hardware and software systems, autonomy,
and unattended “lights out” operations.
Register online at www.ATIcourses.com or call ATI at 888.501.2100 or 410.956.8805 Vol. 109 – 9