Interconnection
neglecting the more mundane process of connecting board to board, or getting signals to and from their boxes. Yet of course, every link in the chain is as critical as the next, and a failed connector will knock out a system just as fast as a failed sensor or processor. New breeds of connectors deliver the performance and reliability demanded by hi-rel
applications, the miniaturisation that is increasingly required, and the cost/performance ratio expected by project teams with tight budgets.
Gecko, for example, is fully-supported with a range of design tools including Eye
Diagrams and CAD Models. Instruction videos are also available. Two examples of space satellite projects that Harwin is closely involved with are Surrey Space Centre’s QB50 programme and Warwick University’s WUSAT. The international QB50 program will study in situ the temporal and spatial variations of a number of parameters in the lower thermosphere (90-320km) using a network of around 40 double CubeSats Carrying identical sensors. QB50 will also study the re-entry process by measuring and comparing actual trajectories and orbital lifetimes during re-entry against predicted data. A third part of the programme will see about 10 double or triple CubeSats used for In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) of technologies including miniature sensors and the Gossamer-1 solar sail. For reasons of
Figure 1
stunning images and video. The use of Harwin’s Gecko High Rel connectors as inter-connects between the sub-system PCB boards was a vital part of the satellite’s construction, and enabled the satellite’s electronic systems to remain reliable in a harsh environment where the ambient temperature dropped to lower than -50°C. “Currently we are engaged in further development of the satellite (WUSAT2) to carry a spectroscopy payload to an altitude approaching 100km. This will be launched via an ESA launch vehicle (REXUS) from the Esrange Space Centre in northern Sweden in March 2015. The spectroscopy payload will sample elements of the Earth’s atmosphere as it descends, and will emulate and prove a method of analysing potential exoplanets that exist outside of our own Solar System. Once again the use of Harwin high reliability
Figure 2
space, weight and performance, Surrey Space Centre is using Gecko connectors on the QB50 satellite. Warwick University’s Satellite Team, explains Dr. Bill Crofts ,WUSAT Project Director’ is now in its eighth year of operation. “We completed six years of work (2006 to 2012) as the electrical power subsystem team on ESA’s moon orbiting satellite (ESMO). Harwin supported us with that work throughout
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connectors will be a major feature of the design of this satellite. Not only will it need to withstand the vibration and G- forces of the rocket launch, it will also
experience temperatures as low as - 100degC. The communications system will need to be extremely reliable as it may not be possible to recover this satellite, hence all data must be successfully transmitted.”
Harwin |
www.harwin.co.uk
Wendy Jane Bourne is a Technical and Marketing Engineer at Harwin
Components in Electronics February 2014 25
most of that period. Since early 2012 the WUSAT team have been developing their own Cubesat satellite. In May 2013, their first Cubesat (WUSAT1) was launched via a high-altitude weather balloon to an altitude of 30km in order to test its systems prior to future rocket launches. The satellite successfully took some
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