CubeSat Electrical Power Sub-system (EPS) Architectures

Abstract:

CubeSat is a type of nanosatellite which is built in standard dimensions of 1U (10cm×10cm×10 cm) cubic units. Initially, majority of CubeSat launches were done by academia but presently they have been dominated by commercial projects. The main advantages of CubeSats are lower cost, faster production, and easier deployment to perform high-risk scientific experiments as well as for demonstrating new spacecraft technologies. The main challenge for the development of CubeSats is to fit all the necessary equipment within the standard frame size while meeting the weight constraints. Electric power system (EPS) of CubeSat is one of the most critical subsystems as it powers all other subsystems and payloads within CubeSat. Several studies have shown that EPS failure has been one of the main contributors for the CubeSat mission failure. This talk discusses the ways to enhance the lifetime of CubeSats through development of advanced EPS architectures and new modes of operation. 

Vinod Khadkikar, IEEE Fellow

Professor, EECS Department, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Short Bio:

Vinod Khadkikar is an IEEE Fellow and a Professor in the EECS Department at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

He received M. Tech. from IIT Delhi in 2002 and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the ETS, Montreal, Canada, in 2008. From December 2008 to March 2010, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. From April 2010 to December 2010, he was a Visiting Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.

He has contributed over 65 IEEE Transactions papers. He was ranked 148 among 100,000 researchers in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in the list of world’s top 2% of career-long scientists as of November 2020 released by Stanford University.

Dr. Khadkikar is currently an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications and IET Power Electronics. His research interests include applications of power electronics in distribution systems and renewable energy resources, grid interconnection issues, power quality enhancement, active power filters and electric vehicles.

Prof. Vinod Khadkikar,
Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE,
vinod.khadkikar@ku.ac.ae