This is a list of different potential student projects developing radio science related hardware.
Millstone Steerable Antenna Monitoring Project
Location : MIT Haystack Observatory
Mentor : Frank Lind
Expected Duration : 2-6 months
Educational Level and Requirements : undergraduate engineering or physics (physics, EE, mechanical)
Description : This is an ongoing project to develop and implement a mechanical monitoring system for the MISA antenna. The project involves the placement and networking of mechanical sensors on the antenna to monitor its structural condition in realtime. The sensors include ultrasonic transducers, tilt meters, accelerometers, and strain gauges. Potential avenues for the project include the testing of new sensor types, the networking of sensor packages, software to monitor sensors on the antenna, and the design and development of an integrated sensor acquisition package.
Millstone Next Generation Timing Generation Project
Location : MIT Haystack Observatory
Mentor : Frank Lind
Expected Duration : 6 - 9 months
Educational Level and Requirements : undergraduate engineering or early graduate student(EE)
Description : Millstone Hill is currently planning to upgrade its timing generation system using a new generation of FPGA based control and waveform generation. A number of hardware and software elements need to be developed to fully implement and exploit the capabilities of the new hardware. This radar timing generation system should be fully general and useful for other radar applications.
Coherence Generation Module
Location : MIT Haystack Observatory
Mentor : Frank Lind
Expected Duration : 6 months
Educational Level and Requirements : undergraduate engineering or physics (physics, EE)
Description : An important part of modern radio science systems is the generation of coherent oscillators. GPS system widely provide PPS signals of high stability and these signals can be used to stabilize the frequency of a crystal or voltage controlled oscillator. It is possible to buy such stabilized oscillators off the shelf as part of larger systems but these are expensive and are not available as a separate integrated module. This project involves the design, development, and testing of a 10 MHz oscillator stabilized using an external PPS signal.