Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale

AerosPower Lab

AerosPower (Aerospace Power) is a laboratory of electronics mainly committed to investigate and produce power systems for aerospace vehicles. Advanced and original solutions are developed for applications in launchers, spacecrafts, rovers, and aircraft. The research and development activities

are carried out at different levels:

System
The activities at a system level are intended to develop leading-edge configurations for generation and management
of on-board power in specific missions and particular types of vehicle.
Recent noteworthy applications include: space tug, rover for moon exploration, spacecraft with electric propulsion for the inner Solar System, propulsion by electro-dynamic tether;

Subsystem
Subsystems are developed for on-board power management and distribution. Recent achievements comprise:
solar Arrays and complete power conversion management units per rovers, micro- and nano- satellite as well as hybrid power sources for pulsed loads in launchers and power units for aircrafts. Systems for wireless power transfer are investigated too;

Circuit
At a circuit level the activities are intended to study leading edge design techniques for power converters, for their controllers as well as for protection devices, suitable for the typical harsh requirements in terms of reliability, efficiency, lightness and compactness, as well as for electromagnetic compatibility.

Contacts:
prof. Luigi Schirone, luigi.schirone@uniroma1.it

Arca Lab

The Laboratory of Automation, Robotics and Controls for Aerospace – ARCAlab of the School of Aerospace Engineering, conducts its research and experimentation activities in the fields of robotic aerospace systems and control of space vehicles. ARCAlab has collaboration with Asi, Esa and national and international aerospace companies and research institutes.

The students are involved in the laboratory activities in the framework of research projects.

The laboratory has a facility with a simulated lunar surface and a moving frame to test algorithms for the autonomous landing of interplanetary probes and the rendez-vous and docking maneuvers. Moreover, the experimentation activities involve the guidance, navigation and control of mobile robots for the planetary exploration, and the developing of prototypes of sensors and actuators for the control of space vehicles.

Contacts:
prof. Fabio Curti, fabio.curti@uniroma1.it

Eosial Lab

The Eosial – Earth Observation Satellite Images Application Lab is a lab of satellite remote sensing images dedicated to develop innovative applications through the use of optical data (multi- and hyper-spectral) and SAR, integrated with GIS analysis. The fields of interest include: the monitoring of fires, monitoring of volcanic eruptions, the detection of oil spills, monitoring and mapping of agricultural areas, crop early warning, detection of pests and diseases, the development of applications related to safety issues (borders permeability, monitoring of refugee camps) and disaster management (dust storm, damage assessment, early warning, etc.).
The activities of the laboratory is oriented, in particular, to the development of monitoring applications performed automatically and in real time or near-real-time. The laboratory is equipped with the software and hardware tools necessary for satellite images processing and an extensive archive of satellite images including images in low, high and very high spatial resolution, optical and radar.

The hardware equipment includes:

acquisition system of the SEVIRI sensor on board the geostationary satellites of the MSG (Meteosat Second Generation) series; the system also acquires resampled images of the MODIS sensors, AVHRR and GOES geostationary satellites (USA) and HIMAWARI (Japan).

FLIR thermocamera;

C LAI 2200 Plant Canopy Analyzer (LI-COR 2012) and Dualex 4 – A Force for estimating LAI (Leaf Area Index) and the content of chlorophyll and polyphenols in the leaves;

drone esarotors (SAPR SF6) equipped with a multispectral camera MicaSense with 5 channels.

Contacts:
prof. Giovanni Laneve, Giovanni.laneve @uniroma1.it

Flight Mechanics Lab

Flight Mechanics Lab is dedicated to Prof. Michele Dicran Sirinian and is devoted to the design, manufacturing and testing of scaled models of aerospace vehicles (https://web.uniroma1.it/scuolaingegneriaaerospaziale/flight-mechanics-lab)

Scaled aircraft design and testing
Scaled models are designed, manufactured and able to flight. From the flight data recorded on-board (gyros, accelerometers, altimeters, pitot tubes, magnetometers) the aerodynamic properties (stability derivatives) of the vehicles are derived. The following scaled modes are in the Flight Mechanics Lab:
– Dicran aircraft (original design), a 1/5 scaled model of an aircraft able to flight over Mars;
– Cessna (accurate reproduction of a 1/5 scaled model);
– C130 J (accurate reproduction of a 1/10 scaled model).

Air launch design and testing
Flight test of separation between the C130 J and a 1/10 scaled model of a rocket able to inject a microsatellite in orbit,
are performed to test the numerical models of airdrop, parachute extraction and stabilization, and evasion maneuvers.

Scaled rocket design and testing
Rocket design, manufacturing and launch is a part of the course “Flight Mechanics of Launch and Reentry Systems”.
Many scaled rockets have been designed through the years and several units are available in the Flight Mechanics Lab, with apogee capability ranging from 200 to 2000 meters of altitude. All rockets are endowed with navigation and attitude sensors (gyros, pitot tubes, altimeters, accelerometers, magnetic sensors, GPS antenna, microcamera).

The rocket propellant is produced in-house and tested outdoor (watch http://youtu.be/fCUPcT8BGYI)
Satellite design and manufacturing Structure and mechanical components of Cubesat, PocketQube and microsatellites are produced  in  the  Flight Mechanics Lab by the available 3D printer and CNC machine.

An integration room is available for Cubesat satellites integration (e.g. Tigrisat and STECCO, launched in 2014 and 2021).
Experimental testing of attitude determination and control systems Attitude determination and control systems are tested using a 3x3x3 m3 Helmholtz cage, that allows recreating the Earth magnetic field experienced by the satellite during its orbital motion, and a spherical airbearing which allows simulating zero-gravity rotation.

Maritime launch design and testing Experimental testing of a 1/10 scaled model for a microlauncher ejection system to be used for maritime launch.

The ejection system can operate using pressurized air or ballistic charges.

Contacts:
prof. Paolo Teofilatto, paolo.teofilatto@uniroma1.it

Guidance and Navigation Lab

Research at the lab deals with the different aspects of the Guidance, Navigation and Control loop which is instrumental to all modern aerospace ventures. Applications of current activities include rendezvous and docking between spacecraft, grasping and deorbiting of space debris, command of rovers. Significant heritage on formation flying, large and deployable space systems and structures and swarm-like, behavioral controlled systems, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GPS, Galileo), inertial and optical navigation is present. The lab stresses, whenever possible, real world testing with the available experimental setups. Students from different degree levels are deeply involved in research activities.

Contacts:

 prof. Marco Sabatini, marco.sabatini@uniroma1.it

Prof. Paolo Gasbarri, paolo.gasbarri@uniroma1.it

Prof. Giovanni Palmerini, giovanni.palmerini@uniroma1.it

Nanosatellite Electronics Lab

The Nanosatellites Electronics Lab is equipped with instrumentation for the design, simulation, test and prototyping of analog, digital and mixed signal electronic circuits for space applications. The activities carried out in the laboratory include the development of the flight software for the ABACUS on-board computer and the test of payload electronics developed at the School of Aerospace Engineering.
The lab is also used for the didactic activities oriented to familiarize the students with the satellite electronics as well as with the lab instrumentation and procedures. The equipment of the lab includes a soldering workstation with ESD protection, low noise power supplies, waveform signal generators, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzer, logic analyzer, programming tools for digital embedded systems and ESD protected working area.

Contacts:

prof. Augusto Nascetti, augusto.nascetti@uniroma1.it

Pleiades

The Pleiades – Prototyping Lab for Evaluation and Integration of Analytical Devices with Embedded Sensors is devoted to the design, fabrication and test of microfluidic lab-on-chip systems with integrated thin-film electronic components for biological and biochemical research in space. Target applications include astronauts’ health monitoring devices and instruments for the search for extinct or extant life traces in the solar system.

The lab is a fully equipped clean room supporting all the activities that go from the preparation of the experiments to the implementation of bioanalytical protocols in a controlled environment for the assessment of the performances of the micro-analytical devices and of the dedicated control and readout electronics.

Contacts:

prof. Augusto Nascetti, augusto.nascetti@uniroma1.it

SiaSpacePropulsionLab

For years, the Sapienza Space Propulsion Lab offers the possibility for Aerospace Engineering students to design, implement and launch mini-rockets! Through materials easily available, a black powder engine and calculation tools, such as Matlab and Open Rocket, we have created mini-rockets and participated in a competition completing the mission: to ensure that the rocket landed in conditions to safeguard the precious payload: in our case, a hard-boiled egg.

In addition to entertainment, the activities we do give us the opportunity to replicate in very small-scale systems of common use in the aerospace sector, to design and test platforms that can find useful applications in various sectors, in particular the science and testing of technologies and of materials in conditions that are not easily replicable.

Contacts:

prof. Antonella Ingenito, Antonella.Ingenito@uniroma1.it

The ground station

The satellites developed by the School are tracked by the SIA Ground Station that provides the RF communication with the spacecraft. The SIA Ground Station ensures the uplink of telecommands both in VHF and UHF bands and the collection of telemetry and low bit-rate payload data in the same bands while, for higher data rates, an S-band section is available. The Ground Station hardware includes a Yagi Uda UHF-VHF antenna system with low noise preamplifier, an S-band antenna with a 4-meter dish, an ICOM910 radio, a SYMEK TNC and a YAESU G232B rotor controller.
A software design radio section has been recently added to the available equipment. The ground station equipment is also used for testing the satellite communication subsystems on ground.

Thermo-vacuum and Optics lab

The thermo-vacuum and optics lab is one of the three main installations of the LARES-lab. The other two are the ISTARC center and the optical fiber lab described later in the document. All the labs are used both for research and educational purposes. The students will have the opportunities during the courses to see and operate the facilities. During the thesis more advanced activities and research will be performed by the students.

Thermovacuum chamber
It is small cubic thermo-vacuum chamber of 60x60x60 cm internal size, realized specifically for testing the cube corner reflectors of LARES satellite (Figure 1). It is capable of reaching very high vacuum conditions and it is suitable also for testing nanosatellites and small payloads in simulated space environment Several thermal sensors can be attached on the specimen as well     as resistive heaters to control the specimen temperature (Figure 2).
An optical circuit is available at the side of the chamber for testing components in air or under space simulated condition inside the thermo-vacuum chamber. A remote control of the thermovacuum chamber is in progress for allowing the students to control the tests in the thermovacuum chamber from home.

ISTARC – International Space Time Analysis Research Centre
 ISTARC Lab was born  for  supporting  LARES  mission  whose  objective is to test frame-dragging predicted by the theory of general relativity. The Earth rotation drags spacetime and the orbital plane of satellites with it. The orbit determination of the LARES and LAGEOS satellites and the accurate estimation of the classical perturbations acting on the satellites will allow to measure the node shift, produced by general relativity (Figure 3). ISTARC is also credited by NASA for providing the position of the LARES satellite to the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) for tracking the satellite. Since lasers have a very narrow light beam the target position need to be determined very accurately. Therefore the predictions (more technically known as Consolidated Prediction File or briefly CPF) have to be much more precise than the predictions, calculated using two-line elements, used for tracking satellites with radars. In Figure 4 are reported, as an example, the differences in meters between the predicted and the actual positions of LARES satellite in January 2015.

Optical Fiber Strain Gauges

 The use of fiber optic sensors and specifically of the so-called Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) for structural health monitoring, are studied in the lab. Several applications have been performed on test items such as a sailing boat mast and a drop keel, with many sensors for acquiring deformation and shape in real time. Students have the opportunity to operate the mast and the keel installations during the courses at the School of Aerospace Engineering. The interrogation system is a 4 channels interrogator with a wide band (1510–1590 nm) and 1 kHz data acquisition frequency.

Contacts:

prof. Antonio Paolozzi, Antonio.Paolozzi@uniroma1.it
Prof. Claudio Paris, Claudio.Paris@uniroma1.it