Astro Digital - Vibration Testing

Small satellites, more commonly known as CubeSats, have gained popularity because of their miniature size and their data acquisition techniques. These satellites are being launched at a record pace and have roped big players into this aerospace segment. Astro Digital is a company that risen to the challenge of land mapping and hazard detection using CubeSats.

Astro Digital has been creating APIs and CubeSats for geological mapping, natural disaster management, forest management, water cover sensing, etc. Sentek Dynamics is proud to have a hand in their projects.

Astro Digital used the Sentek Dynamics’ vibration testing system at the Sentek Dynamics’ facility in Santa Clara, CA to test the Landmapper-BC. Astro Digital made use of Sentek Dynamics M-Series shaker and Crystal Instruments’ Spider-81 controller for sine-sweep and random vibration tests. The DUT was tested in the vertical and horizontal positions.

The M-Series shaker has an active armature suspension system, load support, and a guidance system to ensure quality test setups. The usable vibration control frequency range for the M-Series shaker is from 5 to 3000Hz. Some shaker systems do come with a long stroke option, thereby giving our customers the best testing conditions possible.

The Spider-81 controller used for the test is equipped with the patented dual ADC and provides superb dynamic range of 150 dB; thus guaranteeing a high accuracy in control. The controller many safety features implemented to protect the device under test. Multi-tab and multi-screen support is provided to allow viewing of multiple signals simultaneously. The random vibration controller provides precise multi-channel control in real time. The device under test is subjected to true random noise with a precisely shaped spectrum with either Gaussian or non-Gaussian amplitude statistics. With a control dynamic range up to 90 dB, up to 512 channels can be enabled for control, notching, monitoring and time data recording. The recording option records time-stream data at the full sample rate on all input channels. A unique hardware/firmware/software design featuring spectral overlapping provides a fast loop time of less than 15 ms in a typical test.

Astro Digitals’ Landsat and Centinel are enhancing our geographical monitoring capabilities with their state-of-the-art technology. We at Sentek Dynamics and Crystal Instruments will continue to support such efforts by providing proven, high quality testing to improve product reliability and enhance technology.