Students Present Summer Research at September Poster Session

 

 

 

 

 

Over the course of six weeks in summer 2026, a team of students completed an array of tasks in support of of the SoFIE CubeSat mission. They presented their accomplishments at the Summer Research and Internship Poster Session in the Science Center at Saint Francis University on September 11, 2026.

One of the main objectives for the summer was to create a fully functional prototype of the CubeSat called a FlatSat to test the various systems and core program design before flight. The flight software team of Jonah Layman and Brennen Yingling focused on combining written code from other technicians to control various hardware devices, such as a Software-Defined Radio (SDR) and X-Ray Sensor. 

Critical to the FlatSat test, a power board was needed so that all the different systems could receive power in order to operate. John Julin created the board using KiCad, had it fabricated, and cross-checked the entire board using a multimeter to validate its functionality. This allowed the flight software team to operate the FlatSat using a Raspberry Pi. 

Kevin Suresh focused much of his time on preparing for communication with the satellite, including developing uplink and downlink budgets and obtaining a technician level radio operator license with the FCC. He also practiced using GPredict software to track satellites' altitude, direction, and position in space and spent time on the campus mall pointing an antenna towards operational satellites to try to pick up their signals. 

On the final day of summer research, the team ran a full simulation of communicating with the FlatSat from a mock ground station device. This successful final test served as a proof concept that the hardware and software design choices that had been made months before actually all worked together. 

Knowing which equipment will be part of the satellite is particularly important for Samuel Evans. He spent the summer modeling the internal layout of SoFIE's bus to determine suitable locations for the satellite's major components and subsystems. This will help to identify possible mechanical conflicts before the satellite is manufactured and assembled. 

Great progress was made by the team this summer. We are grateful to the SFU Computer Science DiSepio Chair Endowment for supporting the research team's work.