Virtual Instrument for a Micro-satellite Power Supply System

A multi-mission micro-satellite is presently being built by the Satellite Engineering Centre, Nanyang Technological University. Among the various sub-systems, the power supply is one of the most critical parts of the satellite. Its primary and secondary power sources, namely the solar array and the battery as well as the various power converters are responsible for supplying the power with well regulated voltages to the satellite throughout the whole mission. To test and measure the performance/reliability of the system with the satellite operating in different simulated space scenarios, a virtual instrument based test and measurement system has been developed. Experimental results obtained from the setup have shown that the system is a valuable tool providing data that is difficult to obtain from analysis and software simulation.