Miniaturization of Plasma Wave Receiver for Small Scientific Satellite Missions

Paper number

IAC-08.B4.2.13

Author

Mr. Yuta Mizuochi, Kyoto University, Japan

Coauthor

Mr. Yuto Saito, Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Hirotsugu Kojima, Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Yoshikatsu Ueda, Kyoto University, Japan

Year

2008

Abstract

The plasma wave receiver is one of key instruments in space exploration missions, because the interplanetary space is filled with space plasmas and plasma waves play an important role in controlling electromagnetic environments there. One can study detailed physical processes taking place in space plasmas by observing plasma waves. This is the reason why plasma wave receivers have been installed in many scientific satellites. 
Recently, the importance of the simultaneous multipoint observations has been recognized, because we learned that single point observations are not enough to study space plasmas, which have the features such as non-stationary and non-uniformity. Small satellites are essential for our conducting the above new observations by multiple spacecraft. In order to realize small scientific satellite missions, downsizing onboard instruments is very important.
Plasma wave receiver is a kind of sophisticated radio receiver. It consists of electromagnetic sensors with high sensitivities, low noise amplifiers, various filters and digital units such as A/D and CPU. Since the plasma wave receiver needs to pick up very weak radio signals in a wide frequency range from a few Hz to a few tens of MHz, the functions of filters and amplifiers are essential in advance before digital processing. Further, since typical plasma wave receivers observe six components of plasma waves (three components for electric fields and three components for magnetic fields), the above analog parts should be prepared as six channels of receivers. These result in the high occupancy of analog circuits in its electric circuit. This means that the breakthrough in miniaturizing plasma wave receivers is caused by miniaturizing their analog circuits. Therefore we attempt to develop the compact analog circuit of plasma wave receivers using the application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology.  
In the present paper, we introduce the integration of several analog parts of plasma wave receivers. Especially, the development of switched-capacitor filters and gm-C band pass filters is presented. While the band pass filter is used for selecting wave activities in the specific frequency bandwidth, the switched-capacitor filters are used as the anti-aliasing filter in the former stage of A/D converters. They are realized inside the chip of the size with 3mm×3mm. This fact indicates the possibility that the plasma wave receiver will be made much smaller. We also show the results of function and performance tests of the developed analog chips.

Abstract document

IAC-08.B4.2.13.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.B4.2.13.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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