Hansel and Gretel Systems
Company Information
Hansel and Gretel Systems is involved in the designing of radiolocation systems. It was founded back in 2009 when Adam McDaniel, an employee at GTRI was contacted by NASA to develop “Bread Crumbs,” a radio-location scheme for the moon. Adam recruited four Electrical and Computer engineers: Michael Yue, Aakar Kamdar, Mauro Marroncelli and Sujoy Mallick from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He named the newly formed and funded company Hansel and Gretel Systems. The head of the company is Adam McDaniel.
Adam handles the work of designing the location algorithm along with Michael Yue. Michael is also responsible for budget allocation and management. Aakar Kamdar is the RF engineer, he designs the RFID system. Mauro Marroncelli is responsible for the communication systems and RF modulation design. Sujoy Mallick handles the power system design, requirements, antenna design, and estimation of link budgets.
Contract
Hansel and Gretel Systems has been awarded a contract for 3 years by NASA to design a radio-location system for the lunar surface.
Need
Previous experiences with the Apollo space missions has led to the need of a radio-location system, which would aid the astronaut in detecting his position relative to his lander on the moon. Due to the uneven surface of the moon, incidents can occur where the astronaut would not receive any signals from the spacecraft and hence would be lost. To build a GPS system similar to the one on Earth is out of the question due to the high cost requirements. Thus, there arose a need for the development of a radio-location position detection scheme on the lunar surface. NASA was deeply interested in testing the “Bread crumbs”, a concept which is closely related to the fairy tale story of Hansel and Gretel. Hence the name Hansel and Gretel Systems is derived from the close relation of the “bread crumbs” design with the story.
Project Overview
Hansel and Gretel Systems CEO, Adam Mcdaniel, was contacted and funded by NASA to develop a radio-location system which they could use for their lunar explorer mission next year. The design of the entire system was divided into different modules.
Location Detection Algorithm
This section was the heart of the project and was undertaken by Adam McDaniel and Michael Yue. The location detection algorithm utilizes received signal strength and angle of arrival measurements from the RFID tags to determine the astronaut’s current location.
RF-ID Devices
Aakar Kamdar, designed and ordered the devices which would be required for the location algorithm. The design consisted of a reader and many RFID passive tags. The order was given to a company called Impinj for manufacturing the RFID tags in the 1 GHz frequency band. The tags and the reader are the core components of the location algorithm.
Space Craft and Astronaut Communication Link
Mauro Marroncelli was assigned the task of designing the links between the astronaut, the spacecraft, and the bread crumbs. He has carefully analyzed the task of saving power and weight while maintaining a satisfactory link quality. Two different modulation schemes will be used for the two links.
Power Systems and Antenna Design
The power systems design and antenna design was undertaken by highly experienced Sujoy Mallick. He manually designed the high gain antennas to be fitted on the spacecraft and astronaut backpack for communication between the astronaut and the spacecraft. He designed a monopole antenna with about 32 dBi gain.
Budget Requirements and Timeline
Michael Yue was responsible for all the budget calculations and allocation of funds in the different divisions of the project. He is responsible for the timely completion of the project by setting the deadlines for the different modules.
Company Information
Hansel and Gretel Systems is involved in the designing of radiolocation systems. It was founded back in 2009 when Adam McDaniel, an employee at GTRI was contacted by NASA to develop “Bread Crumbs,” a radio-location scheme for the moon. Adam recruited four Electrical and Computer engineers: Michael Yue, Aakar Kamdar, Mauro Marroncelli and Sujoy Mallick from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He named the newly formed and funded company Hansel and Gretel Systems. The head of the company is Adam McDaniel.
Adam handles the work of designing the location algorithm along with Michael Yue. Michael is also responsible for budget allocation and management. Aakar Kamdar is the RF engineer, he designs the RFID system. Mauro Marroncelli is responsible for the communication systems and RF modulation design. Sujoy Mallick handles the power system design, requirements, antenna design, and estimation of link budgets.
Contract
Hansel and Gretel Systems has been awarded a contract for 3 years by NASA to design a radio-location system for the lunar surface.
Need
Previous experiences with the Apollo space missions has led to the need of a radio-location system, which would aid the astronaut in detecting his position relative to his lander on the moon. Due to the uneven surface of the moon, incidents can occur where the astronaut would not receive any signals from the spacecraft and hence would be lost. To build a GPS system similar to the one on Earth is out of the question due to the high cost requirements. Thus, there arose a need for the development of a radio-location position detection scheme on the lunar surface. NASA was deeply interested in testing the “Bread crumbs”, a concept which is closely related to the fairy tale story of Hansel and Gretel. Hence the name Hansel and Gretel Systems is derived from the close relation of the “bread crumbs” design with the story.
Project Overview
Hansel and Gretel Systems CEO, Adam Mcdaniel, was contacted and funded by NASA to develop a radio-location system which they could use for their lunar explorer mission next year. The design of the entire system was divided into different modules.
Location Detection Algorithm
This section was the heart of the project and was undertaken by Adam McDaniel and Michael Yue. The location detection algorithm utilizes received signal strength and angle of arrival measurements from the RFID tags to determine the astronaut’s current location.
RF-ID Devices
Aakar Kamdar, designed and ordered the devices which would be required for the location algorithm. The design consisted of a reader and many RFID passive tags. The order was given to a company called Impinj for manufacturing the RFID tags in the 1 GHz frequency band. The tags and the reader are the core components of the location algorithm.
Space Craft and Astronaut Communication Link
Mauro Marroncelli was assigned the task of designing the links between the astronaut, the spacecraft, and the bread crumbs. He has carefully analyzed the task of saving power and weight while maintaining a satisfactory link quality. Two different modulation schemes will be used for the two links.
Power Systems and Antenna Design
The power systems design and antenna design was undertaken by highly experienced Sujoy Mallick. He manually designed the high gain antennas to be fitted on the spacecraft and astronaut backpack for communication between the astronaut and the spacecraft. He designed a monopole antenna with about 32 dBi gain.
Budget Requirements and Timeline
Michael Yue was responsible for all the budget calculations and allocation of funds in the different divisions of the project. He is responsible for the timely completion of the project by setting the deadlines for the different modules.