ASP projects

ARAM-AOCS: Development of innovative attitude and orbit control for low-cost and low-mass spacecrafts

The aim of the ARAM-AOCS project was to design an Attitude and Orbit Control system for a new class of small, affordable and easy-to-use satellites. The idea was proposed and supported by the Politecnico di Torino Electronics Department, that developed AraMiS, aiming to provide a modular satellite architecture in a very short period of time.
The Leitmotiv of this project was to address the rapid metamorphosis of the space market, from the big and complex to the small and cheap. AraMiS is part of the Italian response to the “Cubesat phenomenon”, a standard developed in the U.S. in order to enable students to lay their hands on real satellite hardware, as simple as the first Sputnik; in no time at all, many stakeholders showed their interest and new, unforeseen applications emerged.
AraMiS goes one step further: it is made of standard functional units that can be assembled arbitrarily to compose a more complex and flexible structure in a short lapse of time. The project task was to investigate the potential of this new low cost design approach, giving AraMiS a specific path to follow in the satellite market and to upgrade the architecture with the ability of controlling orientation and specific direction in space. The main project innovation relies on the adoption of Commercial Off The Shelf components, while usually AOCS is performed
by expensive, space qualified systems.

Principal Academic Tutor
Leonardo Maria Reyneri
Electronics, Politecnico di Torino

External Tutors
Luca Senepa
SKY Technology
Guido Caronni
Neohm Componenti s.r.l.
Antonio Martinez Alvarez
Universidad de Alicante

Academic Tutors
Mario Calderini
Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Emilio Pizzi
Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Claudio Passerone
Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino
Claudio Sansoè
Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino
Alberto Vallan
Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino
Massimo Violante
Control and Computer Engineering, Politecnico di Torino
Lorenzo Casalino
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino

External institution
SKY Technology
Neohm Componenti s.r.l.
SPIN Electronics s.r.l.
Universidad de Alicante

Team members
TEAM A
Alessandro Valentino Matheoud, Electronic Engineering
Maria Piera Padula [Project communication coordinator], Space Engineering
Roberto Pagano [Team controller], Computer Engineering
Fabio Pontanari, Aerospace Engineering
Federico Secondi, Space Engineering

TEAM B
Matteo Causo, Electronic Engineering
Marco Maio [Team controller], Mechanical Engineering
Mladen Mazuran, Computer Engineering
Michele Pilotto, Aerospace Engineering
Federico Rossi, Space Engineering

Download the poster of the Project