Abstract
A LARGE SCALE PROBLEM BASED LEARNING INTER-EUROPEAN STUDENT SATELLITE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT
This paper describes the pedagogical outcome of a large scale PBL experiment. ESA (European Space Agency) Education Office launched January 2004 an ambitious project: Let students from all over Europe build a micro satellite within 18 months from design to launch - the fastest satellite construction ever. (http://sseti.gte.tuwien.ac.at/WSW4/express1.htm . More than 150
students from more than 14 universities all over Europe were participating in the development and construction of the SSETI EXPRESS. The satellite was successfully launched on October 27th 2005 (http://www.express.space.aau.dk).
The project was a student driven project with student project responsibility adding at lot of international experiences and project management skills to the outcome of more traditional one semester, single group projects. The ESA Educational Office associated a technical coordinator and an administrative coordinator with the project.
Since the foundation of Aalborg University (AAU) in 1974 the engineering educations has been based on Problem Based Learning (PBL). Within the engineering education skills are obtained by a combination of traditional lectures and group based project work with guidance and supervision from scientific staff. (For further information of the Problem Based Learning method of AAU visit http://www.puc.aau.dk )
Department of Control Engineering, AAU has been active in satellite construction since the first Danish satellite Ørsted launched in 1999. In 2001 the AAU student satellite program was established. The aim of this project is to launch pico satellites (10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm, 1 kg) developed and constructed by students every second or third year. The first satellite - Cubesat – was launched in 2003. The next in line (AAUSAT II) is expected to be launched Q3-4 2006. During the last four years more than 150 students has been participating in the student satellite projects.
The combination of the PBL educational system and the satellite experiences within the Department of Control Engineering made it very relevant to participate in the ESA student satellite project.
From the beginning the AAU students were responsible for one of the subsystems, the attitude control system. The AAU student involvement changed very much during the project. They ended up as a major player in system management and system integration, they delivered four subsystems including the main computer and the communication system and finally they developed two ground stations, one at Aalborg University and one remote controlled ground station at Svaldbard in the North Atlantic. The launch operations were conducted at the local "Houston" in Aalborg.
The paper deals with the experiences from participating in a successful large scale inter cultural problem based engineering project including a variety of engineering disciplines as mechanical construction, communication system, power supply, attitude control system, onboard computer systems, software, ground station and payloads, all to be covered by students from universities using different educational models. In addition due to the number of involved partners, economics and physical distances many of the students never meet in real life, implying that electronic communication technology was vital within the project.
Additionally the SSETI EXPRESS project implied the following problems
it didn’t fit to a standard semester - 18 months for the satellite project compared to 5/6 months for a “normal” semester project. difficulties in integrating the tasks in the education at the traditional universities. The complexity in the satellite project is extreme compared to a standard PBL projects. The project had to end up with a real tested product at the launch date!
Compared to normal PBL education activities SSETI EXPRESS must be regarded as a very extreme high risk project - due to time frame, the project and the variety of students involved.
After the launch the project has been acknowledged from ESA top leadership as a very high quality student corner project.
Jens Dalsgaard Nielsen
Assoc Prof. PhD Msc EE
Aalborg University
Department of Control Engineering
Fredrik Bajersvej 7C, DK- 9220 Aalborg, Denmark
jdn@space.aau.dk - http://www.control.aau.dk/~jdn
This paper describes the pedagogical outcome of a large scale PBL experiment. ESA (European Space Agency) Education Office launched January 2004 an ambitious project: Let students from all over Europe build a micro satellite within 18 months from design to launch - the fastest satellite construction ever. (http://sseti.gte.tuwien.ac.at/WSW4/express1.htm . More than 150
students from more than 14 universities all over Europe were participating in the development and construction of the SSETI EXPRESS. The satellite was successfully launched on October 27th 2005 (http://www.express.space.aau.dk).
The project was a student driven project with student project responsibility adding at lot of international experiences and project management skills to the outcome of more traditional one semester, single group projects. The ESA Educational Office associated a technical coordinator and an administrative coordinator with the project.
Since the foundation of Aalborg University (AAU) in 1974 the engineering educations has been based on Problem Based Learning (PBL). Within the engineering education skills are obtained by a combination of traditional lectures and group based project work with guidance and supervision from scientific staff. (For further information of the Problem Based Learning method of AAU visit http://www.puc.aau.dk )
Department of Control Engineering, AAU has been active in satellite construction since the first Danish satellite Ørsted launched in 1999. In 2001 the AAU student satellite program was established. The aim of this project is to launch pico satellites (10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm, 1 kg) developed and constructed by students every second or third year. The first satellite - Cubesat – was launched in 2003. The next in line (AAUSAT II) is expected to be launched Q3-4 2006. During the last four years more than 150 students has been participating in the student satellite projects.
The combination of the PBL educational system and the satellite experiences within the Department of Control Engineering made it very relevant to participate in the ESA student satellite project.
From the beginning the AAU students were responsible for one of the subsystems, the attitude control system. The AAU student involvement changed very much during the project. They ended up as a major player in system management and system integration, they delivered four subsystems including the main computer and the communication system and finally they developed two ground stations, one at Aalborg University and one remote controlled ground station at Svaldbard in the North Atlantic. The launch operations were conducted at the local "Houston" in Aalborg.
The paper deals with the experiences from participating in a successful large scale inter cultural problem based engineering project including a variety of engineering disciplines as mechanical construction, communication system, power supply, attitude control system, onboard computer systems, software, ground station and payloads, all to be covered by students from universities using different educational models. In addition due to the number of involved partners, economics and physical distances many of the students never meet in real life, implying that electronic communication technology was vital within the project.
Additionally the SSETI EXPRESS project implied the following problems
it didn’t fit to a standard semester - 18 months for the satellite project compared to 5/6 months for a “normal” semester project. difficulties in integrating the tasks in the education at the traditional universities. The complexity in the satellite project is extreme compared to a standard PBL projects. The project had to end up with a real tested product at the launch date!
Compared to normal PBL education activities SSETI EXPRESS must be regarded as a very extreme high risk project - due to time frame, the project and the variety of students involved.
After the launch the project has been acknowledged from ESA top leadership as a very high quality student corner project.
Jens Dalsgaard Nielsen
Assoc Prof. PhD Msc EE
Aalborg University
Department of Control Engineering
Fredrik Bajersvej 7C, DK- 9220 Aalborg, Denmark
jdn@space.aau.dk - http://www.control.aau.dk/~jdn
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Titel | Connecting learning to the real world : International Conference PBL 2006 ABP |
| Antal sider | 10 |
| Forlag | Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú |
| Publikationsdato | 2006 |
| Status | Udgivet - 2006 |
| Begivenhed | International Conference PBL 2006 ABP - Lima, Peru Varighed: 17 jul. 2006 → 24 jul. 2006 Konferencens nummer: 4 |
Konference
| Konference | International Conference PBL 2006 ABP |
|---|---|
| Nummer | 4 |
| Land/Område | Peru |
| By | Lima |
| Periode | 17/07/2006 → 24/07/2006 |
Bibliografisk note
CD-ROMKonferencebidraget er desuden publiceret i: Kolmos, A (ed.) 2006, ‘PBL at Aalborg University: contributions to the International PBL Conference in Lima July 17-24’, Working Paper 13, Technology, Environment and Society: Department of Development and Planning: Aalborg University, Aalborg.