Designing Efficient Electric Power Supply
System for Micro-Satellite
Muhammad Usman Khan, Anwar Ali, Haider Ali, Muhammad Sadiq Khattak, Iftikhar Ahmad
Abstract— This paper discusses designing and implementation
of an efficient Electric Power Supply System (EPS) for a Micro
Satellite. Design and analysis of satellite different subsystems
such as power generation, distribution and management, power
storage, modules protection, bus voltage regulation and battery
charging for micro-satellite have been discussed in detail. To
perform all these duties whole EPS is divided into three units i.e.
Solar Power Unit, Power Conditioning Unit and Power
Distribution Unit. Each unit is an isolated system, has a local
controller and standard inputs/outputs, connected with the
Satellite main computer through standard buses (CAN buses)
and can be attached/detached from the Satellite as separate unit.
All the subsystems are based on Commercial off the Shelf
(COTS) Components which were selected on the bases of small
dimensions, low power consumption and lesser weight. Different
techniques have been utilized for overall system size
miniaturization and efficiency improvement i.e. the design solar
panel converter is MPPT based. The main design criteria is
modularity, redundancy, power efficient and scalability, simple
as possible, avoid single component failure and maximum
utilization of the existing heritage.
Index Terms— EPS, MPPT, converter, satellite, solar cell
I. INTRODUCTION
Many universities around the globe are interested in making of
small satellites [1, 2]. They are launched in Low Earth Orbit
(LEO) having Low mass and small size. On the basis of mass
and size they are characterized in Nano, Pico, and Micro.
Micro satellites have mass in between 10kg and 100kg [3].
Our Research work is to build efficient Electric Power Supply
system for Micro-Satellite having design features like
modularity, redundancy, avoid single component failure,
simple as possible. The designed EPS system is for a Micro-
Satellite having maximum one year service life with
dimensions 50×50×50 cm3 and mass less than 50kg [4]. A
Micro-Satellite photo is shown in Fig.1.
The EPS of a Micro-Satellite should fulfill the power
requirements for the entire satellite subsystems. Its main
functions are to generate power, convert it to the power
.Muhammad Usman Khan is MS student at National University of Computer
& Emerging Sciences Peshawar Campus (e-mail:
usman.sank2015@gmail.com)
Anwar Ali is Assistant Professor at National University of Computer &
Emerging Sciences, Peshawar Campus (e-mail: anwar.safi@nu.edu.pk).
Haider Ali is Assistant Professor at Abasyn University Peshawar (e-mail:
haider.ali@abasyn.edu.pk).
M. Sadiq Khattik is Assistant Professor at University of Engineering and
Technology Peshawar (engineer_sadiq@yahoo.com)
Iftikhar Ahmad is Assistant Professor at University of Engineering and
Technology Peshawar (ia@nwfpuet.edu.pk)
978-1-5090-1252-7/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
distribution bus level, down conversion to different voltage
levels required for components of the various satellite
subsystem and power storage. EPS also have onboard various
protection subsystems to ensure proper its operation and
protection from the hazardous situations.
Fig. 1: Micro-Satellite photo
In space the only power source available is the solar energy
which has intensity of 1366 W/m2 at air mass zero (AM0) [5].
To generate the required amount of power, the spacecraft
required specific area of solar panels i.e. if the required output
power from the panels is 1366W, the panels should be 1m2.
Normally on a Micro-Satellite four solar panels are mounted
on the external four faces. At a time single panel is exposed to
the sun and therefore it should be sufficient to meet all the
power requirements of the satellite. The output power from the
solar panels has a certain voltage and current levels, different
from the satellite power distribution bus (PDB). The panels
output power maximum point is also not stable and varies with
solar intensity and other environmental factors i.e. temperature
and humidity. A system is required to convert this unstable
power to the PDB level and also operate the solar panels at
maximum power point. To achieve this goal maximum power
point tracker (MPPT) based converters are used. They are
based on different MPPT algorithms to operate the panels at
maximum power point (MPP). Most common Algorithms for
detection of MPPT are constant voltage method, short-current
pulse method, open-voltage method, perturb and observe
method and incremental conductance method. These
algorithms are analyzed and compared on the basis of energy.
Perturb & observe shows acceptable results and provides more
energy than others and have better efficiency. [6]
The PDB voltage level achieved through MPPT based
converters is needed to be down-convert to different lower
voltage levels required by satellite subsystems. Different
linear and switching regulators are used for this purpose.
Linear and switching regulators have their advantages and
disadvantages depend upon the application [7].
The paper is organized according to the following
sequence. Section 1 provides EPS system introduction,
Section 2 describes system description includes explanation of
Solar Panel Unit, Power Conditioning Unit (PCU) and Power
Distribution Unit (PDU). Section 3 discusses the conclusion of A. Solar Panel Unit
EPS system.
The designed Solar Panel Unit is an 8 layers PCB. Solar
II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION Panels are mounted on the top layer. Bottom layers have the
electronic components for magnetorquer system. Layers 6th
The Micro-Satellite EPS is divided into three modules
and 7th have analog and digital ground planes. The four
• Solar Power Unit (SPU)
internal layers have the embedded magnetorquer traces. In
• Power Conditioning Unit (PCU) order to protect the electronic components from magnetic
• Power Distribution Unit (PDU) effects of the magnetorquer coil. Cross sectional view of the
Each and every unit has its own responsibilities and functions. SPU printed circuit board is given in Fig.3.
The SPU is required to provide 50W output power with
voltage range from 38V ~ 60V. The PDB voltage level is The designed EPS have four solar panels and at a time one
28±6V. The PCU converts the SPU voltage level (38V ~ 60V) solar panel work and manage all power requirements. To
to PDB voltage level (28±6V). The buck converter designed make our system redundant four solar panels are used. The
for the PCU is MPPT based. PDU is responsible for required power is 50W. The selected solar cell which is a
conversion of PDB level to three voltage levels i.e. 3.3V, 5V CESI component [8] is providing 2.16V and o.4A current. It
and 12V, used further in satellite subsystems. To maintain the means the power of single solar cell is 0.87 Watt. Single solar
EPS within operation limits different sensors i.e. temperature cell having a bypass diode in parallel is given in Fig 3. EPS
sensor, voltage sensor and current sensors are mounted at needs 50W power from solar panel. In order to find the
different locations of the EPS. Each unit has its own controller number of solar cells required to form solar panel, divide the
which control the operation of the respective unit and total power with single cell output power (50/ 0.87), will give
communicate with the main satellite computer through the total number of solar cells i.e. 57. It means that 57 solar
different buses i.e. CAN, RS422 and RS232. These local cells are required to achieve 50W power. Single solar design is
controller are CMOS based which is proven to latch-up in shown in Fig.4.
space radioactive environment. Latch-up protection systems
are provided to each controller of the respective unit.
The whole EPS is designed in such a way that a single solar
panel is adequate to fulfill all power requirements of the
satellite. Redundancy is employed at all levels of the EPS. The
designed EPS is a full modular architecture mainly have three
units which can be easily attached and remove with the rest of
satellite subsystem.
For space radioactive environment rad-hard components are
most feasible but they are expensive and mostly unavailable
outside United State. COTS components are used to make the
entire EPS lighter in weight, compatible with space
environment and power efficient. The main focus of the
design is to avoid unnecessary complexities and make the EPS
as simple as possible. So to achieve these requirements
different components are selected on the basis of power loss Fig. 3: Cross sectional view of SPU PCB
analysis [9] and are simulated in PSpice and select the best
one on the basis of low power consumption, small dimension
and weight. Single component failure is also removed from
the design that if some component fails in the system so it
stops entire system from working. Block diagram of EPS is
shown in Fig.2.

Fig. 4: Single Solar Cell Design

Now these 57 solar cells are connected in three parallel strings

where each string have 19 (57/3) cells. Each string contains 19
solar cells in series which results in an output voltage of 41V
(19x2.16V). Each cell has a bypass diode and as a result the
panel has a total of 57 (19x3) bypass diodes. Basically it is
used to avoid single cell failure effect on the complete panel
results. Protection diode is connected at the output of each
string which protects each string from reverse current flow
from the satellite subsystem. SPU also have a temperature
Fig. 2: Block diagram of EPS
 Fig. 5: Solar Panel Schematic
sensor which operate it within its temperature limits. It is a
glass protected NTC thermistor whose range is from 30oC to
700C. All the components of SPU are COTS selected on bases
of small dimensions and minimum power consumption. Fig. 5
shows the complete schematic of the SPU.
Area of the solar panel is 450mm × 450mm. Single solar cell
has dimension 70mm×40mm.Thickness of PCB is 2mm. The
space between solar cells is 4mm while diameter of mounting
holes is 3.8mm. And the total number of solar cells is 57.
Molex Pico Blade 4 pins connector is used to connect SPU
with PCU. A full detailed view of SPU is given in Fig.6.
Fig. 6: A detailed view of the Solar Panel Unit
B. Power Conditioning Unit
PCU has the responsibility to convert solar panel output
voltage i.e. 41V to Power Distribution Bus level 28±6V. In the
conversion Process Maximum Power Point Tracking is used to
extract maximum power from solar panels. So Buck converter
with MPPT is used. For detection of MPP perturb & observe
algorithm is employed [6]. Block diagram of PCU is shown in
Fig.7.
Fig. 7: PCU Block Diagram
Maximum Power Point of the solar panels varies with
environmental conditions and is not constant. So in order to
operate solar panels at MPP, Buck converter with MPPT is
Used to extract maximum power from it and also improves
efficiency.
MPPT Buck converter brief operation is described here. SPU
output voltage is 41V. Buck converter input capacitor C1
voltage is below 41V by using the diodes in parallel. Solar
panel charges Buck converter input capacitor (C1). Voltage on
C1 is scaled by the resistive divider network (R1 and R2) and
applied to the non-inverting input (terminal-0) of the
comparator (MAX975). When voltage on C1 becomes 41V,
terminal-1 voltage of U2 becomes 4.1V (greater than the
inverting input (terminal-1) voltage (4V), the output of U7
goes high and turns on MOSFET SI7112DN (M1). During this
stage C1 discharges through inductor (L1) and U6 to GND.
When C1 reaches 41V, terminal-0 of U2 goes below terminal-
2 and turns off U2. During this stage, once again C1 voltage
increases and when reaches 41V, the cycle repeats. Schematic
solution of MPPT buck converter is given in Fig 8 while its
simulation results are shown in Fig.9.
 Fig. 10: Detailed design of PCU
Fig. 8: Simulation schematic of MPPT Buck converter
Fig. 9 Simulation results of the MPPT buck converter
Input voltage of the buck converter is 42V as shown in the
Fig. 9 while the input current is 1.2A (0.4A from each string: 3
parallel string give 1.2A). As a result the input power to the
buck converter is 50W (1.2Ax42V). The output voltage is 32V
as shown in the simulation results of Fig.9 while the output
current is 1.48A. Therefore the output power of the converter
is 47.4W. The resulting efficiency is 94.8 percent.
Batteries are charged from PDB through bi-directional load
switch and when solar eclipse occurs or in case of low solar
power; batteries also provide power to PDB through bi-
directional load switch. So it charges batteries on a control
signal from the PCU controller. Current, voltage and
temperature sensors are mounted on PDB to ensure current,
voltage and temperature limits. In case of hazardous situation
these sensors will contact PCU controller to take the necessary
actions. Equations for voltage and current sensors are given
below. 1st equation is voltage sensor equation while 2nd
equation is current sensor equation.
Vout= Vin × R2/(R1+R2) (1)
Vout= Rsense × Rout × Isense / 5kΩ (2)
One Tempearature sensor is also mounted on PCU to keep
check on temperature limits and inform the PCU controller in
case of anamolies. MSP430 microcontroller is used as a PCU
controller having embedded ADC and serial port
 Fig. 11: PDU block Diagram
(I2C/CAN/UART/SPI). It has 5 analog signals (2 voltage, 2
current and one temperature sensor). PWM to DC converter is
used to convert the PWM signal to DC signal to set the
reference point for MPPT switching converter. Latch up
protection system is also included in the design of PCU.
CMOS based devices are prone to radiations and MSP430 is a
CMOS based device. Basically Latch is an effect for a short
time in which device supply and ground pins are short
circuited. In this case device power need to remove otherwise
high current can flow which can damage device. So that’s why
Latch Up protection is also mounted to protect device from
latch up moment. Full design of PCU is shown in Fig.10.
Full detailed design of PCU shows the schematics of all
blocks mentioned in block diagram. DB9 connector at input
represent that power is coming from the SPU unit. Then two
redundant Current sensors are attached on the PDB level to
ensure proper operation of current limits. Instead of one
current sensor two current sensors are used to make our
system redundant at every level of design. Like this instead of
one BUCK converter, 2 buck converters with MPPT are used.
Two current sensors are also mounted after the MPPT Buck
converter. Latch up protection system is also embedded for
protection of PCU controller. There are also two interfaces for
CAN (controller area network) which is shown by DB9
connecters. CAN buses are used to communicate PCU with
the on board computer. Two PDB levels are given to PDU
through DB9 connectors.
C. Power Distribution Unit
PDU is liable for conversion of Primary Bus Voltage into
secondary voltages. The PDB voltage level has to be down
converted to lower voltages like 3.3V, 5V, 12V which can be
further used in different subsystems of satellite. For down
conversion Linear and switching regulators are used. 3.3V is
connected with PDU controller and other voltages can be use
for some other applications in the satellite subsystem. Separate
regulators are connected with PDU controller to make it
independent on other subsystems so whenever PDB is
available, PDU controller will do its job.
Load switches are mounted on the input and output of
regulators in order to control the power consumption of
regulators. These switches supply and cutoff power from the
respective regulator through enable signal from the PDU
controller. Regulators have built-in on/off control pins.
Voltage, current and temperature sensors are also
implemented here to ensure proper voltage and current and
temperature limits of the PDB. MSP430 microcontroller is
selected as a PDU controller having Latch up protection
system. All on/off switches implemented inside PDU are
controllable through PDU controller. The PDU controller
communicates these states with OBC (on board computer)
through can buses and then OBC communicate with ground
through tele-commands using RX/TX channels.Block diagram
of PDU is given in Fig.11.
According to the needs of satellite subsystem the Power
distribution unit output the primary and secondary lines in
accordance with the following specifications. From 28V PDB
5 switchable secondary lines are derived having 400mA each.
They can be on and off through some power electronic device.
Then from 12V regulated voltage 11 switchable lines and 2
non-switchable are derived having 400mA each. In the same
way switchable and non-switchable lines are also derived from
5V according to the needs.
Detailed design of PDU confirms all the features. PDU is
redundant system by having separate PDU units for four solar
panels. There are two switching regulators for each regulated
 Fig. 12: PDU detailed schematic
voltage instead of one and also have two current sensors to
make the overall system redundant. There are 2 PDB levels
coming from the PCU. Housekeeping sensors are mounted on
PDB to keep check on current and voltage. Then switching
regulators step down the PDB voltage to regulated voltages
according to specifications given in above Fig.10. All
switchable lines can control from PDU controller through
enable signal.
III. CONCLUSION
The designed EPS is a fully modular and power efficient
system. All the three units are fully modular have standard
data interfaces and can be attached detached from the satellite
as separate unit. The designed buck converter is MPPT based
and has a conversion efficiency of 95%. All the units are
based on COTS components which were selected on the bases
of small dimension, less mass and minimum power
consumption.
Different sensors are mounted on the designed EPS at
different points, in order to monitor the health of the
respective unit and to intimate the satellite computer in case of
abnormalities. The designed EPS different units communicate
with the main satellite computer through redundant buses (i.e.
CAN, RS422).The local controller on the respective units are
CMOS based which are prone to latch-up in space
environment. Latch up protection systems are provided to the
CMOS based devices. The buck converter, resistor of the
temperature sensor mounted in the main path of PDB and
CAN buses are fully redundant to ensure the proper operation
of EPS.
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