Possible Senior Research Projects

Observational Astronomy Projects – There are a variety of projects that can be accomplished using the 16" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope located at the Fort Lewis Observatory in Hesperus. Many of these involve measuring the change in brightness of an object over time. Some of these projects are:

• Supernovae – The luminosity vs. time is different for different types of supernovae. You can determine the distance to a distant galaxy using these "standard candles".
• Minor Planets – Track a minor planet (like an asteroid or comet) and determine its proper motion and tumble rates. (Will the Earth survive the next pass?!)
• Variable stars – These are changing their luminosity for some known (or unknown!) reason. There are lots of these out there, and you might research one that has not been studied before.
• Narrow band photographs – Most of the really cool Hubble pictures that you see on-line are "false" color. These photographs typically use a very narrow band filter to "see" only the light from a specific molecule.
• Star temperatures – These can be determined by comparing the emission from different spectral regions.

Observatory Remote Operations – There are a variety of engineering and control type projects that can be complete to help the at the Fort Lewis Observatory in Hesperus.  The goal would be complete remote control of all aspects of an imaging session, including telescope pointing, flat field aquisition, dome control, and data archiving.

BalloonSat - The Colorado Space Grant Consortium regularly launches balloons with small, student designed and built payloads.  Many of these projects would be appropriate for a senior design project.

Colorado Robot Challenge - Another Space Grant sponsored project.  Fort Lewis has not previously participated, but it sure sounds like fun.

Communications Network Modeling Projects – There are a variety of modeling and simulation projects that can be done using the OPNET computer tool. Some of these projects include:

• Signal propagation and interference – Why won't your wireless router work through that stone wall? Why doesn't your Bluetooth device interfere with your web surfing? They both run at 2.45GHz, just like your microwave oven. (Why would they do that, anyway?!)
• Satellite communications problems – Explore the issues that crop up when communicating with a built in time delay. You can research the interactions between the various protocol layers (Physical, MAC (Ethernet), TCP, IP, Application). Changing parameters depending on your specific system could decide if your satellite system is profitable or not.
• Bit error correction – Can you successfully send a message over a very noisy line with lots of bit errors? (The answer is yes.)
• Geolocation – This is the inverse GPS problem. Instead of finding your location using signals transmitted from four satellites, you use four satellites to determine the location of a single transmitter. The "simple" time of signal propagation method has already been implemented in OPNET. However, there are several other techniques, including determining location using Doppler shift measurements, that would be needed for a more general purpose routine. A more challenging problem is to either combine different techniques when there is minimal received information, or to use a single searching device during multiple timesteps to find your target. Calculating the correct error ellipse is a non-trivial problem!