SNAPPY CubeSat Control Script Generation and Data File Processing

Abstract

This is a document discussing the creation and usage of a server system dedicated to retrieving, processing, and storing data generated from the Solar Neutrino and Astro-Particle PhYsics (SNAPPY) CubeSat by the nuSOL (Neutrino Solar Orbiting Laboratory) Project. On a traditional desktop computer with CERN's ROOT and PostgreSQL software installed, and with a file system on two mirrored drives, it is possible to automatically process and organize incoming data, along with keeping a database to record each incoming file along with a command record. In addition to this, an application was created to provide a Graphical User Interface to assist with creating commands to communicate with the CubeSat. With that said, there are still plenty of plans to improve the software, mainly providing an automatic emailing system to notify team members when they are not around the server.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: Structure of the file-system used to store different files from the mission. Nodes with bold text indicate folders, otherwise they indicate a file. Red indicates parts that can only be accessed via elevated privileges, whereas blue indicates parts that can be freely accessed but not modified.
• Figure 2: Screenshot of the server log when the daemon starts
• Figure 3: Visual diagram to better explain how the daemon processes files in /data/Launchpad and how files are output in /data/SnappyRuns.
• Figure 4: Generated GAGG histogram contents
• Figure 5: ROOT file structure of any detector data