Intern in the ESA Special Mission Infrastructure Lab Environment

Our team and mission

This position is based at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) - Darmstadt, Germany

Under the direct authority of the Mission Operations Department, the Ground Facilities Operations Division manages, operates and maintains the Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) stations of the ESA tracking station network (ESTRACK) , ensures its integrity, and interfaces with other operational entities for the provision of non- ESA TT&C station support.

The Division specifies the user requirements for all ground facilities in support of missions and validates all related equipment before operational use. The Division is responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of the Operations Control Centre facilities at ESOC, and for providing station and network support to other agencies and external customers as required. The Division is also responsible for the operational communications and computer systems as well as the local health/safety and security at all the grounds stations of the ESTRACK network.

For further information visit our web site: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity for the internship

You can choose between the following topics:

1) Topic 1: Radio amateur antenna backend development

In the context of the ESA Special Mission Infrastructure Lab Environment the backend of an amateur station should be developed in a performance oriented way. 

The backend should include the possibility to schedule and run passes with an interface to an existing scheduler and to implement a basic monitoring and control interface where the position could be set and read as well as displaying a live spectrum. 

2) Topic 2: GNU radio flowgraphs for UHF-Satellite reception and decoding 

In the context of the ESA Special Mission Infrastructure Lab Environment GNU radio flographs for UHF Satellite reception and decoding should be developed in a performance oriented way. 

The GNU radio flowgraphs could be expanded by bandpass, notch filter or data reception interfaces. Potentially pointing calibration could be investigated. 

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3) Topic 3: X-Band decoding for OPS-SAT on SDR/GNU Radio

In the context of the ESA Special Mission Infrastructure Lab Environment the capability to decode OPS-SAT X-Band data on GNU Radio should be developed in a performance oriented way. 

The high X-band data rate of up to 50 Mbps should be supported in real-time. 

The key tasks are:

• Analyse coding in OPS-SAT X-Band high data rate 
• Develop GNU Radio Flow graph to de-code OPS-SAT TM
• Analyse possible performance improvements (H/W and S/W)

The topic could be either extended to decode S-Band Telemetry of OPS-SAT or to decode Telemetry of the future mission OPS-SAT-2 that is foreseen to use SCCC adaptive coding and modulation scheme.

These additional tasks would comprise:

• Analyze adaptive Coding and Modulation schemes to be used by OPS-SAT-2
• Define requirements and enhancements for ESOC-1 to support adaptive coding and modulation schemes
• Specify interfaces for ESOC-1 and OPS-SAT-2 Mission control system for adaptive coding and modulation schemes
• Prepare GNU Radio flow graphs for adaptive coding and modulation schemes

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking

Education

You must have student status and be enrolled at university for the entire duration of the internship. You should preferably be in your final or second to last year of a university course at master’s level in a technical or scientific discipline.

Additional requirements

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.

Additional Requirements:

1) Topic 1:

• Knowledge of Python
• A Radio Amateur Certificate would be an asset

2) Topic 2:

• Knowledge of RF Signal Processing in digital domain, Knowledge of GNU Radio and Python
• A Radio Amateur Certificate would be an asset

3) Topic 3: 

• Knowledge of RF Signal Processing in digital domain, Knowledge of GNU Radio and Python 
• A Radio Amateur Certificate would be an asset