A student-powered antenna project

The 5-meter parabolic antenna in front of Capitol Technology University's main building is a recognizable landmark on campus, but after years of use it was starting to show some wear and tear.

A team of students, however, has made it their mission to bring about the necessary cleaning and upgrades. It is currently in action as a tool for radio astronomy, and has even been put into use in the search for extraterrestial life.

Carlos Del Cid, Erlin Cruz, Ennis Roulhac and Matthew Barrett undertook the overhaul beginning in November 2014, with the encouragement of Capitol professors Dr. Alex "Sandy" Antunes, Dr. Charles Conner and Dr. Hong Yu. 

The students subsequently decided to turn the endeavor into their senior project.

"The objectives of the project are to revitalize the antenna and then complete four individual projects," the team explained in an e-mail. "We plan to refurbish as much as possible from the existing structure to minimize the cost. We also want to create a modular foundation for future upgrades as needed. In addition, future student may be interested in further upgrades with additional modules and sensors for new experimental projects."

"To date, the team has accomplished the following; disassembled, cleaned and refurbished the antenna motor drive mechanism, which led to the antenna dish regaining motion; disassembled and replaced electrical components in the power distribution unit; and installed a server unit for data acquisition and storage," the team said. "The project is also integrating software defined radio such as GNU-Radio, which takes the received signal and analyzes them for various uses."

The students' individual projects are also under way. Barrett is collecting data for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence signals; Cruz is creating a graphical user interface to control the structure; Del Cid is using the antenna as a telescope for radio astronomy, and Roulhac is adding reception for radio communication frequencies.

The group project also involves using an Arduino platform as the foundation for controlling the antenna. Additionally, sensors will be used to register the position of the antenna dish as well as the orientation. 

"This is so that when an individual needs to place the antenna into a particular position the feedback will be displayed from the sensors to acknowledge its location. This will also create the custom settings for each of the projects. We are planning to finish all this projects by the end of the summer," the team said.

Pictured. Dr. Alex "Sandy" Antunes (second right) with students.