See a term in a post that you don’t understand? It may well be listed here.
There will be things missing from this list. I try and keep it updated but let me know if anything is missing.
| APT | Automatic Picture Transmission’. Analog broadcasting protocol used by old satellites to send live pictures back to Earth |
| Arduino | A microprocessor board with input and output pins. Programs can be uploaded to the board to control the voltages on the output pins. Can basically control anything in the physical world. |
| ASAT | Anti Satellite’. Any capability to disable a satellite in orbit – usually by a kinetic impact. Varies from ‘no real issue’ to ‘fantastically stupid’ on the consequence scale. |
| ASIC | Application Specific Integrated Circuit’. A processor made specifically for an exact task (like mining Bitcoin) |
| Bresenham’s line algorithm | A method to draw lines on a computer screen or with vector graphics. |
| Brute Force Attack | A program which tries every possible combination in turn until it find the correct one. Always finds the solution, but requires the longest time. |
| C++ | High level programming language on which Arduino is based. I have a base knowledge of this, but tend to use Python where I can. |
| CPU | Central Processing Unit’ – the main processor of a computer |
| Galvo/galvanometer | High speed motor used for deflecting laser beam. Must be used in conjunction with PID controller. |
| GPS / GLONASS | Satellite navigation networks. |
| GPU | Graphics Processing Unit’ – a second processor found in almost all computers. Responsible for handling the graphics. |
| LRPT | Low Rate Picture Transmission’. The digital replacement for APT. Fraught with issues due to interference but used by the Russian METEOR satellites. |
| NOAA POES | National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite’. US weather satellites that send back APT images. |
| NORAD | North American Aerospace Defence Command’. I don’t know how they get ‘NORAD’ from that. Anyway, maintains RADAR network to track objects in space. |
| Orbital Inclination | How tilted an orbit is. |
| Periapsis | Point in an orbit at which the orbiting body is closest to the thing which it is orbiting. |
| PID control | Proportional Integral Derivative’. A form of feedbakc mechanism where the position (or state) of something is determined based on it’s current state, previous states and target state. |
| PWM | Pulse Width Modulation’. Switching a signal on and off rapidly so the output appears somewhere between the ‘on’ voltage and zero. |
| Python | Versatile and easy to use programming language. |
| R | Programming language suitable for statistics and data analysis. Not the easiest to use but I’ve been doing a lot of work in R recently to improve my capabilities. |
| Raspberry Pi | Very different to an Arduino. This is an entire computer on a board. It can do basically anything (given enough effort) |
| Resistor ladder | A form of digital to analog convertor. Converts a parallel stream of 1’s and 0’s to a single number. |
| SDR | Software Defined Radio’. A process by which radio signals are processed by software rather than expensive hardware. Has basically allowed anyone to get into amateur radio easily and for very little money. |
| Semi Major Axis | Orbiting objects make an ellipse. The semi major axis is half of the length of the ellipse. |
| TLE | Two Line Element’. Format in which satellite orbital parameters are published. |
| XSA | Cross Sectional Area’. I type this accidentally all the time without saying what it means. |
