Electronics Laboratory
School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
The Electronics Laboratory of the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki focuses in analog and digital circuit design, analog testing and fault diagnosis, circuit simulations, VLSI design, digital logic, IoT & microcontroller systems, and FPGAs. It is equipped with the necessary laboratory infrastructure and the required suitable experimental setups.
The director of the Electronics Laboratory, Professor Alkiviadis A. Hatzopoulos, has provided the team with access to its facilities. Since November 2018, our team uses the laboratory daily as the main facility for researching, designing and prototyping the nanosatellite while also scheduling meetings and holding training sessions there.
The laboratory additionally features:
- Soldering stations and workbenches for electronics construction
- Servers and PC workstations, necessary for simulations and the team’s IT infrastructure
- Electrical testing equipment, including multimeters, oscilloscopes, power supplies, and signal generators
- A 3D printer
- An RFID-based check-in system
The team has spent over 8000 total hours (across all of its members) on the laboratory so far, performing research, design or construction work for the AcubeSAT nanosatellite, completing crucial work related with the design and functional testing of the satellite’s electronics, holding concurrent engineering sessions, or sketching the next steps on AcubeSAT’s journey.
A.S.A.T. Laboratory
A.S.A.T’s workspace is a laboratory located inside the campus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, used by the Aeronautics, Rocketry and AcubeSAT project. It belongs to the School of Mechanical Engineering and was provided to us by Prof. Kyros Yakinthos, A.S.A.T’s former supervising professor. This laboratory is where A.S.A.T’s main hands-on work takes place, bringing project ideas into fruition.
The laboratory includes mechanical construction workbenches, including machining and power tools, soldering irons, tools for electronic and PCB prototyping, chemistry utilities, and a vacuum pump.
A.S.A.T’s laboratory is also used by AcubeSAT’s members, who utilize it as a space for collaborative design & creation, functional tests of mechanical equipment, integration of the team’s constructions, rapid prototyping of PCBs and other practical experiments. Its high amount of space also allows the Aeronautics and Rocketry projects to manufacture different models of their designs. This is the place where theory meets practice, and concepts written on paper can become a reality.
Telecommunications Laboratory
School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
The Radar and Microwaves Unit performs educational and research work on the area of microwave remote sensing and nondestructive testing, microwave circuit and antenna design, electromagnetic field scattering and radars.
Our team is cooperating with the research personnel of the unit to construct antenna prototypes, perform preliminary tests and characterize the antennas in the anechoic chamber.
Nuclear Physics Lab
School of Physics
The nuclear physics lab was the first lab used to expose live cell cultures to ionizing radiation. The radioactive sources available at the lab are Mn-54, Cs-137 and Na-22, with the emitted electron and photon energy ranging from 500 to 1300keV, useful for exposing samples in small doses.
Laboratory of Molecular Biology
School of Biology
The laboratory of Prof. George Mosialos’ in the School of Biology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, works in multiple aspects of molecular biology research, with main research interests that include the molecular mechanisms of oncogenesis of the Epstein-Barr virus and the function of various signalling pathways. Our team collaborates with members of the laboratory for molecular cloning of the genetic circuits, genetic engineering of yeast cells and optimizing conditions for yeast sporulation.
School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
The Automation and Robotics Laboratory (ARL) within School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) has a long standing research record in the areas of robotics and control systems. In the field of robotics the lab has an expertise in the area of physical human–robot interaction, object grasping and manipulation, redundant and flexible joint manipulators, and model free control of robotic systems with prescribed performance guarantees. In the automatic control field ARL is specializing in the control of complex and uncertain systems with prescribed performance guarantees. ARL is also active in the field of computational intelligence.
Cleanroom (ISO-8)
School of Mechanical Engineering
After completing the CDR phase and moving on to the Building phase, AcubeSAT would be in need of a Cleanroom. Inside this Cleanroom, the integration and the assembly of the nanosatellite shall take place. Thankfully, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is more than willing to provide one of its Cleanrooms to the team located in the premises of the School of Mechanical Engineering. This particular Cleanroom is indeed compliant with the ISO 14644-1 and is a class of 100.000(ISO 8), thus covering the team’s necessities.
Prisma Electronics
The PCB MAIT (Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration and Test) activities for Space Projects (including commissioning) are carried out by certified and conducted operators in a Clean Room Class 10.000, ISO-7 atmosphere. The Clean Room holds the appropriate certifications for High level Cleanness, which are renewed periodically by external partner.
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
The Laboratory of Biological Network Characterization (LBNC) designs and employs high-throughput microfluidic devices for biosystems engineering, gene and genome synthesis and next-generation personal diagnostics. Members of the Science Unit subsystem collaborate with the research group (and were already kindly hosted by Prof. Sebastian Maerkl) for fabricating and performing preliminary testing of microfluidic architectures, compatible with the long-term culture of yeast cells under space conditions.