JAPANESE
The 1st International Workshop
on Ground Station Network

Date : July 18 - 19, 2006
Venue : Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo, JAPAN
Host :
Sponsor :

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology,
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (under consideration),
The Japan Amateur Radio League, Inc.,
IHIIHI
1. Objectives

Recently, student satellites have been developed in many countries, some of which have already been launched into the Earth orbits and operated by university ground stations. Considering that more and more university satellites will be developed and launched in near future, it would be beneficial in terms of operation efficiency if these university ground stations all over the world could be connected via the Internet to collaboratively operate satellites. This "Ground Station Network (GSN)" would have the following merits;

  1. the opportunity and time for operating one satellite will be enlarged
  2. in case when a ground station cannot be used because of failures or weather, the alternative stations can easily take over
  3. in case when a satellite is in emergent situations, quick countermeasures can be taken using the ground stations that the satellite first contacts

These merits would become even more when more and more universities join the GSN. UNISEC (University Space Engineering Consortium: a non profit organization which supports university/college students' hand-made satellite and rocket development activities) recognizes these merits and began constructing GSN using the Internet, and now it is the phase we should announce the concept and merits of GSN to the universities all over the world to call for participation.

Based on this current status, this UNISEC workshop aims for announcing the concept and merits of GSN to more universities to call for participation and discussing legal or technical issues and exchanging ideas concerning ground stations and/or GSN. A tutorial to instruct how to construct GSN on your own ground station will also be provided, and so those who are interested in participation in the GSN are encouraged to attend.

2. Tentative Schedule

§ Venue

Sanjo Conference Hall (Registration on July 17,18,19)
Faculty of Engineering Bldg. No.7 (Tutorial session, Laboratory tour, CubeSat meeting)

Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo
Hongo Campus Access Map

§ Schedule

July 18 (Tue.)
Morning Tutorial to construct GSN (in Japanese)
Technical tour to Intelligent Space Systems Lab. (in English)
Afternoon Technical Presentation (in English)
Evening Welcome Party
July 19 (Wed.)
Morning Technical Presentation (in English)
Afternoon Tutorial to construct GSN (in English)

§ Notice

In the morning of July 20, CubeSat project members at University of Tokyo will introduce their CubeSats to GSN workshop participants. XI-IV, University of Tokyo's first CubeSat is still working perfectly, orbiting for more than 3 years. You can experience a real operation of CubeSat, ask questions about it, and exchange useful information. If you have interest in attending this meeting, please check Yes at "Interested in CubeSat meeting on July 20?" in the online registration form. For more detailed information about University of Tokyo's CubeSat, please visit their website.
3. Call for Participation

Oral presentations (in English) in the following topics are welcomed.

  1. Introduction of ground station activities in universities and colleges
  2. Report on experiments or technical studies as to GSN or ground stations
  3. Discussions on legal issues on GSN or ground stations
  4. Future perspective and proposals of experiment as to GSN
  5. Other topics concerning ground stations or GSN

Participation only in tutorial session is also welcomed. Please make a registration online to attend the workshop.

Online Registration Form

Those who will give a presentation need to prepare a half A4 page abstract in PDF format with the title, your name and affiliation in it. Please submit the abstract from the online submission form.

Important dates are as follows.

May 31 Abstract submission and registration due for financial support applicants. (Limited numbers of support available)
June 12 Abstract and registration due for those who will make a presentation.
June 15 Hotel online reservation due for those who want to stay at Sanjo conference hall accommodation located within the university.
July 7 Registration due for all other participants

Contact: gsn_office(at)unisec.jp
(please replace "(at)" by "@" when you send)

4. Accommodation
Sanjo Conference Hall (located within the university)　Sorry! No vacancy!!
Single JPY 4,800
Twin JPY 9,800

* Limited number of rooms available. Reservation can be made through the online registration form.

Forest Hongo (8-minute walk distance from the university)
Single JPY 10,164
Twin JPY 18,480

* Student discount (20%) can be applied by presenting your student ID card.
5. Suggested Workshop Donation

Please pay at the on-site registration desk.

Student JPY 2,000
Adviser JPY 5,000
Industry JPY 10,000
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