Training Schools
GLITTER Schools were planned every 6 months and covered the different technologies and techniques required to satisfactorily address the listed challenges, as well as complementary training modules on transferable skills. They were intended to improve the DCs’ research attitude and to boost their career opportunities. The Schools were also open to PhD students from outside the Network, with a limited number of places available.
School 1 : Remote sensors and small-satellites systems for Earth Observation
The first school was organized in Barcelona, Spain, 6 months into the project. It lasted four days and was divided into a science phase and an engineering phase. On day 1, the fundamentals of Remote Sensing and the different types of sensors were reviewed. On day 2, the different satellite subsystems were presented, as well as their interdependencies for different types of missions, including satellite constellations and formations. Days 3 and 4 were devoted to an in-depth design exercise, in which student teams were guided towards a complete mission design, with a specific focus on GNSS-R data analysis on day 4. At the end of the School, the designs were presented to foster discussion on design and performance aspects.
School 2 : Distributed antenna arrays
The second school was organized in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, 12 months into the project. It focused on antennas and antenna arrays. The latter were viewed from a broad perspective, meaning that the training also included aspects of circuits and processing. Day 1 concerned a general explanation of GNSS and GNSS-R technologies, as well as reminders about antenna theory and specific aspects of antennas for space. Day 2 focused on beamforming from both hardware and software perspectives, with special interest in array pattern optimisation. During day 3, the students worked with software devoted to array synthesis and hardware devoted to direction-finding. On the final day, more advanced topics were addressed, such as interferometry, mutual coupling in arrays, and inversion techniques.
School 3 : On-board electronics for Remote Sensing
The third school was organized in Delft, The Netherlands, 18 months into the project. Day 1 was dedicated to the needs of RF circuits for Remote Sensing, and for GNSS-R in particular. It also included reminders about the main RF passive and active circuits. Day 2 was devoted to the use of such circuits for sensing, localisation, and imaging, with exercises on an interferometric localisation system. Day 3 focused on integrated, or on-chip, RF electronics, allowing lower power consumption and improved compactness. Day 4 described different types of computing platforms and their qualification for space.
School 4 : Advanced data analysis techniques for Remote Sensing
The fourth summer school was organized in Luxembourg 24 months into the project. In this event, trainees obtained skills in signal processing so that DCs were also able to identify potential applications of GNSS-R and compare the instruments with other remote sensing tools. Morning sessions were used for classroom teaching, while afternoons were spent on exercises and hands-on experiments. Students were assigned a small project, which was solved in teams and presented at the end of the school
Workshops
The workshops essentially consist of a collaborative project toward the demonstration of the interferometric GNSS-R observation mode based on a swarm of drones, followed by a full-scale satellite-based design. In a first instance, each of the four training schools is immediately followed by a short meeting providing preliminary steps: specifications, verification at components level, tests with GNSS-R from a drone and first synchronized acquisition. Then, the workshop themselves go from verification of the drone-based beamforming to a design for a full in-orbit system, including a final presentation at the end of the project.
Workshop 1
The first workshop will be organized in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). It will be dedicated to the realization of a first synchronized GNSS-R beamforming experiment with a swarm of drones. It will be followed by beginning discussion on in-orbit demonstration.
Workshop 2
The second workshop will be organized in Luxembourg. It will be dedicated to larger-scale experiment with drones and scaling to an in-orbit system.
Workshop 3
The third workshop will be organized in Brussels (Belgium). It will be dedicated to the presentation of the main project results and main achievements.