****  UoSAT-OSCAR-11    BULLETIN - 113    19 November 1987  ****
[Edited Version]

                  UoSAT MISSION CONTROL CENTRE,
        University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, England


** UOSAT OPERATIONS **

* New UoSAT-2 DIARY ! *

This week will see the first tests of a new DIARY program for
UoSAT-2. The new DIARY has been developed by OBC programmer Steve
Holder and ADCS researcher Paul Wright in the FORTH computer
language. This marks the first time that programs developed in a
high-level language (ie not in assembler) have been used on
either of the UoSAT satellites.

The FORTH DIARY was developed in response to several
requirements:

* the need for easily maintained DIARY software

* the need to integrate "research software" like the UO-11
  attitude control algorithms with "operational software" such as
  the DIARY schedule facility

* the need for increased facility within satellite software (eg
  trigonometric functions for attitude control).

All of these requirements are better served by high-level
languages than by assembly language programs. FORTH was chosen
because of its inherent ability to manage several tasks running
"simultaneously".

Testing of the FORTH DIARY will begin on Monday 221187, with the
loading of a preliminary version of the software. This software
has been extensively tested on ground-based UoSAT-2 simulators,
but this will be the first in-orbit operation of the software.
Users are encouraged to listen to these tests in case any bugs
are uncovered.

You will be able to tell that the FORTH DIARY is running because
it will transmit a short Special Bulletin in place of this
Bulletin.

* WOD in the FORTH DIARY *

The FORTH DIARY will introduce enhancements to the UoSAT-2 WOD
transmissions. The transmissions will be fully compatible with
BBC WOD software developed by UoSAT and marketed by several
companies, so casual users of WOD will notice no difference.

* More experienced users will notice that the "interleave
  structure" of the data will have changed. Rather than
  transmitting interleaves 0 through 7 in standard order, the
  interleaves will be transmitted as follows:

  0,4,2,6,1,7,3,5

  Thus, each interleave received will effectively halve the data
  sampling period of the graphs which appear on your screen,
  giving a much better view the actual data.

* Line zero, which contains the channel numbers, will be
  transmitted at the beginning of each interleave, rather than
  just at the beginning of interleave 0. This means that you will
  have several opportunities to capture the channel numbers for
  the WOD survey.

* Perhaps the greatest innovation of all is to stop the
  "interleave reset" which usually means that (except on
  Wednesdays) only interleaves 0 and 1 are ever transmitted. When
  the DIARY switches to WOD, it will continue to transmitting the
  interleave which it was sending when the WOD was last sent,
  instead of starting again from interleave 0. This means that
  during the course of a day you should capture data from a
  greater number of the interleaves than was ever before
  possible.


** AMSAT-UK/UOSAT SPACE COLLOQUIUM '89 **

AMSAT-UK and UoSAT are requesting submission of papers for their
Third Annual Space Colloquium, to be held at the University of
Surrey (UK) 29-31 July 1988.  Proceedings of the Colloquium will
be published by AMSAT-UK, and authors are encouraged to submit
papers on all aspects of the Amateur Satellite Program. The
Colloquium will feature both a technical session and an
operational session, so a broad range of papers is needed.
Possible topics include:

o Operation through OSCAR and RS satellites

o Scientific, engineering and educational uses of the UoSAT
  satellites

o Amateur digital communications via satellites

o Design and construction of amateur satellites

o Novel groundstation hardware, software or techniques.

Papers must be received NO LATER THAN 2 MAY 1988 to be considered
for publication and/or presentation. Send papers to:


Dr. Martin Sweeting
UoSAT Spacecraft Engineering Research Unit
University of Surrey
Guildford
Surrey    GU2 5XH
United Kingdom