CanSat Mini-Satellite System
A can-sized satellite that collects environmental and inertial data during parachute descent and streams it live to a ground station. I designed and 3D-printed the full CanSat structure, coded and calibrated the onboard sensors and built a custom antenna and ground station that together extended the telemetry link from 200m to 400m.
Role: Structure design, sensor firmware, antenna & ground station
Organization: Umeå University (Sweden)
Timeline: Mar 2025 – Jun 2025
· Arduino · Sensor Calibration · SolidWorks · CAD · 3D Printing
Drone-based flight test, releasing the CanSat for a parachute descent while it streamed live telemetry to the ground station.
What I Built
Designed and 3D-printed the full CanSat structure to fit the sensors, electronics, NRF24L01 and parachute inside the can form factor.
Coded and calibrated the onboard sensors, focusing on the air-quality (MQ-135) and temperature-humidity (DHT11) sensing, for synchronized data capture during descent.
Solved the satellite's mass-balance problem by designing the required stabilizing payloads as 3D-printed solar panels, which both centered the mass around the uneven electronics and gave the CanSat a realistic satellite form.
Built a custom NRF24L01 antenna and a custom ground station to improve the telemetry link.
Assembled the satellite and ran the ground and drone-based flight tests through to final deployment.
Results
The custom antenna doubled the usable telemetry range from 200m to 400m over the stock module.
Calibrated the DHT11 in a humidity chamber against a reference system, running a dynamic-response sweep (37→56% RH) and a stepped stabilization test to characterize its accuracy.
The satellite captured and transmitted synchronized sensor data through a full parachute-assisted descent in flight testing.
The project won Best Data Processing System at the CanSat competition (a team award).
CanSat CAD model, styled as a real satellite: 3D-printed solar-panel counterweights and a thruster-shaped housing for the ultrasonic sensor.
The assembled CanSat (left) with custom built ground station and antenna (right)
System Overview
CanSat challenges a team to fit a working satellite into a drink-can form factor: sensors, a microcontroller, a radio link, and a parachute, all inside strict size, weight, and power limits. The payload collects environmental and inertial data during descent and streams it to a ground station. My scope was the structure, the sensor firmware and calibration, the antenna, and the ground station. A teammate owned the telemetry protocol and the data-processing system.
Key Technical Decisions
Stabilizing payloads designed as solar panels. The electronics packed at uneven masses, which left the can unbalanced in descent. Rather than add dead ballast, I designed the required counterweights as 3D-printed solar panels, so the mass balancing doubled as a realistic satellite form.
A custom antenna and ground station over the stock link. The off-the-shelf antenna capped usable range around 200m. A custom antenna paired with a purpose-built ground station, doubled that to 400m and made link health visible in real time during flight.
Learnings & Limitations
Wireless link performance was highly sensitive to antenna placement and orientation inside the metal-and-electronics-packed enclosure.
Parachute storage traded off against accessibility and entanglement risk, a packaging problem as much as a mechanical one.