Student Gabriel Garza receives Maine Space Grant NASA Scholarship
Junior Electrical Engineering student Gabriel Garza has been selected to receive funding from the Maine Space Grant NASA Scholarship Program to work with Professor Brian Hodgkin on a project on "Azimuth and Elevation Antenna Positioning". In addition to the scholarship, Mr.Garza will receive travel and housing expenses for a visit to a NASA Center.
The project will build on an existing device designed by USM undergraduate student Mark Kapsch. A photo is shown of the device in its present form. It is able to move to a desired azimuth position by rotating in a horizontal plane. It is configurable to illustrate several concepts of automatic control systems. The device will be used in an engineering controls systems course as a platform for the design of such systems.
The new design goal is to develop a control platform capable of rotating above the horizontal plane for elevation positioning such that the pedestal moves to a desired three-dimensional position upon the request of an external system.
Applications for such devices currently include satellite antenna tracking, direction finding antennas, radars, infrared tracking and other such application that require directional apertures.
A long-term goal is to integrate the final design with a real world application such as a solar concentrator to track the sun in the generation of electricity.
Mr. Garza is a resident of Topsham, Maine. Currently he holds a coop position with BIW in the DDG Modernization Team as a Human Systems Integration Engineer. Previous experience includes five years as a Naval Air Crewman and currently serves as a Technical Controller in the Air National Guard, 265th Combat Communications Squadron from South Portland.