Title:

Electronic Instrumentation Design to Measure Electrical Currents in Space using a Rogowski Coil

Space weather is the result of the sun's activity on our near-Earth space environment. It is responsible for beautiful auroral displays and for devastating geomagnetic storms. Energy from the sun couples into Earth's space environment via electrical currents. These currents deposit energy in the atmosphere, causing it to expand, thereby increasing the drag on satellites in low-Earth orbit. They also induce electric fields in the Earth's crust, which can couple into power lines and cause power outages. Currently, the most common methods for determining current density with space instrumentation are indirect, creating uncertainty in how energy is transported and dissipated. The Rogowski Coil is a current transformer designed to directly measure electrical currents in space. Our focus for this project was to design and construct an analog circuit to filter and amplify the signal received from the Rogowski Coil. Over the course of the project, the goal of measuring current through a wire using a Rogowski Coil was achieved. From these results, we can better predict and understand space weather for the safety of power grids, satellites, and electronics across the world.

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