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Your mission notebook
Record what you predicted, what you measured, what you calculated and what you changed. Use this packet, or copy the prompts into your own notebook.
Choose A4 or Letter in your browser’s print dialog. Only the notebook is printed from this page. Teacher answers stay on the lesson pages. Nothing typed here is stored; use paper, or save your own PDF.
Mission brief
Name / team: __________________________________
Our community and its need:
Our measurable target, and the failure condition it must hold under:
Draw the route from device to destination and the reply coming back. Label energy sources, connections, and the minimum elevation angle you are assuming.
Build supplies · picture and packets
Picture rule: 0 = white, 1 = black, read left to right and top to bottom. Draw your original on one grid and reconstruct from the received bits on the other.
Original · 64 bits
Reconstructed
Write the eight rows of bits on separate paper. Record matched pixels out of 64, and keep the parity and repetition trials in the Session 1 table.
Cut-out packet cards
Add a short piece of your message to each numbered card. Keep the packet number and its payload together.
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Message: __________
Session 1
What a message actually is
What is the smallest honest unit of a picture, and what does reliability cost?
Date: ____________________
My prediction and reason
My method
What I changed, what I held fixed, and what I measured:
Results
Record matched pixels out of 64 for each reconstruction. For each code, record the data bits, the total bits sent, the rate as a percentage, the errors introduced and whether the receiver detected, corrected or missed them.
| Trial | Code used (none / parity / triple) | Data bits ÷ bits sent | Rate (%) | Errors introduced | Detected? Corrected? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
My calculations
Show the relation, the substitution and the result with its unit. Label each value calculated, measured or assumed.
My explanation, evidence and revision
Your partner receives all 64 bits perfectly, with no errors at all, but no grid dimensions and no reading order. Can they recover the intended picture? Justify your answer with a number.
What this model cannot show
Keep: Both reconstructions and what differed; bits, rate and outcome for each code; the six-node route with the return path marked; one sentence on what a protocol has to supply beyond the bits.
Session 2
Putting information on a wave
What sets the ceiling on how fast a wireless link can carry information?
Date: ____________________
My prediction and reason
My method
What I changed, what I held fixed, and what I measured:
Results
Record trial, distance in metres, slot length in seconds, coding scheme, correct bits out of 8, elapsed time in seconds and the calculated bit rate. Repeated copies carry no extra message information — count data bits, not slots.
| Trial | Distance (m) | Slot (s) | Coding scheme | Correct bits / 8 | Elapsed (s) | Rate (bit/s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
My calculations
Show the relation, the substitution and the result with its unit. Label each value calculated, measured or assumed.
My explanation, evidence and revision
A book blocks your flashlight completely. Your partner concludes the same book would block a 12 GHz Starlink signal. Evaluate that conclusion using a number from this lesson.
What this model cannot show
Keep: Your written frame format; the full trial table with calculated rates; λ for both channels with working; the Shannon–Hartley calculation; one sentence on which term dominates the gap.
Session 3
Why the relay stays up
What speed does an orbit require, and where does that number come from?
Date: ____________________
My prediction and reason
My method
What I changed, what I held fixed, and what I measured:
Results
For every distance, record its name, its real value in km, whether it is measured from the centre or the surface, the scale calculation and the model value with units. For every speed or period, record the formula, the substitution and the result with units.
| Quantity | Real value | From centre or surface? | Formula and substitution | Result with unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
My calculations
Show the relation, the substitution and the result with its unit. Label each value calculated, measured or assumed.
My explanation, evidence and revision
A satellite in a circular 550 km orbit shuts its thrusters off completely. Predict what happens over the next hour, and over the next decade, and justify each with a mechanism.
What this model cannot show
Keep: The labelled orbit diagram with perpendicular velocity and acceleration arrows; the full derivation of v = √(GM / r); speed and period at both shells with units; the scale table with centre-versus-surface marked; your prediction and mechanism for the engine-off question.
Session 4
The geometry of being in view
How long is a satellite usable, how much ground does it cover, and how many do you need?
Date: ____________________
My prediction and reason
My method
What I changed, what I held fixed, and what I measured:
Results
For each of the 12 time steps, record the visible satellite IDs, the chosen ID, and whether a handoff, an outage or no change occurred. Coverage fraction = steps with a usable satellite ÷ 12. Record the exact calculations separately, with ε, γ, footprint radius, pass duration and slant range.
| Time step (1–12) | Visible satellite IDs | Chosen ID | Handoff / outage / no change |
|---|---|---|---|
My calculations
Show the relation, the substitution and the result with its unit. Label each value calculated, measured or assumed.
My explanation, evidence and revision
Two satellites are visible. One will drop below your minimum elevation at the next step. Must the connection fail? Then: your terminal can see a satellite over the mid-Atlantic with plenty of capacity, 4,000 km from any ground station, and the constellation has no inter-satellite links. Can it serve you?
What this model cannot show
Keep: The 12-step coverage table with handoffs and outages marked; the exact γ, footprint and pass-duration table at three elevation angles; the slant-range ratio in decibels; one sentence distinguishing sampled from continuous coverage.
Session 5
Closing the energy budget
Where does the energy come from, where does it go, and how big must the battery be?
Date: ____________________
My prediction and reason
My method
What I changed, what I held fixed, and what I measured:
Results
Record every quantity with its unit and its status. For the cosine test, record panel angle, cos θ, the predicted power, and — if measuring — voltage, current and the product V × I for three trials per angle. Voltage on its own is not a measurement of power.
| Quantity or angle | Condition | Value with unit | Calculated / measured / assumed |
|---|---|---|---|
My calculations
Show the relation, the substitution and the result with its unit. Label each value calculated, measured or assumed.
My explanation, evidence and revision
Your design misses its energy budget by 20% during eclipse. Name three distinct fixes, give the formula each one acts on, and state the cost of each.
What this model cannot show
Keep: The labelled subsystem diagram with energy and information paths separated; panel area and battery sizing with every unit conversion shown; the cosine-law table with predicted and, if available, measured values; one revision with its cost named.
Session 6
Where the delay actually comes from
What makes a connection feel slow, and why is that not the same as slow?
Date: ____________________
My prediction and reason
My method
What I changed, what I held fixed, and what I measured:
Results
For each run record the route, the forwarding rule, whether competing traffic was present, the first arrival in seconds, packets delivered by 20 s and the rate in packets per second. Use packet/s here, since model packets carry no defined bit length.
| Run | Route | Competing traffic? | First arrival (s) | Delivered by 20 s | Rate (packet/s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
My calculations
Show the relation, the substitution and the result with its unit. Label each value calculated, measured or assumed.
My explanation, evidence and revision
Two satellite links are measured. Both deliver 100 Mbit/s of throughput. One is a 550 km low-orbit link, the other geostationary. A user reports that one is fine for watching films but unusable for a video call. Which is which, and which measurement explains it?
What this model cannot show
Keep: The route diagram; results for the normal, congested and failed-route runs with first arrival and throughput recorded separately; the propagation arithmetic for both shells; the fibre-versus-laser comparison; one sentence naming which delay term each experiment changed.
Session 7
Designing under constraint
How do you choose between designs when every option costs something measurable?
Date: ____________________
My prediction and reason
My method
What I changed, what I held fixed, and what I measured:
Results
Keep a table of design version, test condition (including the failure applied), target, observed result and next change. Record FSPL at both geometries with the margin in decibels. Use actual model measurements — never write down an observation you did not make.
| Design version | Test condition (incl. failure) | Target | Observed result | Margin / difference | Next change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
My calculations
Show the relation, the substitution and the result with its unit. Label each value calculated, measured or assumed.
My explanation, evidence and revision
Your revised design uses more satellites and improves sampled coverage from 9 to 11 of 12 under failure. Does that make it the better design? Name three quantities your test did not measure, and for each say what it would take to measure it.
What this model cannot show
Keep: The community brief; the measurable target with its failure condition; the before-and-after trial table under identical rules; the FSPL calculation at both geometries; one quantified shared-sky cost with who bears it; one bounded claim and one evidence gap.
Session 8
Defending the result
Can someone who was not there reproduce your test and reach your conclusion?
Date: ____________________
My prediction and reason
My method
What I changed, what I held fixed, and what I measured:
Results
Report target, baseline and revised result with units or clearly defined counts, the condition each was measured under, and an uncertainty for anything timed by hand. The audience must be able to name the changed variable and repeat your test from your notes alone.
| What was measured | Condition | Target | Baseline | Revised | Uncertainty / limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
My calculations
Show the relation, the substitution and the result with its unit. Label each value calculated, measured or assumed.
My explanation, evidence and revision
Explain your whole system: how a message becomes a signal, why the satellite stays in orbit, how a handoff preserves a connection, where the energy comes from and what happens when a route fails. Include one calculated value, one measured value and one limitation, and label which is which.
What this model cannot show
Keep: The final system diagram with the return path; the six-number table with each value labelled calculated, measured or assumed; baseline and revised results with conditions and uncertainties; your bounded claim and the overclaim you rejected; the question you could not answer and the measurement you designed for it.