A Photovoltaic Model Based Method to Monitor Solar Array Degradation On-Board a Microsatellite
Abstract
The lifespan of a microsatellite depends on the adequate power obtained from its solar array. Hence, it is important to monitor the degradation of the solar array in-orbit as uncertain activities of the Sun would change the space radiation environment. To monitor the degradation, a degradation model together with a space environmental model is typically used. In this paper, an alternate method to monitor the solar array degradation of a satellite using a photovoltaic model as a reference is proposed. The proposed method can be used on any satellite with its voltage, current, incidence angle, and temperature of the solar array known. From the results, the proposed method shows that the solar array of X-SAT has a higher rate of degradation from January 2012 to March 2012 due to extreme space weather event. Moreover, the degradation for the Y+and Y-deployable solar panels over the first three years is 28.40% and 41.52%, respectively.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
PV degradation in orbit is a function of conditions in space, such as irradiance and temperature field.
“Similarly to the battery, the PV degradation in orbit is a function of the conditions in space, such as irradiance temperature field [3,4,12].”
From An Integrated Thermal-Electrical Model for Simulations of Battery Behavior in CubeSats (2021) · cites this paper as [12]
The performance of photovoltaic panels used in energy harvesting is affected by irradiance and temperature along the orbit.
“Besides, special attention is given to photovoltaic panels used in the energy harvesting process, whose performance is affected by irradiance and temperature along the orbit.”
From An Integrated Thermal-Electrical Model for Simulations of Battery Behavior in CubeSats (2021) · cites this paper as [12]
Cites
Ginet, G. P., O'Brien, T. P., Huston, S. L., Johnston, W. R., Guild, T. B., Friedel, R. H. W., Lindstrom, C. D., Roth, C., Whelan, P., Quinn, R. A., et al. (2013) · Space Science Reviews · doi:10.1007/s11214-013-9964-y · Cited by 302 · see citing works
Photovoltaic Model Identification Using Particle Swarm Optimization With Inverse Barrier Constraint
Soon, J. J., & Low, K. (2012) · IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics · doi:10.1109/tpel.2012.2188818 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
Zhang, J., Ge, H., Li, Z., & Ding, Z. (2014) · Journal of Power Sources · doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.09.181 · Cited by 274 · see citing works
GaAs Solar Cell Radiation Handbook
Anspaugh, B. E. (2014) · NASA Technical Reports Server (NASA) · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Yairi, T., Takeishi, N., Oda, T., Nakajima, Y., Nishimura, N., & Takata, N. (2017) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2017.2671247 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
Lee, B., Kwon, S., Park, P., & Kim, K.-B. (2014) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2014.130468 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
PSIM circuit-oriented simulator model for the nonlinear photovoltaic sources
Veerachary, M., & Khas, H. (2006) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2006.1642586 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Near-Earth Space Radiation Models
Xapsos, O'Neill, & O'Brien, T. P. (2012) · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science · doi:10.1109/tns.2012.2225846 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
A new approach to damage prediction for solar cells exposed to different radiations
Summers, G. P., Walters, R. J., Xapsos, M. A., Burke, E. A., Messenger, S. R., Shapiro, P., & Statler, R. L. (2002) · World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion · doi:10.1109/wcpec.1994.521828 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Soon, J. J., & Low, K. (2015) · IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics · doi:10.1109/tie.2015.2420617 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Proton displacement damage and ionizing dose for shielded devices in space
Messenger, S. R., Xapsos, M. A., Burke, E. A., Walters, R. J., & Summers, G. P. (1997) · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science · doi:10.1109/23.659032 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Dehbonei, H., Lee, S. R., & Nehrir, H. (2009) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2009.4805261 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Gain-scheduled extended kalman filter for nanosatellite attitude determination system
Pham, M. D., Low, K. S., Goh, S. T., & Chen, S. (2015) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2014.130204 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Spacecraft Electrical Power System using Lithium-Ion Capacitors
Uno, M., & Tanaka, K. (2013) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2013.6404097 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Review of Radiation Damage to Silicon Solar Cells
Curtin, D. J., & Statler, R. L. (1975) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.1975.308112 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Single-Switch Quasi-Resonant DC–DC Converter for a Pulsed Plasma Thruster of Satellites
Kang, B., Low, K., Soon, J. J., & Tran, Q.-V. (2016) · IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics · doi:10.1109/tpel.2016.2600035 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
New Electrical Power Supply System for All-Electric Propulsion Spacecraft
Fu, M., Zhang, D., & Li, T. (2017) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2017.2683638 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Overview of the Natural Space Environment and ESA, JAXA, and NASA Materials Flight Experiments
Edwards, D. L., Tighe, A., van Eesbeek, M., Kimoto, Y., & de Groh, K. K. (2010) · MRS Bulletin · doi:10.1557/mrs2010.613 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Dehbonei, H., Lee, S. R., & Ko, S. H. (2009) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2009.4805262 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Correlation of Telemetered Solar Array Data With Particle Detector Data On GPS Spacecraft
Messenger, S. R., Jackson, E. M., Warner, J. H., Walters, R. J., Cayton, T. E., Chen, Y., Friedel, R. H. W., Kippen, R. M., & Reed, B. (2011) · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science · doi:10.1109/tns.2011.2172957 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Combined Space Environmental Exposure Test of Multijunction GaAs/Ge Solar Array Coupons
Hoang, B., Wong, F. K., Corey, R. L., Gardiner, G., Funderburk, V. V., Gahart, R. L., Wright, K. H., Schneider, T. A., & Vaughn, J. (2011) · IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science · doi:10.1109/tps.2011.2174161 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Experimental feasibility study of concentrating photovoltaic power system for cubesat applications
Oh, H.-U., & Park, T. (2015) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2015.140208 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Optimizing photovoltaic model parameters for simulation
Soon, J. J., & Low, K. (2012) · IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE) · doi:10.1109/isie.2012.6237367 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Analysis of the UNISAT-3 Solar Array In-Orbit Performance
Santoni, F., & Piergentili, F. (2008) · Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets · doi:10.2514/1.32392 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Comparison of boost-based MPPT topologies for space applications
Garcia, O., Alou, P., Oliver, J. A., Diaz, D., Meneses, D., Cobos, J. A., Soto, A., Lapena, E., & Rancano, J. (2013) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2013.6494401 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Power management of a modular three-port converter-based spacecraft power system
Zhang, J., Wu, H., Xing, Y., Hu, H., & Cao, F. (2016) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2015.140808 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Analog maximum power point tracking for spacecraft within a low earth orbit
Selčan, D., Kirbiš, G., & Kramberger, I. (2016) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2015.140279 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Power system design and in orbit performance of Algeria's first micro satellite Alsat-1
Bekhti, M., & Sweeting, M. N. (2008) · Electric Power Systems Research · doi:10.1016/j.epsr.2007.10.008 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Evaluation end-of-life power generation of a satellite solar array
Taherbaneh, M., Ghafooifard, H., Rezaie, A. H., & Rahimi, K. (2011) · Energy Conversion and Management · doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2010.12.024 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
A satellite experiment to study the effects of space radiation on solar cell power generation
Walker, D. H., & Statler, R. L. (1988) · Solar Cells · doi:10.1016/0379-6787(88)90104-4 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
VELOX-II: Challenges of developing a 6U nanosatellite
Lim, L. S., Bui, T. D. V., Low, K., Tissera, M. S. C., Pham, V. H. P., Abhishek, R., Soon, J. J., Lew, J. M., Aung, H., Goh, S. T., et al. (2016) · AIAA SPACE 2016 · doi:10.2514/6.2016-5299 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Development and design challenges in VELOX-I nanosatellite
Lim, L. S., Bui, T. D. V., Lau, Z. J., Tissera, M. S. C., Soon, J. J., Lew, J. M., Aung, H., Ye, C., Low, K., Goh, S. T., et al. (2015) · International Conference on Space Science and Communication (IconSpace) · doi:10.1109/iconspace.2015.7283826 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
ATS-6 Solar Cell Flight Experiment After 325 Days in Synchronous Orbit
Goldhammer, L. J. (1975) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.1975.308171 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Assessment of AP9 and solar cell degradation models with flight data
DeIonno, E., Marvin, D. C., & Liu, S. H. (2013) · Conference record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference · doi:10.1109/pvsc.2013.6745116 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
On-orbit performance analysis on solar array paddle of X-ray astronomy satellite “Suzaku”
Shimada, T., Toyota, H., Hirose, K., Maeda, Y., & Mitsuda, K. (2014) · Conference record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference · doi:10.1109/pvsc.2014.6925353 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Evaluating the In-Orbit Performance of Power Management System for the VELOX-PII Satellite
Lew, J. M., Htet, A. U. N. G., Soon, J. J., & Low, K. (2016) · TRANSACTIONS OF THE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR AERONAUTICAL AND SPACE SCIENCES AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY JAPAN · doi:10.2322/tastj.14.pf_69 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Ray, K. P., Delorey, D. E., Mullen, E. G., Guidice, D. A., Marvin, D. C., Curtis, H. B., & Piszczor, M. F. (2002) · doi:10.1109/redw.1996.574196 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Flight of the pico satellite solar cell testbed (PSSC Testbed) space experiment
Simburger, E. J., Liu, S. H., Hinkley, D., Rumsey, D., & Swenson, J. (2009) · Conference record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference · doi:10.1109/pvsc.2009.5411683 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Temperature dependence of triple junction solar cells after high fluence irradiations
Scheiman, D., Lorentzen, J. R., Hoheisel, R., Messenger, S. R., & Jenkins, P. P. (2015) · Conference record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference · doi:10.1109/pvsc.2015.7355866 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A Comprehensive Review on CubeSat Electrical Power System Architectures
Edpuganti, A., Khadkikar, V., Moursi, M. S. E., Zeineldin, H., Al-Sayari, N., & Al Hosani, K. (2022) · IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics · doi:10.1109/tpel.2021.3110002 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Aung, H., Soon, J. J., Goh, S. T., Lew, J. M., & Low, K.-S. (2020) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2019.2958161 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
ICA ‐based solar photovoltaic fault diagnosis
Qureshi, F. A., Uddin, Z., Satti, M., & Ali, M. U. (2020) · International Transactions on Electrical Energy Systems · doi:10.1002/2050-7038.12456 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
An Integrated Thermal-Electrical Model for Simulations of Battery Behavior in CubeSats
Vega Martinez, S., Filho, E. M., Seman, L. O., Bezerra, E. A., Nicolau, V. D. P., Ovejero, R. G., & Leithardt, V. R. Q. (2021) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app11041554 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“Solar Panel The solar panel is composed of several photovoltaic cells, which ideally can be modeled by a diode DI (PN junction) in parallel with a current source Iphw (photovoltaic effect) [12].”
BackgroundSimulation of a Hybrid Energy System for Stratospheric Airships
Sun, K., Li, J., Liang, H., & Zhu, M. (2020) · IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems · doi:10.1109/taes.2020.2991806 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Sbarra, R. G., Pasquali, M., Coppotelli, G., Gaudenzi, P., di Ienno, D., Ciancarelli, C., & Picci, N. (2025) · Energies · doi:10.3390/en18215858 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Comprehensive analysis of Cubesat electrical power systems for efficient energy management
Shakoor, U., Alayedi, M., & Elsayed, E. E. (2025) · Discover Energy · doi:10.1007/s43937-025-00069-5 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Niu, J., Zhao, Y., Li, M., Xiang, H., Xia, Z., Ren, M., Gao, P. D., & Huang, X. L. (2022) · Advanced Optical Materials · doi:10.1002/adom.202200844 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
MPPT Finite-State Supervisor for Electrical Power System Management in LEO Satellites
Mostacciuolo, E., Sagnelli, S., Baccari, S., Vasca, F., & Iannelli, L. (2023) · European Space Power Conference (ESPC) · doi:10.1109/espc59009.2023.10298167 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Leverone, F., Cervone, A., Pini, M., & Gill, E. K. A. (2021) · Applied Thermal Engineering · doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2021.116609 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Wang, M., Zhao, G., & Peng, X. (2025) · Aerospace Science and Technology · doi:10.1016/j.ast.2025.110213 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Indirect measurement of solar array rotation angle for satellite emergency rescue
He, Y., Zhang, W., Wang, Z., & He, W. (2022) · Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control · doi:10.1177/01423312221124989 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Disturbance observer‐based finite‐time control of a photovoltaic‐battery hybrid power system
Esmaeili, F., & Koofigar, H. R. (2024) · IET Generation Transmission & Distribution · doi:10.1049/gtd2.13248 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Time Frequency Analysis Based Fault Detection in PV Array Using Scaling Basis Chirplet Transform
Joga, S. R. K., Saiprakash, C., Velpula, S., Mohapatra, A., & Kambo, T. A. T. (2024) · Engineering Reports · doi:10.1002/eng2.13016 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Model Reconstruction for Body-Mounted Solar Arrays of Satellites Based on Limited Information
Shen, P., Chen, Q., Zhang, Z., & Ren, X. (2019) · IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion · doi:10.1109/tec.2019.2899749 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Esmaeili, F., & Koofigar, H. R. (2023) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4574060 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Wang, M., Zhao, G., Chen, Z., & Peng, X. (2025) · IEEE Sensors Journal · doi:10.1109/jsen.2025.3641173
Singh, D. K., Bora, B., Dhar, A. K., Banerjee, C., & Rihan, M. (2025) · IEEE PES Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies - Middle East (ISGT Middle East) · doi:10.1109/isgtmiddleeast65737.2025.11314428
Review of Hybrid MPPT Algorithms for Improved Solar Energy Extraction in Low Earth Orbit
Masinga, K., Kabeya, M., & Ntuli, W. K. (2026) · doi:10.3390/engproc2026140074
- Authors
- Soon, J. J., Chia, J. W., Aung, H., Lew, J. M., Goh, S. T., & Low, K.-S.
- Affiliations
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Surrey Satellite Technology (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
- Published
- 2018-10
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 2537-2546
- ISSN
- 0018-9251 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-9603
- 2371-9877
- OpenAlex
- W2796125221
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems (publishedVersion)
- National University of Singapore (submittedVersion)
- DR-NTU (Nanyang Technological University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Photovoltaic System Optimization Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft Design and Technology
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Advanced Battery Technologies Research
- Keywords
- solar array degradation, photovoltaic models, microsatellite markers, space weather, deployable solar panels, satellite power systems
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
