Joshua Taggart

Experience

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  Pinnacle Flooring Systems

  Oct 2019 - Apr 2020

  Project Estimator

  Worked with blueprints to estimate material usage for the given job site. Made mathematical measurements and basic calculations for calculating flooring material usage.

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  UCF Planetary Sciences Group

  Aug 2022 - Dec 2022

  Undergraduate Research Assistant

  Worked on creating an interactive database for the Planetary Rings Research Group within UCF's Planetary Sciences Group. Performed preliminary reading of research papers and scientific documents to familiarize with the work being done within the Planetary Rings Research Group. Proposed and started a project to improve the acquisition and processing of Cassini data. Created a database of Cassini ring occultation data using MySQL. Utilized Python for presenting occultation data. Utilized the following Python libraries: Matplotlib, Numpy, Scipy, and Flask. Participated in weekly group meetings to provide updates on my project. Show less

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  Knights Satellite Club at UCF

  Sept 2022 - now

  Tethered-Sat is an experimental platform for testing the implementation of new CubeSat technologies in a fast-paced format. Led and finalized the selection of on-board and ground-station hardware. Implementing LoRa and amateur radio APRS communications. Documented all communications research for future use and application within the club. Studied and acquired an Amateur Radio Relay League Technician Class license. - Team lead for the Knights Observation Air Satellite: A 4U Cubesat that will be launched on a weather balloon to study atmospheric chemistry- Managing software for onboard sensors and software/hardware for radio communications

  • Vice President

    May 2024 - now

  • Tethered-Sat 0 Project Lead

    Sept 2023 - now

  • Communications Team Lead (KAOS-1)

    Jan 2023 - now

  • President

    May 2023 - May 2024

  • Software Team Lead (KAOS-1)

    Sept 2022 - Dec 2022
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  Johnson Space Center

  Jan 2023 - May 2023

  Software/Hardware Engineering Intern

  Assisted the R5 CubeSat Lab with hardware and software tasks, working with the Avionics, Propulsion, and Communications teams.Created a program in Python to efficiently record data when performing propulsion system latency testing of thruster valves. The program was used to report all data during testing and would return a .pdf report and .csv file of the raw data. Integrating my program into the thruster valve testing process reduced acceptance time by 90%, with up to 4 valves being tested in 6 hours instead of 1 valve every two days. Performed extensive latency testing of the onboard CubeSat propulsion system with all hardware in the loop. Using an oscilloscope, statistically analyzed over 10,000 thruster firings to measure the variability of latency on the onboard flight computer while running flight software.Established serial communications on flight computers to implement sensors and peripherals for future CubeSat missions. Set up and implemented a thermocouple and thermocouple amplifier using SPI. Created a program in C to communicate directly with the SPI kernel driver to read data from the thermocouple amplifier. The program successfully read and wrote to amplifier registers in order to read and translate temperature data into Celsius to display on the computer every second. Discoveries/documentation laid the groundwork for future implementation of thermocouple sensors to monitor the status of onboard CubeSat propulsion systems.Established an in-lab system for testing radio transmissions using existing lab equipment. Created and documented a repeatable setup procedure for setting up available software-defined radios with extra flight computers for the purpose of testing CubeSat radio transmissions.Analyzed and characterized all GPIO behavior on startup of the flight computer BIOS and operating system. Documented discoveries led to re-evaluating the radio connection to the flight computer. Show less

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  UCF Center for Microgravity Research

  Sept 2023 - now

  Undergraduate Research Assistant

  Working on setting up a CubeSat ground station radio systems for future CubeSat missions within UCF.2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow. Developing an Electrical Conductivity sensor for the measurement of lunar regolith. First version flown on parabolic microgravity flight.

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  Quantum Sensors and Integrated Microsystems Lab

  Aug 2024 - now

  Undergraduate Research Assistant