BIRDS Network
What
is the "BIRDS Network"?
Foremost,
it is a human network. It brings together all persons who are
connected to the Kyutech BIRDS Project – students, former students, professors,
engineers, stakeholders, university staff, and the like. This project started with "BIRDS-1
Project" back in October of 2015 – and was originally called "Joint Global
Multi Nation Birds (JGMNB)" Project.
As the name is long and unwieldy, it became commonly known as the BIRDS
Project.
JGMNB
also represents the nation members of that first project. Namely, Japan, Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria,
and Bangladesh.
The
CDR (Critical Design Review) of the BIRDS-1 satellite project occurred in June
of 2016 on the Tobata Campus of Kyutech.
We invited all stakeholders to attend the CDR. So for this occasion, we jointly organized
the First BIRDS International Workshop. The official group photo is below.
This group photo was taken by
Mr Wakabayashi (Kyutech, International Affairs
Division) during the afternoon coffee break of Day 1 (27 June 2016) of the
workshop. President of Kyutech (Prof.
Oie) is sitting dead center. The woman next to him is Dr. Carlene of
ANUC, Ghana; the man next to him is Prof. Bat-Erdene Regsuren (red tie), former president of the National Univ.
of Mongolia. Prof. Mengu Cho
is at the far right of this photo. The
workshop is fully documented in the BIRDS
Project Newsletter, Issue No. 6.
All back issues are here:
At the end of the workshop, a
"Letter of Intent (LOI)" was drafted and all present signed this LOI. The LOI describes the BIRDS Network, and
consists of the following Eight Points:
1. Taking advantage of the successful start of the BIRDS
Project, the participants will move forward to form cross-border
inter-university collaboration on space research and education – which will be
known as the "BIRDS Network".
2. Its Mission Statement is "To advance the peaceful
use of outer space for the benefit of humanity by using a network of
universities conducting space research and education".
3. Each member institution of the BIRDS Network will
launch its own space research and education program. Kyutech graduates who were engaged in
the original BIRDS Project will form the core members of these home-based
programs.
4. Kyutech will assist the start-up of these programs
through the exchange of faculty and students. All members are encouraged to
arrange exchange programs.
5. BIRDS Network members will devise and undertake
various joint projects -- such as a joint satellite development project, an
application to the KiboCUBE Program of UNOOSA,
etc. BIRDS Network members can also
implement various joint activities utilizing the BIRDS Ground Station Network,
which was established for the original BIRDS Project (2015-2017).
6. The BIRDS Network will have a periodic workshop (at
least once in two years) to report the progress of space research and
educational activities, exchange information, formulate new joint projects, and
so on. This periodic workshop will be organized by BIRDS Project graduates and
other students of member universities.
Accordingly, the next workshop will be held in 2018; any member
institution can volunteer to serve as the workshop host. Each member institution is expected to
present results and progress of its space research and education activities in
the form of oral presentations.
7. The BIRDS Network will establish a Steering Committee
which consists of one representative from each member. The Steering Committee meets on
regular basis by video conference or other means. All expenses (such as travel)
are to be borne by each participant in the spirit of reciprocity.
8. The BIRDS Network welcomes new member institutions.
The BIRDS Network continues
to grow. With the kick-off of
BIRDS-2 Project in October of 2016, these nations joined: Bhutan, Malaysia, and the
Philippines. With the kick-off of
BIRDS-3 in October of 2017, these nations joined: Sri Lanka and Nepal. Each new member has been signing the
aforementioned LOI.
What Kyutech hopes to achieve
with the BIRDS Network: We hope
that all members of the network will be like members of "a family". We hope through varied and diverse
interaction, they will initiate their own new activities. We can learn from each other. We can share notes with each other.
A central activity for all
concerned is developing new national space programs. This is easier to do when there are
people to share notes with.
Graduates of Kyutech need our support if they are to succeed at
developing new national space initiatives at their home countries. A thriving BIRDS Network is one way to
support them. The BIRDS network activity is supported by JSPS Core-to-Core program from April 2017 to March 2020.
What
is JSPS Core-to-Core?
The explanation from JSPS is
right here:
https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-c2c/data/Outline_of_the_Program_rev.pdf
JSPS seeks to create
sustainable "research hubs" involving Japanese universities and overseas academic
partners. To achieve this goal,
JSPS provides "seed" money to help things get started. The BIRDS Project applied for such
funding in 2017 and JSPS approved the application. BIRDS Project is mentioned at the
following JSPS website under "List of adopted projects":
https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-c2c/adopted_b.html
We are shown under this
heading:
List of FY2017 Projects
Project number: "7"
Project title:
"Data Collection Network in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America by CubeSat Constellation"
Project (primary)
coordinator:
"Prof. Mengu Cho, Kyushu Institute of Technology"
The project has the following two specific objectives:
(1) Standardization of store & forward data format
(2) Sharing the know-how and the techniques related to operating a constellation
A two-page description of the
project in Japanese can be found here:
https://www.jsps.go.jp/j-c2c/data/jisshi/B/h29/29-7_Kyusyukogyo_H29gaiyou.pdf
Thanks to generous funding by
JSPS Core-to-Core, the BIRDS Project is able to conduct these three BIRDS workshops
at overseas venues
1.
2017: 2nd BIRDS International
Workshop, Ghana [completed]
2.
2018: 3rd BIRDS International
Workshop, Mongolia
3.
2019: 4th BIRDS International
Workshop, Bangladesh
At these workshops,
participants give formal presentations, have technical discussions, and have an
opportunity to informally chat with other BIRDS family members. This exchange of information occurred at
the Ghana workshop – and became the model for all future workshops.
Additional information about
these workshops can be found below.