Faculty Members

Professor Keiichi Okuyama

Email: okuyama.keiichi at nihon-u.ac.jp

Tel: 047-469-5583

Self Introduction

We are conducting research activities in fields such as small spacecraft system technology, special material technology, and robot technology to realize earth observation, space exploration, and space reciprocation. We are also making efforts to utilize these research results in industry.

Career

2020 – To present: Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Nihon University
2019 – 2020: Professor, Department of Space Systems Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology 2012 – 2019: Professor, Department of Advanced Functional Systems Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology
2010 – 2012: Professor, Department of Systems Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Aichi University of Technology
2009 – 2010: Associate Professor, Department of Electronic Control and Robotics, Aichi University of Technology
2007 – 2009: Associate Professor, Department of Electronic Control Engineering, Tsuyama National College of Technology
2006 – 2007: Associate Professor, Department of Electronic Control Engineering, Tsuyama National College of Technology
2003 – 2006: Equipment Engineering Department, Aerospace Company, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.
1996 – 2003: Space Technology Research Department, Gifu Technical Research Institute, Head Office, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.
1994 – 1996: Spacecraft Design Department, Aerospace Company, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.
1991 – 1994: Thermo-Structural Systems Laboratory, Tsukuba Space Center, National Space Development Agency of Japan

Field of Study

Aerospace Engineering and Materials Engineering

Qualifications

Professional Engineer (Aerospace)

Assistant Professor Rafael Rodriguez

Email: rodriguez.rafael at nihon-u.ac.jp

Tel: 047-469-5583

Self Introduction

PhD in Engineering with 10-year experience working and researching on satellite technologies, especially in embedded and communication systems. Seeking to leverage all the acquired experience and skills to contribute to the innovation and consolidation of the nano/microsatellite technologies in the space industry.

Career

He worked for 4 years as a development engineer in (Sequoia Space – 2010), a small satellite start-up located in Colombia dedicated to develop parts for CubeSats and to bring support to universities interested in starting to build their first satellite mission. There, he was in charge of developing software and he got expertise with the Pumpkin CubeSat Kit platform using the TI MSP430 microcontroller, C and Salvo RTOS.

After that, he was awarded with a United Nations PNST program fellowship to study a Master and Doctoral course in the Kyushu Institute of Technology (2014). During those 5 years, he worked in two hands-on satellite projects. The former (HORYU-IV – 2014) in which he was part of the ADCS and communication teams and the later (TENKOH – 2017) in which he was part of the C&DH software development team as well as he was a part of the development of the UHF/VHF transceiver system using the PIC16F microcontroller and C.

In 2021, he joined the Okuyama Laboratory in Nihon University to lead the embedded  and communications system teams for nano-satellite development.

Field of Study

Embedded systems, communication systems, control systems, micro spacecraft systems

Qualifications

Professional Engineer (Aerospace)