About us

What is 8AAT?

 

STEM Goal:  Educate and empower students as future innovators. We are student operated business.

 

Leadership: Our executive, amateur radio community and STEM supporters possess both academic and private industry experience.

Financial Goal:  8AAT will take your investment and strive for financial self-sufficiency. This will encourage business savvy and entrepreneurship among our staff and student participants while sharing our expertise with youth in our community.

Rationale:  Small-town and rural regions have the highest incidence of poverty in Canada, are extremely under-represented in national STEM competitions and have intelligent, hard working students looking for STEM experience to explore career paths. We will provide a solution.

 

8AAT is endorsed by:

 

Dr. Mark Lehsrud (McGill University), Dr. Jason Etele (Carleton University Aerospace Dept), Michael Bretti (AIS Plasma Propulsion), Dr. Peter Jansen (University of Arizona), Dr. Denys Bondar (Tulane University), Malcolm Harper (Champlain College), Roger Ray G8CUB (UK Microwaves Group), Roger Belanger (Aerospace Engineer), five major Amateur Radio Clubs in the Ottawa Valley: WIARC (West Montreal), SVARC (Cornwall), IARC (Iroquois/Gananoque), KARG (Kemptville/Winchester/Merrickville), PRARC (Prescott-Russell).

We have multiple STEM projects underway:




1) 8AAT STEM Summer Camp:

Locations:  Kemptville.

Options: In-person or virtual (online).
Number of Students:  30+.
Transportation provided (Bus): No.
Status:  Now booking.

Description:  Summer Break (8 week) STEM summer camp for youths 12 to 18 years old. The camps will contain a condensed version of our STEM High School Outreach Program in addition to: robotics, martian rover development, space food production, space awareness & debris mitigation, Internet-Of-Things, software programming, drones, rocketry, amateur radio, physics, chemistry, biology, paper photography (including developing and printing images), electronics, microcontrollers (Arduino), sports and outdoor activities on-site. We have visits from people working in STEM professions to talk to the youths.

 

We have immersive STEM collaborative virtual & real world experiences and adventures, leadership, entrepreneurship and team building. Students will also design and build a model of a cubesat satellite for launch by high-altitude balloon at an accelerated pace - we will launch and recover it, analyze the data it collected. Additional themes are part of the camp for variety. For each of the experiments we do, student keep a "log book", in which they write a short lab report and for larger projects, give a short presentation.

How it works:  Youths work individually and in teams to solve problems, share ideas and explore their potential, for future career paths. We provide: the class materials, training, electronics kits & activities. Students bring their own lunch and ammenities.

How students benefit:  Students will leave the camp with: a) 1 week to 2 months of genuine aerospace, science and engineering experience; b) improve their chances for employment and university selection or program placement; c) their ISED Basic amateur radio licence (if they choose to write the exam); d) develop the leadership skills and confidence necessary to start a STEM club at their school to encourage their colleagues to participate in STEM activities and build lasting friendships (and overcome the isolation imposed by 2 years of intermittent COVID restrictions).



2) 8AAT STEM Cubesat & Robotics Outreach:

Institutions Participating: 4
Number of Students:  30+
Project Instructors:  Leo Yoshinaka
Membership fee:  None
Status:  Active.

Description:  8AAT is targeting rural / semi-rural regions in Canada for a STEM Cubesat High School Program to promote teamwork and innovation to youth under 18 years old. In our first year of operation (Sept 2023), we have 5 participating institutions:

1) Arnprior District High School (Arnprior, ON); 2) St Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School (Russell, ON); 3) 1st Cavagnal Scouts (Hudson, QC); 4) Carleton University Aerospace Astrophysics Radio Club (Ottawa, ON), North Dundas District High School (Winchester, ON).

How it works:  8AAT supplies the materials, training & launch for FREE. Over a 6 to 8 month period, 8AAT instructors train high school students to design, build, test and deploy their own 1U Cubesat (10cm x 10cm x 10cm) on a high-altitude balloon, simulating a real cubesat launch. The students will track it in real-time via amateur radio APRS (automated packet reporting system, sends location data back to the "ground station" or launch site), then recover the cubesat after it returns to Earth. The cubesats also include a secondary payload of atmospheric aerosol sensors to participate in Canadian Space Agency / Environment Canada's atmospheric reseach project. The students from all participating schools in the same year will collect and analyze data, then publish in a research publication. The cubesat materials are reusable for the following year.

Additional benefits:  The students also receive free amateur radio training, hands-on experience with electronics, and prepare to write the ISED basic exam in the Spring. They will also participate in Spring amateur radio contests. 8AAT also provides mentorship from experienced amateur radio operators in their local community to encourage continued involvement after completing the STEM Cubesat High School Program.

How students benefit: They will graduate high school with: a) 6 to 8 months of genuine aerospace/engineering experience; b) a published research paper; c) improve their chances for employment and university selection or program placement; d) their ISED Basic amateur radio licence (if they choose); e) participation in a published research paper.



3) 8AAT STEM Amateur Radio Licence Training:

Student Participants: 50
ISED Basic Graduates (2024): 15-30
Participation / Exam fee:  None
Status:  Active

We provide FREE amateur radio licence training and FREE online proctored examination for anyone age 12 to 30 interested in taking the ISED Basic Amateur Radio Licence exam. We also provide additional activities to promote amateur radio such as participation in contests, DX listening, fox-hunting (hiding a transmitter and letting the students find it), orienteering with maps & compass, emergency preparedness (ARES/AUXCOMM), One you obtain your ISED Basic Licence, it is valid for life without renewal and it allows a student to operate an amateur transceiver on any band, communicate with other amateur radio operators around the world and it legally permits the students to interact with our 8AAT-SAT Cubesat through our ground station. In Spring 2023, 1/3 of 8AAT students wrote their ISED Basic exam and passed! As of July 2024, we had 25 students pass their amateur radio exams via 8AAT.



4) STEM Cubesat & Robotics - Virtual Summer:

Student Participants (2024):
Price (2024): $1500 CDN (9 week) / $750 (4 week).
Status: Active.

Ages: 12 to 18.

In line with aerospace STEM courses offered in China, India and the European Union, we decided to create our virtual summer camp. Our virtual camp allows families anywhere in Canada to participate in the summer camp program, with materials shipped to your location. Online video participation daily. 8AAT project kits will be mailed to the student as part of the course fee, containing STEM activities & materials, electronic components, a frame, coding information & payload simulation training purposes.

 

A visit from an 8AAT camp instructor at target locations in each province, to troubleshoot student projects and for the final stage - to collect and launch the high-altitude balloons containing your child's cubesat, martian rover, drone or other STEM device with our program, in your province.

 

Course trains the individual on all theory related to subsystems and documentation of a scientific or engineering project similar to work in private industry.



5) 8AAT Competitions:

Number of Student Participants:  Varies.
Price Per Competition:  Varies.
Status:  Active.

 

8AAT is hosting a variety of competitions to develop confidence and capability in youth. Please see our "Competition" Page for specific events, dates, criteria and registration links.

 

1) 8AAT ARGH! (Amateur Radio Global Hackathon). It was designed to encourage a younger generation of amateur radio operators and potential HAM students, to participate, problem solve and build relationship within the amateur radio community. The event takes place in November 2024 and will take place worldwide. Youth represent the future of amateur radio.

 

2) Introductory Robotics Competitions for schools wishing to invest 1 to 1.5 years to establish a competitive robotics club for students age 12 to 18. We completed our first competition involving two categories: Age 6 to 11 and Age 12 to 18. Our winners span two provinces - a good first start. Our next competition is in November 2024, as we encourage more schools and teams to participate. A chance to reactivate many robotics and tech clubs lost due to COVID lockdowns.

 

8AAT Headquarters:

70 Bongard Ave
Nepean, ON
K2E 7Z9
Canada

By appointement only.

 

 

 

 

8AAT Inquiries:

 

contact@8aat.ca