Amateur Radio Satellites

Transcription

1 Amateur Radio Satellites Presented to Virginia Tech Amateur Radio Association By Zach Leffke, KJ4QLP March 26, 2014 December 12, 1961

2 Agenda The Satellites Orbits and Stuff Transponders Currently Active Satellites The Ground Station Antennas / Polarization Tracking Radios and Doppler An Exchange Cool Extras Useful Links KickSat and its Sprites You re gonna do what? You re gonna do WHAT!?!??!?!...

3 The Satellites What Are They? images from: &

4 The Satellites How Do they Get Into Space? images from:

5 ISS Cubesat Deployment (4 Cubesats) Nov 19 & 20, watch?v=raiqfyybwv8

6 Minotaur I Launch, Wallops Flight Facility Mission: ORS-3, NASA ELaNa IV 29 Satellites (14 Cubesats) November 20, 2013 Images From:

7 DNEPR Launch, Yasny Russia Multiple International Missions 32 Satellites (27 Cubesats) Nov 21, 2013 Image from:

8 DNEPR Payload Integration Image from:

9 DNEPR Satellite Deployment Image is a snapshot from an STK Simulation from:

10 UniSat-5 UniSat-5 CubeSats Dove-4 HUMSAT-D ICube-1 PUCPSAT-1 Pocket Cubesats Eagle-1 Eagle-2 QBScout Wren PocketPUCP Image from:

11 Orbits What s an orbit and why do I care? DOPPLER SHIFT TRACKING images from: AMSAT Phase System Phase 1 No Solar Cells, Short Lived, Tech testbed Phase 2 Long Life, Solar Cells, LEO Phase 3 Long Life, Powerful Comms, TLM/Command, Molniya Orbits Phase 4 Geostationary Orbit Phase 5 Lunar or Planetary Missions

12 Satellite Transponders FM and Linear images from:

13 Currently Active Amateur Radio Satellites (That you can make a QSO with) JAS-2 (FO-29) Uplink: Downlink: Beacon: CW Beacon HAMSAT (VO-52) Uplink: Linear Downlink: Inverting Beacon: CW Beacon FunCube-1 (AO-73), 300 mw Uplink: Linear Downlink: Inverting Beacon: bps BPSK Phase-2B (AO-7) Uplink: Linear Downlink: Inverting Beacon: CW Beacon

14 Currently Active Amateur Radio Satellites (That you can make a QSO with) ISS Packet: U/D APRS: U/D Uplink: FM Voice Downlink: SaudiSat-1c (SO-50) Uplink: FM Downlink: Tone, 67.0 Hz

15 Coming Soon in an orbit near you. Triton-1 (in orbit) Uplink: 435.xxx Linear Downlink: /860 Inverting Beacon/TLM: bps RC-BPSK Delfi-N3xt (in orbit) Uplink: Linear Downlink: Inverting Beacon/TLM: / / bps BPSK,MSK

16 Coming Soon to an orbit near you. UKube-1 (Launch: March 30, 2014) Telemetry: S-Band: UKSEDS: mypocketqub FC-Uplink: FunCube Subsytem FC-Downlink: Linear Inverting FC-Beacon: bps BPSK Fox-1a (Launch: Late 2014/Early 2015) Uplink: FM, 500 mw Downlink: Beacon/TLM: Sub-Audible Tones QB50p1 (Launch: June-2014) Uplink: , LSB Linear Downlink: , USB Inverting Beacon/TLM: bps BPSK

17 Agenda The Satellites Orbits and Stuff Transponders Currently Active Satellites The Ground Station Antennas / Polarization Tracking Radios and Doppler An Exchange Cool Extras Useful Links KickSat and its Sprites You re gonna do what? You re gonna do WHAT!?!??!?!...

18 The Ground Station That s all great but how do I play with them? Short Answer: You need to be a Ham You need an antenna You need to know where to point the antenna You need a radio you need to know how to tune the radio you need to know how to do a proper exchange THAT S IT!

19 The Ground Station Antenna Low Noise Amplifier Coax Radio

20 The Ground Station RX Antenna TX Antenna Low Noise Amplifier Diplexer Radio Power Amplifier RX Antenna OR TX Antenna Low Noise Amplifier Power Amplifier Radio

21 The Ground Station 2m Antenna LNA HPA TX / RX Sequencer 70cm Antenna 70 cm 2m Diplexer COM LNA HPA PTT Radio

22 The Ground Station I m a Ham, what s good enough? sometimes images from:

23 Antennas Polarization Vertical = LHCP OR Horizontal RHCP Photo Courtesy: images from: <- AWESOME ANIMATION

24 Sense Selectable Circular Polarization One way to do it 50Ω λ 4, 75Ω 50Ω 100Ω 100Ω λ 4, 95Ω ~50Ω R. Straw. Antenna Systems for Space Communications. The ARRL Antenna Handbook, CT: American Radio Relay League, 2000, 19-9 to

25 Antennas Omni images from: Qudrifilar Helix: Moxon Pair and Turnstile: A Simple Fixed Antenna for VHF/UHF Satellite Work by L.B. Cebik, W4RNL

26 Antennas Omni Lindenblad images from: An EZ-Lindenblad Antenna for 2 Meters by Anthony Monteiro, AA2TX Eggbeater Images from:

27 Antennas - Directional ELK Antennas, 2M/440L5 (No diplexer required) images from:

28 Antennas Directional RHCP Helical Polarization fixed by geometry of antenna Crossed Yagis (70cm and 2m) Polarization sense can be switched through phasing lines and relays Photos From:

29 Antennas - Tracking 70cm Crossed Yagi Elevator 2m Crossed Yagi Thrust Bearing Rotator

30 Antennas Tracking The way I used to do it Orbitron (More later) WISP DDE (More later) Az/El GS-232 Or Equivalent G-5500 Rotator Elevator Tuning Radio Antennas and stuff

31 Antennas Tracking Software Orbitron example

32 Doppler Shift Image: Screen Shot of Orbitron 3.71 Software Orbitron is free software created by Sebastian Stoff,

33 Antennas Tracking TLEs + SGP4 = AZ, EL, Doppler Shift JAS-2 (FO-29) U 96046B TECHSAT 1B (GO-32) U 98043D SEDSAT 1 (SO-33) U 98061B ISS (ZARYA) U 98067A PCSAT (NO-44) U 01043C SAUDISAT 1C (SO-50) U 02058C CUTE-1 (CO-55) U 03031E CUBESAT XI-IV (CO-57) U 03031J

34 Doppler Shift DEAD ON HIGHER LOWER T 1 Received Frequency higher than nominal frequency T 2 Received Frequency equals nominal frequency T 3 Received Frequency lower than nominal frequency Photo Courtesy of:

35 Doppler Shift Photo Courtesy of:

36 A Satellite Exchange Call Sign, 4 Digit Grid HAM A: K4KDJ HAM B: K4KDJ, K8YSE EN91 HAM A: K8YSE, copy your EN91, please copy my EM97 HAM B: K4KDJ, copy your EM97, QSL 73s HAM A: QSL, 73s Or maybe. HAM A: KJ4QLP HAM B: KJ4QLP, K8YSE EN91 HAM A: KJ4QLP, copy you EN91, please copy my EM97, the handle here is Zach HAM B: KJ4QLP, copy your EM97, handle here is John HAM A: Thanks for the contact John, 73s HAM B: QSL, 73s, and good luck How to find Grid locator? Grid:

37 Agenda The Satellites Orbits and Stuff Transponders Currently Active Satellites The Ground Station Antennas / Polarization Tracking Radios and Doppler An Exchange Cool Extras Useful Links KickSat and its Sprites You re gonna do what? You re gonna do WHAT!?!??!?!...

38 Useful Links Articles and Useful Info That I ve found over time Articles & Useful Info AMSAT-NA Homepage: Antennas, Tracking Pedestals AMSAT-UK HomePage: Lots of Stuff DK3WN SatBlog: Active Sats + More JE9PEL Frequency List: Satellite Frequency/Modes W6PQL: Hardware OZ9AEC: Software Grid Locator Grids AMSAT Space Symposium: When: October 10-12, 2014 Where: Baltimore-Washington Area, TBD Cost: ~$50 - $100 (Symposium & Banquet, not counting hotel) More info:

39 Useful Links - Equipment EQUIPMENT M2 Antennas: Antennas, Tracking Pedestals DX Engineering: Lots of Stuff Texas Towers: Antennas Advanced Receiver Research: LNAs Arrow Antennas: Antennas ELK Antennas: Antennas Down East Microwave: Transverters, LNAs, HPAs Kuhne Electronics: Transverters, LNAs, HPAs Ettus Research: USRP SDRs Flex Radio: Flex Radio SDRs Universal Radio: TONS of Stuff (rotators) FunCube Dongle: RX Only SDR Dongle

40 Useful Links - Software SOFTWARE Orbitron: Windows Satellite tracking software Predict: Linux Satellite Tracking Software Gpredict: Linux Graphical Satellite Tracking Software Systems (Satellite) Tool Kit: Orbital Analysis Software 4NEC2: Antenna Modelling GNU-Radio: RTL-SDR:

41 KickSat and its Sprites KickSat Details: MHz with 1200 AFSK / AX.25 Output Power: 1W SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS3 Mission (March 30, 2014) km 51.5 degree inclination Estimating 6 week lifetime MHz AX.25 over FSK (350KF1D ) Sprite Details: Count: 104 Sprites MHz 10mW MSK/CDMA (50K0G1D) GNU-Radio G/S SW available PRNs available Images and Info From:

42 You re Gonna do what? The first Phase 4 Satellite Transponder A: 2.4 GHz Uplink GHz Downlink 250 khz Linear inverting Transponder B: 2.4 GHz Uplink GHz Downlink 8 MHz, experimental Thank you Qatar ARS & AMSAT-DL Image and Data from:

43 You re Gonna do WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?... The first potential Phase 5 Satellites NASA s Centennial Challenge: Small Spacecraft to the Moon 1. Communications Challenge: 1. Ground demonstration of communications subsystem performance and acceptance for launch vehicle integration. 2. The highest data volume (bit error corrected) transmitted from and uplinked to a CubeSat within a prescribed period of time from at least 356,700 km (the minimum distance to the moon). 3. The transmission of a prescribed small data set to the farthest distance beyond the moon and back to Earth. Interesting Note: CANNOT make use of NASA DSN. 2. Propulsion Challenge: 1. Ground demonstration of propulsion subsystem performance and acceptance for launch vehicle integration. 2. The first CubeSat to achieve a verifiable lunar orbit. 3. Verifiable achievement of at least a prescribed minimum number of lunar orbits. NASA RFI:

44 Questions?