Scilab and the CelestLab Toolbox for Testing of the MEOSAR Satellite System ScilabTEC 2014 Benoît HELIN Cospas-Sarsat Secretariat www.cospas-sarsat.int
Summary The Cospas-Sarsat Programme Demonstration and Evaluation of the new MEOSAR system Why use Scilab & CelestLab during the MEOSAR D&E? Examples of Scilab, CelestLab & other toolboxes' use Satellite test planning and coordination Post-test data analyses System analyses Addition of satellite data to frequency spectrum plots Conclusion ScilabTEC 2014 2
The Cospas-Sarsat Programme The Mission Cospas-Sarsat provides accurate, timely, and reliable distress alert and location data to help search and rescue (SAR) authorities assist persons in distress, using a satellite-based system. Alerts are provided world-wide and free of charge for the user in distress (aviation, maritime and land). Participants 4 Parties to the Cospas-Sarsat International Programme Agreement (Canada, France, Russia and the USA), 26 Ground Segment Providers, 11 User States and 2 Organisations Key figures In 2012, 2029 persons rescued in 634 SAR accidents On average 6 persons rescued per day Since September 1982, more that 35000 persons rescued ScilabTEC 2014 3
The MEOSAR D&E (1/2) MEOSAR: future enhancement of the C/S System MEOSAR: Russia (GLONASS), USA (GPS) and EC (Galileo) carry or will carry 406-MHz bent-pipe repeaters Beacon bursts are simultaneously relayed through several satellites to MEOLUTs (MEOSAR Local User Terminals) MEOLUTs receive repeated bursts arriving at slightly different times with slightly different Doppler frequency shifts and calculate the beacon location MEOSAR advantage: global & near-real-time detection and independent location of distress beacons ESA-Fermin Alvarez Lopez ScilabTEC 2014 4
The MEOSAR D&E (2/2) Long-term demonstration and evaluation of the MEOSAR system before enter its Initial Operational Capability anticipated at end of 2015 Technical tests Operational tests 3 satellite constellations GPS-DASS GLONASS-K Involved up to ten Administrations worldwide, which cooperate on a besteffort basis 406 MHz Beacon Simulators MEOLUT / MCC GALILEO Return Link Service Providers ScilabTEC 2014 5
Why Scilab & CelestLab? (1/2) Initial need: planning and coordination of the tests among participants ground station locations and beacon simulators Satellite passes, beacon-satellite-ground station co-visibility periods Need further evolved in data processing and system analyses Other commercial off-the-shelf software do not offer the versatility of Scilab & CelestLab Specific processing not addressed in existing off-the-shelf tools Need for processing tuning during the tests and investigate results CelestLab has the perfect mix of low- and high-level functions ScilabTEC 2014 6
Why Scilab & CelestLab? (2/2) Available to all test participants without limitation Who might not have the proper tools or the required expertise in space mechanics to develop their own Ideal for scripts sharing (prevents I do not have the tool or I can not buy the license which limits sharing scripts, algorithms and ideas) Scilab & CelestLab is a major asset for satellite system testing in a cooperative environment ScilabTech 2014 7
Test Planning and Coordination Production of satellites pass schedule for the D&E tests 1 to 15 satellites with satellite exclusions 1 to 8 MEOLUT ground stations 3 beacon simulators Scripts shared with participants ScilabTEC 2014 8
MEOSAR D&E data analyses Processing of D&E test participants data Scilab script used as a reference for cross-checking of the data processing methods among participants ScilabTEC 2014 9
MEOSAR system analyses System analyses of the MEOSAR satellite constellation and performance Cross-verification of new algorithms proposed by participants ScilabTEC 2014 10
Addition of satellite data to spectrum plots Developed with a D&E participant Normalization and addition of satellite data to.png files Combined use of CelestLab and Image Processing Design toolbox Before Scilab + CelestLab + Image Processing Design 406 MHz band marks Satellite information Flip and shift Time & ticks ScilabTEC 2014 11
Conclusion Scilab + CelestLab is used by some MEOSAR D&E test participants Promote the use of Scilab within the participants Expecting the new release of the CelestLab toolbox with CelestLabX!! Surveying over potential toolboxes (e.g., satellite navigation, communication toolbox?) New development of Earth surface & polygon geometry functions, or location processor? ScilabTEC 2014 12