15 Jul 2020
REPORT ON SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY AND SPACE EXPLORATION
“SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY AND SPACE EXPLORATION”
A Three-Day Online Presentation on Ground Station Setup for Receiving Signals from Weather Satellites, High Altitude Balloon Technology and CanSat Design
Date: 15.07.2020 to 17.07.2020
STSE Coordinator: Dr. M.Devanathan, Asst. Prof., School of ECE
STSE Team: Prof. Aryalekshmi.B.N, Prof.Subhash B.K.
Online Platform: MS TEAM. (Team Name: RU_ECE_COE_STSE R&D Team)
Total Number of Participants: 40
School of Electronics and Communication Engineering & COE Satellite Technology and Space Exploration team had organized a three-Day Online presentation on Ground Station setup for Receiving Signals from Weather Satellites, High Altitude Balloon Technology and CanSat Design during 15.07.2020 to 17.07.2020. The objective of this session is to create an interest among the students related to the space activities and satellite technology. Around 40 STSE team members have actively participated in this session. The detailed Session report has given below:
SESSION REPORT:
Date:15/07/2020, Day 1, Session 1, 6.30 pm to 7.00 pm.
Title: SDR based ground station for image reception from weather satellites.
Topics Covered: Introduction to Low-Earth Orbit weather satellites - National Oceanic and Administration’s (NOAA) and Meteor-M2 satellites. Development of the ground station for receiving signals from the above-mentioned satellites. Establishing Ground station setup using: a) Software Defined Radio (SDR), b) Quadrifilar Helix (QFH) Antenna, c) V-Dipole Antenna. Satellite Predcting and decoding software : a) Orbitron: For satellite tracking, b) SDR#: Signal processing software for
the Software Defined Radio (SDR), c) WxToImg: For decoding signal received from NOAA satellites into images, d)Virtual Audio Cable: Virtual cable for piping the audio received from satellites to the decoding software, e)LRPT Decoder: For decoding signal received from Meteor-M2 satellite into image, f) Zadig: Driver for installing the SDR on the PC/Laptop. Discussions on the images received from the NOAA and Meteor-M2 satellites. Applications and future scope of the ground station setup.
Team Members: Ajith Kumar Joel T, Pavan Kalyan Reddy Y , Charan Yadav NP, Chandan MN
Date:15/07/2020, Day 1, Session 2, 7.00 pm to 7.30 pm
Title: Starlink model of High Altitude Balloon Satellite (HAB-Satellite)
Topics Covered: Introduction to HAB-Satellites, Structure and Build of HAB-Satellites, Working of HAB-Satellites, Uses of HAB-Satellites. Companies involved in development of HAB-Satellites. Differences between orbiting Satellites and HAB-Satellites. Similarities between Satellites and HAB-Satellites. Introduction to Starlink Constellation project by SpaceX. Advantages of Starlink project and Implementation of HAB-Satellites in Starlink model. Challenges in the project, and methods to overcome them. Payload Designs & Discussion. Applications, and Future scope of HAB-Satellites.
Team Members: Jhenkar M S, Kavya H S, Rashmi Ramesh
Date:16/07/2020, Day 2, Session 1, 6.30 pm to 7.00 pm
Title: VIKRUSAT
Topics Covered: Brief description of a CanSat, Launching mechanisms: a) Sounding rocket, b) Drone, c) High altitude balloon, d) Water rocket. Subsystems of Vikrusat: a) On-board computer - Block diagram of OBC and its subsystems, Atmega 328p microcontroller and its features. b) Power distribution system - Objective and Block diagram. GNSS module: a) Navigation System, b) GNSS supported constellations, c) About and features of Ublox Neo M8 series. Sensor board/payload: a) Barometer/altimeter, b) Temperature/humidity, c) Air quality sensor, d) IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit). Communication board: LoRa module and its features.
Team Members: A G Anju, Akash G, Arjun S, Ashwin Alex George
Date:16/07/2020, Day 2, Session 2, 7.00 pm to 7.30 pm
Title: TerraSonde
Topics Covered: Introduction to High altitude space balloons, Applications of HAB, Details of the balloon, fuel and the launching mechanism. Main objectives: a) Effective power management, b) Near space photography, c) Active communication with the ground station, d) Effective tracking of the payload after landing. Main subsystems : a) Data handling unit(DHU), b) Communication system, c) Power management system, d) Payload - Altimeter, Accelerometer, Barometer, Temperature and humidity sensor, Camera and IR camera. Details about the electronic equipment to be used and the Scalability of the model with a demonstration of tracking active APRS devices in the current location.
Team Members: T. Prathyusha, Shreevallabha A, Niran N
Date:17/07/2020, Day 3, Session 1, 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm
Title: Demonstration on setting up the software’s required for ground station to receive signal from satellites
Topics Covered: Live demonstration on installing and running the PC/Laptop software’s required for the base station setup presented on Day 1, Session 1. Introduction to the android based applications for satellite tracking using smartphones: a) Look4Sat, b) Heavens-Above, c) ISS Detector.
Introduction to WebSDR: An online platform having Software-Defined Radio (SDR) receiver connected to the internet, allowing many listeners to listen and tune it simultaneously.
Team Members: Ajith Kumar Joel T, Pavan Kalyan Reddy Y , Charan Yadav NP, Chandan MN
We thank our Director, School of ECE, Dr. R C. Biradar sir for his motivation and the wonderful interaction with the students during the presentation, and also we thank Assistant Director Dr. K M Sudarshan for his technical insight related to the power management perspective. We thank all our ECE faculty members for your kind support and encouragement.
