Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. The Radio Amateur AMSAT-NA is ... - - PDF document

1

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 1

1

Amateur Radio Satellite Overview 28 APR 14

The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation

Barry A. Baines WD4ASW President

2

AMSAT-NA is ...

• All-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit scientific and education

corporation with over 3000 members (including overseas and Canadian addresses)

» Licensed Radio Amateurs and Space enthusiasts » Major resource of technical R&D » One paid employee

• The North American representative to an international

network of over 15 similar volunteer groups

• Incorporated in 1969

» 45th Anniversary in 2014 » Legacy dates back to 1961 and the first Amateur Radio Satellite (OSCAR-1)

3

Overview AMSAT’s Mission Statement

• AMSAT designs, builds and operates

experimental satellites and promotes space education.

» Focus is on coverage and availability

• Partnerships

» NASA, ARISS – Human Space Flight » Education: Foundations, Universities » LEO satellite projects and education outreach

• Technical and scientific innovation
• Training and development

» Designers and Operators.

As of 21-Feb-04

4

Overview AMSAT’s Vision Statement

• Deploy satellite systems

» Wide area » Continuous coverage

• Participation in human space missions
• Support a stream of LEO satellites

» Developed in cooperation with the educational community and other amateur satellite groups.

As of 24 OCT 08

2

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 2

5

Overview AMSAT’s Vision Statement

To Summarize: “Keep Amateur Radio in Space”

6

Types of Satellite Orbits

7

There is No Typical Ham Satellite!

• Size and mass
• Digital/Analog
• Orbital Parameters
• Frequencies Utilized
• “Payload”

8

How Satellites Operate Like Repeaters

• Retransmit what they “hear”
• Have Optimized Receivers, Transmitters, Antennas
• Great Location!
• Allows Communications Over Great Distances

3

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 3

9

How satellites differ from Repeaters

• Have a Moving Footprint!

– Location Changes / Availability Varies – Frequency Changes due to Doppler Shift

• Full Duplex

– Simultaneous Uplink and Downlink on Different Bands – Multi-mode (CW/SSB/Digital/SSTV/PSK31)

• “World Wide” Coverage
• Remote locations difficult to service

10

Available Satellite Bands

(Amateur Satellite Service is NOT the Same as the Amateur Radio Service)

• Bands Exist from 15 Meters to 24 GHz

– Set by International Convention – Not all Amateur Bands allocated for Satellites (e.g. 6 Meters, 220 MHz)

• NO equivalent of Part 15 (e.g. Must be Licensed)
• 70 cm/2M Most Often Used
• Many satellites have secondary higher frequency links
• “Use It or Lose It”

11

A Wide Variety of Satellites

• 16 Satellites Currently in Operation + ISS
• Number changes frequently!
• Basic Types

Digital Store and Forward FM Repeater 2 Meter/435 MHz 1.2 GHz/2.4 GHz SSB/CW 2 Meter/435 MHz 2 Meter/10 Meter

12

Some Satellites are “Transponders”

• Receives a SEGMENT of one band (50-200 KHz)
• Retransmits EVERYTHING it hears on another band
• Inverting (most) & Non-inverting Transponders

– Inverting retransmits low receive frequency at high transmit frequency (and inverts USB to LSB)

Uplink: 435.225 - 435.275 MHz LSB/CW Downlink: 145.925 – 145.875 MHz USB/CW

Example for VO-52:

4

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 4

13

SatPC32 Software

Will also do antenna and radio control

14

AMSAT Also Provides Online Pass Predictions

WWW.AMSAT.ORG Do NOT use old links!

15

OSCAR Satellites Fully Operational

Satellite Launch Comments

SO-50 20 Dec 2002 FM repeater VO-52 5 May 2005 60kHz CW/SSB Transponder FO-29 17 AUG 96 100 kHz SSB Transponder AO-73 21 NOV 13 40 KHz

16

OSCAR Satellites Semi-Operational

Satellite Launch Comments

ISS Various 2m digi, 2m simplex, 70cm/2m cross band repeater, BB LO-19 22-Jan-90 CW Beacon only AO-7 15 NOV 74 CW/SSB (sun light ops only) HO-68 15 Dec 2009 CW Beacon only

5

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 5

17

SO-50 (SaudiSat 1-C)

• U/V FM repeater
• Uplink needs 74.4/67.0

Hz PL tones

• Not a polar orbit, so pass

times change day to day

• 250 mW transmitter

18

VO-52

• HamSat launched in 2005
• India’s first amateur

satellite

• 60 kHz wide transponder
• Uplink 435.250 MHz
• Downlink 145.9 MHz
• SSB and CW
• Relatively loud downlink

19

AO-7

• Launched in 1974
• Came back to life in 2002 (Only in sun)
• 100 kHz bandwidth
• Great coverage area, eastern US to western Europe/Africa
• 1450 km altitude
• Randomly comes up in Mode A or Mode B

» 2M SSB uplink, 10M SSB downlink (Mode A) or » 70cm SSB uplink, 2M SSB downlink (Mode B)

Use minimum power and avoid “FMing” No batteries to stabilize power

20

FUNcube-1 from AMSAT-UK (November 21, 2013 Launch)

Transmit Power: 400 mW Uplink 435.150 – 435.130 MHz Downlink 145.950 – 145.970 MHz Telemetry: 145.935 MHz BPSK

6

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 6

21

AO-73 (FUNcube)

• Launched 21 NOV 13
• 1U size cubesat
• Educational Satellite

» Materials Science Experiment » FM Telemetry Downlink (experiment and spacecraft data) » Dashboard Ground Station Software Available

• 40 KHz SSB Transponder available evenings and weekends
• “FUNcube Dongle Pro” SDR USB Receiver available from

AMSAT-UK

22

22/06/10 ¡

FUNcube-2 on UKube-1 (Expected June 2014 Launch)

(Same transponder as FUNcube-2)

23

Getting Started

EASY ‘sats’ FM Birds (Low Earth Orbit)

• FM Satellites: SO-50, AO-27
• Manned Spacecraft (ISS)

Minimum Ground Station:

• Dual Band Handheld (2m/70cm) full duplex mode
• Dual Band Arrow, Elk, or yagis
• Vertical(s) with gain
• SSB & CW sats
• SSB/CW VO-52 HAMSAT (India)
• SSB/CW AO-7
• SSB/CW FO-29 Satellites (Japan)
• Longer passes, multiple QSOs because 50+ kHz bandwidth

24

Minimal Equipment Needed to Operate the FM Sats

• Dual band handheld
• Arrow or Elk antenna

7

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 7

25

Hardware Store Special with Armstrong Rotators

26

Q: ”Why Don’t You Fly More/Higher Birds?” A: Launch Costs!

• P3E to GTO - $10M
• Small Sat to LEO - $3M
• ARISSat to ISS - $1M

ARISSat-1 was a freebie

• Microsat to LEO - $500K
• 3U CubeSat to LEO -

$300K

• 1U CubeSat to LEO -

$100K (10 cm on a side, less than 1.33kg)

27

Why is Education Important to AMSAT? AMSAT is a non-profit volunteer organization which designs, builds and operates experimental satellites and promotes space

• education. We work in partnership with

government, industry, educational institutions and fellow amateur radio societies. We encourage technical and scientific innovation, and promote the training and development of skilled satellite and ground system designers and operators.

28

Why is Education important to AMSAT? Our Vision is to deploy satellite systems with the goal of providing wide area and continuous

• coverage. AMSAT will continue active

participation in human space missions and support a stream of LEO satellites developed in cooperation with the educational community and other amateur satellite groups.

8

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 8

29

OK, Why is Education Really, REALLY Important to AMSAT?

• The “sticker price” for a commercial

CubeSat launch is $70k-150k per Unit, and much more for an AO-51 class

• satellite. There is much less interest in

government or corporate subsidies.

• Education is quickly becoming critical for our

(free!) rides to space!

30

AMSAT’s Fox Family CubeSat Strategy

• Take advantage of large and growing interest in

CubeSats

• Develop family of CubeSats that would be attractive

for flying science missions

• Partner with universities and apply for free launches

as science missions

• After/during science mission, satellite runs amateur

radio transponder

• “An OSCAR in Every CubeSat”

31

Fox-1 Structure

32

Assembled Fox-1 Satellite

9

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 9

33

33

Antennas

2 meter whip 70 cm whip

34

What is “Fox-1” and What Will It Do for Hams?

• Replacement of AO-51 for most popular modes
• U/V FM Transponder, not done before in a 1U

CubeSat, which can be worked with a HT and a simple antenna with no tuning through the pass

• V Telemetry Beacon
• U Command Receiver
• Simple IHU
• Construction + Launch < $150k

35

Fox-1 Operational Modes

• Transponder Mode

» FM repeater » Telemetry/experiment data sent as sub-audible, low-speed FSK simultaneously (Where PL normally is encoded.)

• Command Mode

» High-speed data (9600 bps) » Science missions with high data/power requirements » Not needed for initial Fox-1 mission - will be activated on-

• rbit to test capability for future use

36

Fox-1 Status

• Proposal submitted to NASA for ELaNa launch - Nov

2011

• Includes AMSAT sponsored MEMs gyro experiment -

senior design project at Penn State U.

• Proposal accepted by NASA in Feb 2012
• Scheduled for launch August 2015 on ELaNa XII
• Planned orbit is 470 km x 780 km @ 64 degrees
• Expected orbit lifetime is 11 years
• RadFxSat/Fox-1B also in the pipeline

10

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 10

37

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

38

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

39

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

40

IHU Card Prototype

• Collects telemetry information
• Operates science experiment
• Sends telemetry as sub-audible low

speed FSK in transponder mode

• High speed FSK in data mode
• Executes commands from ground

control

• ST Microelectronics STM32L
• Ultra low power CPU
• 32-bit processor
• 33 MIPS
• 128K FLASH program memory
• 16K RAM
• 128K non-volatile Magnetorestrictive

RAM

• Micro-SD card socket
• MEMS gyros (student experiment)

11

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 11

41

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

42

University Experiment Payloads on Fox-1

Virginia Tech “EXP4” Filler/Lens Hole VT Camera Vanderbilt “EXP1” Vanderbilt Sensors Vanderbilt Controller Penn State - Erie MEMS Gyros (on IHU board)

43

Experiments on Fox-1

• MEMs gyros on IHU (Penn State U.)
• Low Energy Proton (LEP) experiment

from Vanderbilt University

• JPEG Camera from Virginia Tech

» Fox-1 must be have a NOAA operator’s license » Fox-1 considered a private “remote sensing” satellite » An AMSAT “first” with NOAA

44

Virginia Tech Camera Card

12

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 12

45

Low Energy Proton (LEP) Experiment

46

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

47

RF Power Amp Test Prototype

• Operates on 2 meters
• FM exciter
• Power amp produces > 400 mW
• About 9 db stronger than 70 cm due to

lower path losses

48

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

13

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 13

49

Solar Panels

• 6 solar panels
• 2 cells per panel
• Spectrolab Ultra Triple

Junction cells

• Rad-hard
• Space-rated
• 28% conversion

efficiency

50

Generated Solar Power

1 2 3 4 5 90 180 270 360 Degrees Power (watts) X,Y +Z

• Z

Total

51

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

52

Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) Test Prototype

14

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 14

53

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

54

Battery Card

• 6 Cadnica (NiCad) A cells
• 3.6 V nominal
• 12 watt-hours capacity
• Battery protection circuitry
• Active thermal control
• Telemetry processor
• Hysteresis rods

55

Battery Heater Test Prototype

CubeSats normally run very cold! The small size and need for maximum surface area for solar cells limits passive thermal control.

56

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

15

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 15

57

Attitude Control System

• Passive magnetic system
• Aligns satellite z-axis with earth's magnetic field
• Bar magnet on structure
• Hysteresis rods on battery card for motion damping

58

Fox-1 Block Diagram and Avionics System Bus

Battery Card 6 Solar Panels IHU Card Power Supply Card Science Payloads Power bus 70 cm Antenna 2 m Antenna Magnetic Attitude Control RF Rx Card RF Tx Card Telemetry

59

Fault Tolerant Design Features (AKA ZombieSat)

• Can tolerate battery failure (open or short)

» Will run on solar power only

• Can tolerate IHU processor failure

» FM analog transponder only

Since satellites normally fail due to loss

• f the battery and/or control computer,

design in the ability to work without them.

60

Fox-1 Status

Milestones

• June – Critical Design Review
• July – Flight Model and Flight Spare have been built

and completed “Day In The Life” testing

• August – Vibration Testing and Thermal Vacuum

(bakeout)

• September – Mission Readiness Review and delivery

to Cal-Poly

16

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 16

61

Fox-1 Status

Fox-1B “RadFXSat” (CSLI 4 Feb 2013)

• Use Flight Spare

hardware from Fox-1

» Flight Spare experiments from Fox-1 returned to partners

• Vanderbilt RadFXSat

experiment installed

» Operates simultaneously with Transponder

• Reset and start again

» CDR, Flight Model and Flight Spare integration and testing, Launch provider required testing, Deliver to launch provider

62

Fox-1 Status

Fox-1C and Fox-1D

• On the shelf and

ready to fly, requiring only solar cells

» (Of course, all of the other integration and testing is still required!)

• Looking for

university partners

EX P4 EX P3 EX P2 EX P1

63

Fox-2

• Flight heritage and track record from Fox-1 series
• 3U CubeSats and beyond
• Software Defined Transponder
• Higher power, more bands/modes
• Attitude stabilization
• Higher orbits
• Development underway
• Partnering opportunities being explored

64

And Beyond…

• CubeSat “market” has not yet reached a plateau
• Exploration and research leading to expanded

possibilities

» Propulsion (higher orbits) » Constellations of satellites

• Larger sizes are becoming more common

» 3U, 6U, even 12U?

• Conglomerate of several specialty systems provided

by partners, sharing the ride and augmenting each

• ther

17

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 17

65

Amateur Radio on the ISS (ARISS)

• Voice operations

2M and 70cm

• Digipeater
• Cross-band repeater
• School contacts
• Periodic SSTV
• Strong signal, easily heard
• n an HT (Better antenna

needed to work them!)

• Use of Ericsson due to TM-

D700 issues has compromised some school contacts.

• Coming: Ham TV

66

2013 School Group Operations Highlights

• 802 School Group

Contacts (819 schools) since December 2000

• 36 school contacts in 2013
• 95 schools contacts in 18

countries in past 12 months

Kevin Ford talks to students in Mt. Ousley, Australia during ARISS Contact on March 13, 2013

Kevin Ford talks to students in Mt. Ousley, Australia during ARISS Contact on March 13, 2013

67

Ham TV Description

Terminology

• Ham Video = onboard DATV transmitter
• Ham TV = school contacts enhanced w/ DATV downlink
• Ham TV comprises

» Ham Video downlink » VHF voice link HW Specifics

• Ham Video downlink frequencies:

» 2.422 GHz main frequency » 2.395 GHz backup frequency » 2.369 GHz auxiliary main frequency » 2.437 GHz auxiliary backup frequency

• Symbol rates: 1.3 Ms/s and 2.0 Ms/s
• FEC : ½
• NTSC
• Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite (DVB-S) receiver

68

Future Comptabilities: Ham TV—Enhancing School Contacts

History:

• 2002 : proposal to ESA for installing ARISS antennas on Columbus
• 2007 : L/S-band antennas fixed on nadir Columbus before launch
• 2012 : ESA signs contract with Kayser Italia for development of Ham

Video S-band DATV transmitter

• 2013 : Ham Video manifested on HTV-4, launched August 4
• 2014 : First ARISS Ham TV school contact expected

Ham TV Control Module

18

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 18

69

Ham TV

ARISS L/S-band antennas

70

Ham TV Ground System

• 1.2m/4ft dish
• 2-3 minutes DATV per

ground station

• 5 chained ground stations =

15 minutes

• Streaming video through

DATV server

• Inexpensive converters will

be available.

71

How Can I Learn More?

• Find something which looks interesting, and start clicking!
• Learn about current satellites.
• Join AMSAT

Visit WWW.AMSAT.ORG

72

Periodicals

• The AMSAT Journal

(Published Bimonthly distributed to membership)

• Magazines with Satellite

Columns: – QST

– CQ Magazine

19

Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. 5/5/14 19

73

E-Mail Resources from AMSAT

• AMSAT News Services (ANS)
• KEPS Keplerian Data
• AMSAT-BB Information and techniques exchange
• SAREX (ISS) Manned operations
• AMSAT-Edu Educators
• E-Mail is Sent to Your Internet E-Mail Address

– Subscribe by Sending Message to: majordomo@amsat.org – Instructions Available on AMSAT web Site: WWW.AMSAT.ORG

74

ARRL National Centennial Celebration Convention

• 100th Anniversary of ARRL
• Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford
• July 17, 2014 All-Day Training Tracks (Thursday)
• Includes “Amateur Radio Satellite Workshop”
• Program conducted by AMSAT
• Registration through ARRL
• Will cover all facets of using amateur radio satellites
• Convention takes place 18-20 JUL (Friday-Sunday)
• AMSAT Forum on Saturday
• AMSAT Booth
• Satellite Demos

75

For More Information WWW.AMSAT.ORG

NEW Address effective 2 MAY 14: AMSAT-North America 10605 Concord Ave. Suite 304 Kensington, MD 20895 tel. (301) 822-4376 (888) 322-6728 toll free e-mail: MARTHA@AMSAT.ORG

Good By 850 Sligo Avenue After 30 Years…

76

Questions?