Full duplex TT&C (uplink & downlink) other suppliers
Current ground station capabilities: VHF, UHF, L-band (1.2 GHz), S-band, X-band.
Critical part: file application form. Many universities have used radio amateur: 435 MHz (primary use: satellite use). But there is interference.
VHF: satellite no priority
UHF: enough for TT&C but depends on the budget. 9.6 kbps.
Next satellite: S-band SDR hardware.
Antenna: Gomspace
Transceiver space segment: SDR developed
Ground station: USRP frequency converter from S-band to UHF (helix antenna from wimo, only for downlink). Will include a dish in the next months & are considering downconverting frequency too. Check: wimo.de
Open source GS control & now G predict (to track the satellite). Orbitron software (another option) used for the first satellite (just download the TLEs, compute Doppler shift compensation, if connected to the radio tunes the radio to transmit and receive, controls the rotor to point to the satellite).
SDR: USRP based ground
Assess protocol used for the mission AX25, CCSDS
Spin-off from Vigo (Alem space): contact them for a commercial approach. Complete simulator training software. End-to-end approaches.
People involved in GS & time to develop a GS:
1 person to define requirement for GS, asking suppliers, designing and implemented(2 years).
Software: 2 or 3 people for 2 years.
2 or 3 people full time for 2 years + someone supervising these activities.
Leo commissioning by students with full responsibility.
Operations: share ground station for other missions (but no quality of service assured). In the next years, there is another software to be developed.
Divide packages for undergraduates and graduates and a professor supervised them.
Offer a grant when working in the project.
12 -14 people full time paid (it was the key). Mandatory to have good documentation not to start from scratch & good management is essential
Some money to train people for 3-4 years with Spanish government funding. ~400,000€ for training and external advisors.
If not a system engineering approach: students approach cannot work and we don't know why. ESA ECSS standards were followed but in a clever way (knowing the consequences of skipping steps)
Vigo is going to launch in Q4 of 2018: Mariusz suggested to visit them during the first two weeks of satellite operation.
Open to support activities in the traditional way. We can use their ground station and we can help them with their satellite. Fernando is open to uplinking or downlinking from Vigo.
SDR prototype called TOTEM (hardware) is one of the commercially available products from spin-off. Maybe hardware can be bought and SDK provided to develop applications at NTNU.
Maybe we can define a new project including a collaboration between Vigo and NTNU to work together for the SDR mission (avoid commercial issues).
SDR implementation:
RTOS
M2M data relay, ADSB, AIS receiver: same hardware but updating software.