Integration and testing of mobile ground station for satellite communication

• Main Author: Lee, Wei Fan
• Other Authors: Amal Chandran
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Antennas, wave guides, microwaves, radar, radio; Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Satellite telecommunication
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148450; https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/handle/10356/140037; https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/handle/10356/139868
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In 2011, Satellite Research Centre (SaRC) made history when their in-house developed satellite, the XSAT, was launched into orbit. The XSAT was Singapore’s 1st locally built satellite, and following the success of this satellite, SaRC has continued to design new satellites and as of 2020, SaRC has successfully launched 9 operational satellites. These satellites orbit around the Earth daily, performing the satellite missions sent to them via the control stations. In order to effectively communicate with these satellites, it is important that SaRC be equipped with the technologies and systems capable of establishing stable connections for satellite communications. With aims to enhance their ground station capabilities, SaRC initiated 2 student projects in 2019 that focused on the creation and implementation of a mobile satellite ground station. The intended outcome was for the constructed mobile ground station to be deployed for future research and education purposes, allowing for more test exercises to be conducted in addition to the current satellite missions at the existing ground stations. The 1st project focused on a satellite tracking mechanism using an antenna rotator, while the 2nd project focused on a transmitter and receiver system using software defined radio. Hence, the goal of this project is to build upon the research findings from these 2 preceding projects, and integrate the results into the construction of a mobile ground station. Using the information gathered from the previous studies, as well as analysis of the current operations and functional systems in SaRC, a fully operational satellite tracking antenna rotator system has been assembled at the end of this project, with its capabilities similar to that of the existing ground stations but downscaled in nature. Planned to work in conjunction with the antenna rotator system is a software defined radio receiver system utilising the Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) modulation technique. This FSK receiver system is intended to communicate with a transceiver currently deployed in an upcoming cube satellite called SCOOB-I. With SCOOB-I planned to launch in a few years, this receiver system is intended to prepare for its future missions. Using GNU Radio Companion, a basic receiver system has been successfully implemented, with it being capable of receiving transmitted data from the transceiver. Thus, the mobile ground station currently has 2 operational systems that can be incorporated into a full setup, though more work will need to be done in the future to improve the effectiveness and reliability of said systems.