Category Archives: Education

DIY space, Education, Space Radio

Weather satellite image reception using a low cost SDR based system

In the HobbySpace Radio section I describe a weather satellite image receiving station I set up many years ago consisting of a simple antenna, a PC controllable receiver and a PC with a sound card. When a satellite passed overhead, and the receiver was set to the proper frequency band, the sound card would digitize the receiver output  and programs running on the PC would convert this data into an image. (I also had a program running to track satellites to know when a low earth orbit weathersat would be in range.)

setup3NOAA14-20-02-2000_col_mdA LEO weather satellite image (Colors assigned to gray scale values.)

That was a fairly inexpensive station but now there are even cheaper ways to do weathersat imaging at home.

A few times I’ve mentioned the FUNcube Dongle project that was created as part of the UK FUNcube satellite project to get students and the general public involved in receiving signals from that satellite.  The FUNcube Dongle is based on Software-defined radio (SDR).

SDR uses the power of modern microprocessors to allow a software program to replace many of the tasks previously  done in a hardware receiver to isolate and process and demodulate a signal of interest in a particular frequency band. The software  works on data obtained from digitizing the raw electromagnetic  wave patterns from an antenna.

Ideally an antenna output would straight into an analog to digital converter (ADC) in the PC, such as that available  in the sound card, and the SDR program would work on  the ADC output. However, that is not practical with real world noisy, weak signals. So some interface hardware  is still needed. This can be provided by a “dongle”  USB device that might include a low noise amplifier, a  tuner to obain signals in a given frequency range,  a ADC, plus a processor to control all this and talk with the PC. The output of the dongle is then used by the SDR program running on the PC.

FUNcubeDongle

From Introduction to the FUNcube Dongle (pdf)

So a system to receive low earth orbit weather satellite images can now be as simple as an antenna connected to a small low cost dongle plugged into the USB port of a computer running the SDR program. which analyzes the digitized signal in the frequency range selected  by the user. For satellite imaging, there would, as with the standard hardware tuner case, be another program to decode the signal into a weather image.

Besides the FUNcube Dongle, the company NooElec offers kits with an antenna and a SDR dongle. (Available at Amazon: Terratec DVB-T USB Receiver & Low-Cost Software Defined Radio (SDR).

A free program to operate such systems is available at SDR-RADIO.com.  Here is a tutorial for using it to pick up weather satellite images: Software Defined Radio for Mariners: Weather Satellites.

Find more SDR resources here.

The signal environment where you are located, say in the middle of a city with high buildings, could be very  poor for satellite reception. In that case, you can still do SDR satellite reception by getting the signal data from other locations via the web. See SDRSPACE.com  for details.

Contests and Games, Education, Space Settlement

UK Space Design Competition now accepting applications

UK students can now apply for the regional heats and micro competitions of the 2014 UK Space Design Competition (UKSDC) – UK Space Design Competition – Regional & Micro Events – BIS :

Events have been confirmed in London, Cardiff, and Oxford between October and December. Full details of dates and locations can be found on the UKSDC website, and details of further events will be made available shortly.

UKSDC is an industry simulation challenge which offers students the chance to take part in a real design project that exposes them to the joys and challenges of working in a large team. They must work together to apply their science, problem-solving, and design skills to overcome the unique engineering challenges of building in space.

Their task is to design a space settlement for up to 10,000 inhabitants, taking into account everything from structural engineering and communications, to entertainment, food production, and material costs. They then present their final proposals to a panel of expert judges including representatives from industry, academia, and the UK Space Agency.

Regional heats offer teams of up to 12 students aged 15-18 (Years 10-13) to earn a place at the UK final held at Imperial College London in March. From there they can go on to win a place at the international final held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Micro competitions, for 11-14 year olds (Years 7-9), are a new standalone addition to UKSDC that will run alongside the regional heats, and allow younger students to experience the thrill of the competition in a 12-hour version of the event. Any university students, staff, or professionals interested in supporting the Competition as a technical expert, judge, or company CEO should visit or contact Dr Fiona Larner (f.larner@uksdc.org).

The UK Space Design Competition is organised by the Space Science & Engineering Foundation, and supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Full details can be found on the UKSDC website, and all queries should be addressed to general@uksdc.org

Education, General, SpaceCasts

Virtual SpaceTV 3D – August 2013

Here is the August episode in our series of Virtual SpaceTV 3D shows with Amanda Bush . The programs are created by BINARY SPACE (www.binary-space.com) with story content from HobbySpace.com.

In this show, Amanda talks about the following :
00:56 — 02:41 Curiosity celebrates a year on Mars
02:42 — 03:33 Japanese cargo ship reaches the ISS
03:34 — 04:38 Commercial Crew Program Update
04:39 — 07:13 Vertical is in (V-TOLs)

Astronomy, Education

Video: Advice on selecting a telescope

The Slashdot technology forum site posted this two part introduction to telescopes for amateur astronomy:

Bruce Berger is an IT guy, but he’s also an amateur astronomer who takes at least one aspect of astronomy more seriously than most sky-watchers. Not content with what he could buy when he first wanted a telescope of his own, Berger set out to make one — it turned out so well, he says he’ll never part with it, and he’s made several others since, and taught many other people to do the same. In this pursuit, he’s also been a long-time member of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, including a stint as the group’s president. (Berger’s custom license plate reads “SCPMKR.”)

In the video Berger discusses what to look for in telescopes.

Amateur Astronomer Bruce Berger Talks About Meteors and Telescopes (Video) – Slashdot

In the next video, Berger continues with advice

on telescope selection and purchasing. He mentions Orion, a telescope vendor he seems to respect, along with other sources for both new and used equipment. Which should you buy (or build): A reflector or a refractor telescope? Bruce talks about how you should make your selection based on what you want to view, your skill level, and how much time and/or money you have available.

Amateur Astronomer Bruce Berger Talks About Telescopes, Part II (Video) – Slashdot