{"id":4254,"date":"2013-09-01T19:57:12","date_gmt":"2013-09-01T19:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4254"},"modified":"2013-09-01T20:27:13","modified_gmt":"2013-09-01T20:27:13","slug":"weather-satellite-image-reception-using-a-low-cost-sdr-based-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4254","title":{"rendered":"Weather satellite image reception using a low cost SDR based system"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the HobbySpace Radio section<\/a> I describe a weather satellite image receiving station<\/a> 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\u00a0 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.)<\/p>\n

\"setup3NOAA14-20-02-2000_col_md\"<\/a>A LEO weather satellite image (Colors assigned to gray scale values.)<\/p>\n

That was a fairly inexpensive station but now there are even cheaper ways to do weathersat imaging at home.<\/p>\n

A few times I’ve mentioned the FUNcube Dongle project<\/a> that was created as part of the UK FUNcube satellite project<\/a> to get students and the general public involved in receiving signals from that satellite.\u00a0 The FUNcube Dongle is based on Software-defined radio (SDR)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SDR uses the power of modern microprocessors to allow a software program to replace many of the tasks previously\u00a0 done in a hardware receiver to isolate and process and demodulate a signal of interest in a particular frequency band. The software\u00a0 works on data obtained from digitizing the raw electromagnetic\u00a0 wave patterns from an antenna.<\/p>\n

Ideally an antenna output would straight into an analog to digital converter (ADC) in the PC, such as that available\u00a0 in the sound card, and the SDR program would work on\u00a0 the ADC output. However, that is not practical with real world noisy, weak signals. So some interface hardware\u00a0 is still needed. This can be provided by a “dongle”\u00a0 USB device that might include a low noise amplifier, a\u00a0 tuner to obain signals in a given frequency range,\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

\"FUNcubeDongle\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From Introduction to the FUNcube Dongle (pdf)<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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

A free program to operate such systems is available at SDR-RADIO.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Here is a tutorial for using it to pick up weather satellite images: Software Defined Radio for Mariners: Weather Satellites<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Find more SDR resources here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The signal environment where you are located, say in the middle of a city with high buildings, could be very\u00a0 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<\/a>\u00a0 for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading Weather satellite image reception using a low cost SDR based system<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,22,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diy-space","category-education","category-space-radio"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-16C","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11459,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11459","url_meta":{"origin":4254,"position":0},"title":"Low cost DIY ground station for weather satellite image reception","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The HobbySpace Space Radio section has lots of information and web resources about home reception of satellite signals, especially for obtaining\u00a0images from low earth orbit\u00a0weather satellites. The price\u00a0for such DIY systems was modest and now has gotten even cheaper. Previously, one needed a wide-band radio tuner, which might cost a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DIY space"","block_context":{"text":"DIY space","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"20150918_earth-noaa19_f537[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/20150918_earth-noaa19_f5371.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23129,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=23129","url_meta":{"origin":4254,"position":1},"title":"Low cost GOES weather satellite stations","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Home systems for GOES weather satellite image reception are now quite affordable. Nooele currently offers this package for just $179 at Amazon: Nooelec GOES Weather Satellite RTL-SDR Bundle[Amazon commission link] Includes NESDR SMArTee XTR Software Defined Radio, & Everything Else Needed to Receive LRIT, HRIT & HRPT Satellite Weather Images\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Amateur\/Student Satellite"","block_context":{"text":"Amateur\/Student Satellite","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=hobbyspace&l=am2&o=1&a=B08HGQXC7C","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15275,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15275","url_meta":{"origin":4254,"position":2},"title":"Weather satellite image reception with tracking antenna on a converted telescope mount","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are links to a set of How-To postings on receiving weather satellite images with a low cost home system that includes the conversion of a telescope mount into an automated antenna that follows weather satellites across the sky: Orbital Weather Satellite APT Image Reception - SDRplay Community Forum -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/NOAA-19-59W-540x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6108,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=6108","url_meta":{"origin":4254,"position":3},"title":"FUNcube – an educational satellite for home and school","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0FUNcube\u00a0nanosat (now officially designated AO-73)\u00a0reached orbit last November via a Russian Dnepr rocket. The FUNcube project is led by\u00a0AMSAT-UK\u00a0and is intended as \u00a0a complete\u00a0educational single CubeSat project with the goal of\u00a0enthusing and educating young people about radio, space, physics and electronics. The project encompasses the\u00a0FUNcube Dongle, which is a low\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Amateur\/Student Satellite"","block_context":{"text":"Amateur\/Student Satellite","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"FUNcubeDongle1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/FUNcubeDongle1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17918,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17918","url_meta":{"origin":4254,"position":4},"title":"New enhancements to low-cost GOES weather satellite station for amateurs","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I've posted a couple of times about the \u00a0HRIT and LRIT Low-Cost System for capturing weather satellite images: Build a low cost system to receive images from GOES weather satellites Improving GOES weather satellite imaging with low cost home ground station A reader who keeps me up-to-date on the project\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Eyes in the Sky"","block_context":{"text":"Eyes in the Sky","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=27"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/GOES-16-02-17-2019-FD.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8952,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8952","url_meta":{"origin":4254,"position":5},"title":"‘Satellite Lamps’ project highlights the GPS","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0The Global Positioning System or GPS has become like weather imaging and Direct-to-Home TV - another space application that is pervasive in our lives\u00a0and yet taken totally for granted. Most of the public now uses GPS routinely on cell phones but is\u00a0not aware that GPS\u00a0is enabled\u00a0by a constellation of satellites.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=84"},"img":{"alt_text":"ConstellationGPS","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ConstellationGPS.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4258,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4254\/revisions\/4258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}