Mission Dashboard
Telemetry format
Telemetry submission
O/OREOS beacon sends an AX.25 packet every 5 seconds; the packet contains data about the spacecraft systems operation. The data portion of a standard AX.25 packet is 64 bytes long, although only the first 62 bytes are considered for the O/OREOS packet. The beacon packet contains only standard ASCII characters. Each character represents a HEX value. Below is an example of the 64-byte long raw data: OOREOS.org 086501010400B2020AB202A201210004020D5F094300204B46 (note: in this packet, the last two bytes, 46, will not be considered for parsing) Depending on the TNC being used, the data string could be preceded by the following set of characters: KF6JBP>UNDEF,TELEM/1: <>: AX.25 Beacon: Downlink: 437.305 MHz (FM/AFSK)
December 11, 2010
Visit to SCU (Santa Clara University) Mission Control.
Today I visited Mission Control of O/OREOS and Nanosail at SCU, California.
Great staff; kind people whom demonstrated very professional operations skills during a pass of O/OREOS.
As you can see on the pictures it's all about computer controlled operations, including remote (internet) control of all equipment.
After operating the O/OREOS pass I was shown the antenna farm, including S band which is used for command & science data.
Left picture: PA3GUO next to the S band dish at SCU
Right picture: Antony, Henk, Michael in the SCU control center
November 27, 2010
Released a video on YouTube featuring O/OREOS from launch to telemetry data submission.
Today I released a short (2 minute) video on YouTube featuring the launch,
the satelite and a recording of telemetry. Data analysis by the software
of Mike Rupprecht, DK3WN, is demonstrated as well as the process of uploading
via the internet of received packets to mission control (Santa Clara University).
November 26, 2010
Telemetry Decoding Experiment
"Analyze the capabilities of a Radio Amateur Satellite Station to serve as a Ground Station (GS) for O/OREOS”
In order to measure the telemetry reception & decoding effectiveness of my Ground Station an experiment has been done. For six subsequent passes on a given day the GS monitors independent and fully automated (computer controlled) the O/OREOS downlink at 437.305 MHz.
O/OREOS sends each 5 seconds an 1200bps AX.25 data packet. Based on the amount of successfully decoded telemetry packets an indication for the “O/OREOS Data decoding ratio” is derived.
06:43:37 !KF6JBP>TELEM>UNDEF:OOREOS.org 16733A00000006031F520317030202E7000D5F094300204B46 06:44:07 !KF6JBP>TELEM>UNDEF:OOREOS.org 34733A02C0010A03515700A401630569000D5F094300204B46 06:44:12 !KF6JBP>TELEM>UNDEF:OOREOS.org 39733A033B02F70201A30131020100B0080D5F094300204B46 06:44:18 !KF6JBP>TELEM>UNDEF:OOREOS.org 3D733A00000000031F5203AC020202E7000D5F094300204B46 06:44:27 !KF6JBP>TELEM>UNDEF:OOREOS.org 48733A022E000C03510500A401640569000D5F094300204B46 06:44:33 !KF6JBP>TELEM>UNDEF:OOREOS.org 4C733A031600F802010E0031020100B0080D5F094300204B46 06:44:37 !KF6JBP>TELEM>UNDEF:OOREOS.org 52733A001C00FC021E52032B030202E7000D5F094300204B46 06:44:42 !KF6JBP>TELEM>UNDEF:OOREOS.org 57733A0100000A03022B030700100067050D5F094300204B46 06:44:52 !KF6JBP>TELEM>UNDEF:OOREOS.org 61733A030000FA0201A30131020100B0080D5F094300204B46
Antenna: 12 elements directional yagi (PE1ITR) Vertical polarization Satellite tracking in steps of <5 degrees (azimuth & elevation) UHF (437MHz) SSB Electronics pre-amp used for improved SNR Receiver: Kenwood TS-2000x, multi-mode transceiver Frequency control (Doppler compensation) via HamRadioDeluxe PK96 TNC to decode the 1200bd AX.25 AFSK downlink of O/OREOS Software: ALogger to initialize the TNC and decode the data
Conclusions:
1. Radio Amateur satellite ground stations can contribute to space research and science missions
2. Ground Stations (GS) can be made with relative simple, 12 elements, directional antennas
3. Data decoding is achieved at very low elevation (2 degrees)
4. In medium elevation passes ~75% of the data is decoded (medium: 20 degrees .. 60 degrees elevation)
The full report of the O/OREOS Telemetry Reception Experiment is downloadable here as PDF.
November 26, 2010
Audio recording
Good quality MP3 recording of O/OREOS 1k2 packets made.
This mp3 can be re-played and the packets (each 5 seconds 1 packet) decoded by MixW.
Decoded packets can be analyzed with the free software of Mike Rupprecht, DK3WN:
November 24, 2010
New antenna
My Cushcraft 416 antenna was not functioning and Rob, PE1ITR, offered me to borrow his 12 elements antenna:
November 20, 2010
06:00utc Audio recording
Very first, noisy, MP3 recording of O/OREOS.
This was the first indication my that antenna was mal-functioning.
November 19, 2010
Launch
O/OREOS was launched on November 19th, 2010 by a Minotaur 4 / STP-S26 from Kodiak Launch Complex, Kodiak Island, Alaska.