An Open-Source UHF Ground Station Design for Nanosats

Item Type Proceedings; text

Authors Russell, Matthew

Citation Russell, M. (2021). An Open-Source UHF Ground Station

Design for Nanosats. International Telemetering Conference
Proceedings, 56.

Publisher International Foundation for Telemetering

Journal International Telemetering Conference Proceedings

Rights Copyright © held by the author; distribution rights International

Foundation for Telemetering

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 AN OPEN-SOURCE UHF GROUND STATION DESIGN FOR
NANOSATS

Matthew Russell
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Rolla, MO 65401
[email protected]

Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Kurt Kosbar

ABSTRACT

The Missouri S&T Satellite Research Team’s (M-SAT) design entry into the Air Force Research
Laboratory (AFRL) Nanosat-8 program has indicated that existing commercial ground station op-
tions have proven to be cost prohibitive for university missions demanding high downlink budgets.
The development of an open sourced, ground station design that could be implemented across
participating universities provides an alternative to existing commercial options. An automated
ground station network provides a closed network capable of accommodating large downlink bud-
gets commonly found program participants. Further, the development of a reference ground station
design would increase design reliability and provide a foundational platform for students to intro-
duce additional communication capabilities.

INTRODUCTION

The University Nanosat Program (UNP) is managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space
Vehicle Directorate and coordinates small satellite research and development for participating uni-
versities across the United States. To aid in the design and integration process, UNP publishes
standardized requirements for satellites and ground stations to satisfy while still leaving sufficient
design space for university selected payloads. [1] It is expected that students will develop mission,
system, and subsystem requirements that will guide the development of their mission. Focusing on
the communication requirements, UNP leaves the design space open for students to choose equip-
ment and operating bands providing only the following requirements outlined in Table 1.

M-SAT’s entrance into Nanosat-8, MR & MRS SAT (Missouri-Rolla & Missouri-Rolla Secondary),
is an investigation into autonomous relative navigation with a non-cooperative resident space object
using a stereoscopic imaging system and an R-134a cold gas propulsion system. During relative
navigation, the captured images will be stored and later downlinked for a 3D reconstruction of the
resident space object. As a result of the numerous sensors and imaging payload aboard MR SAT, a

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 Table 1: UNP Communication Guidelines

Requirement Definition
UNP10-77 There shall be a minimum of 6dB margin in the telecommunications link
analysis both for the uplink and the downlink at a 10-degree elevation mask.
UNP10-78 Satellites shall be capable of ceasing transmission if required to do so by the
government.
UNP10-79 Uplink communications shall be encrypted for all satellites.
UNP10-80 Downlink encryption approach should be presented to and approved by the
Program Management Office (PMO).

Figure 1: MR & MRS SAT

large amount of data will be generated and queued for downlink. To compensate for the downlink
requirements, ground station options were explored and commercial package options were discov-
ered to be significantly more expensive than an in house design consisting of COTS components.

M-SAT has selected the 70cm amateur band and received frequency coordination at 437.075MHz
with the IARU for both uplink and downlink transmissions. Per this authorization, M-SAT has
been granted a 9600bps data rate. To evaluate the performance of the ground station design, link
budgets and access reports were generated via Systems Took Kit (STK) from Analytical Graphics
Inc.

MR & MRS SAT

The MR & MRS SAT mission is expected to have a lifetime of up to 12 months following deploy-
ment from the International Space Station’s Cyclops arm. After Cyclops separation, MR SAT will
initialize the electrical power subsystem and observe a radio silence period of 45 minutes. Once
the 45 minute timer has elapsed, the flight computer will provide power to the AX100U and listen
for a link from the ground station. If a successful link is established, GPS and health data will
be downlinked. Simultaneously, the Eyestar radio aboard MRS SAT will transmit health data and

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position data from the second GPS aboard MRS SAT to the GlobalStar network. The GPS redun-
dancy will make locating and tracking MR & MRS SAT post deployment an ideally simple task.

Cyclops
Initialization Detumble Checkout Mode
Deployment

Mission Mode 2: Mission Mode 1:

Downlink Mode Separation Mode
Circumnavigation Trailing Formation

End of Life

Figure 2: M-SAT System Block Diagram

MR SAT will attempt to detumble using the three onboard torque coils, magnetometer, sun sensor,
and IMU. If a nominal attitude is not reached within seven days, MR SAT will enter into Checkout
mode and M-SAT engineers will attempt to isolate and resolve the attitude issue. If nominal atti-
tude is achieved, MR SAT will enter Checkout Mode and wait for the separation command from
the ground station to deploy MRS SAT. Following deployment and entrance into Mission Mode
1, MR SAT’s stereoscopic imaging system will report relative position data of MRS SAT to the
guidance, navigation, and control system at 0.5Hz. If MR SAT fails to maintain a 10 ± 2m trailing
distance for 5 minutes in a 45 minute period, any attempt to circumnav will be aborted and MR
SAT will enter into downlink mode. If Mission Mode 1 is successful, MR SAT will attempt to
complete two circumnavs about MRS SAT to collect enough imaging data for a 3D reconstruction.

The communication system aboard MR SAT utilizes a GOMSpace AX100U transceiver and 5/8
Slim Duck 6dBd helical monopole antenna. The IARU has authorized 1.5 dBW EIRP but due to
limitations of the GOMSpace AX100U, only 1.1 dBW will be utilized. The Slim Duck antenna will
be mounted to a custom bracket with an SMA connector and connected to the AX100U transceiver
via an RG-316 cable. The AX100U utilizes the CubeSat Protocol (CSP) and provides several
framing formats and error correction options.

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 Table 2: AX100U Framing

Feature Function Field Length (Bytes)

ASM Sync Header Minimize false synchronizations 4
Golay Length Minimize chance of receiving a corrupted frame 3
Reed-Solomon Up to 16 byte error correction 32
CRC-32 Bit flip detection 4
HMAC Uplink command encryption 4
Data Mission, Health, and Command Data 204

GROUND STATION DESIGN

Participants in the University Nanosat Program are required to either purchase a commercial
ground station package or build a custom in-house setup. M-SAT explored several ground station
packages including the ISIS VHF/UHF Ground Station kit and GOMSace’s Complete VHF/UHF
Ground Station. Due to the commercial kit prices and resources available at Missouri S&T, the
decision was made that an in house ground station with comparable performance to its commercial
counterparts could be developed.

Having received frequency licensing at 437.075MHz, the M-SAT ground station located on the
roof of Toomey Hall at Missouri S&T has been designed to operate between 430-440MHz. Due
to its high gain, the M2 Antenna Systems’ 450CP34 Yyagi antenna was selected and mounted
to a Yaesu G5500 AzEl rotator and Yaesu GS-232B controller. The selected transceiver, the
GOMSpace AX100U, has been paired with an RF-Links ZH-4047/60-1 high power amplifier and
a Mirage KP-1/440 preamplifier. The server rack housing the transceiver, amplifiers, and Yaesu
equipment is located in the Space Systems Engineering (SSE) Lab in Toomey and connects to the
Yagi antenna via a 25m Belden 9913 cable.

The Yagi 450CP34 antenna is expected to provide 16 dBi of gain with a 28◦ beamwidth, circu-
lar polarization, and a maximum VSWR of 1.5:1. Due to the large boom length of 3.048m, M2
L-Brace support structure and M2 fiber glass cross boom have installed with the Yaesu rotator to
provide the antenna with a wind area survival ratio of 1 square foot/100mph. Former researchers in
the SSE lab developed tracking software that utilizes a PyEphem and TLEs pulled from CelesTrak
to provide a pointing accuracy of approximately 5 degrees. [2] With the much larger cross boom
and Yagi antenna, tracking capability will need to be re-verified as the weight increase may have
affected pointing accuracy.

The AMSAT/IARU Annotated Link Model System v2.5.5 was used to develop preliminary link
analysis before introducing the system to STK. [3] Due to the high gain of the Yagi antenna, the
uplink system margin closed well above the UNP10-77 requirement at 30.7dB when using the
Eb/No method. Success was also found in the downlink system margin at 17.4dB using the Eb/No
method.

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 Table 3: System Gains and Losses

Gain/Loss GS Uplink S/C Downlink

Transmission
Transmission Power (W) 50.0 1.3
Transmission Line Loss (dB) 1.6 0.7
Antenna Gain (dBi) 16.0 2.2
EIRP (dBW) 31.4 2.6
Path
Antenna Pointing Loss (dB) 0.4 4.7
Antenna Polarization Loss (dB) 0.1 0.1
Free Space Path Loss (dB) 148.5 148.5
Atmospheric Loss (dB) 1.1 1.1
Ionospheric Loss (dB) 0.1 0.1
Rain Loss (dB) 0.0 0.0
Received Isotropic Signal (dBW) -118.8 -151.8

Table 4: Eb/No and SNR Results

Method Uplink Downlink

Eb/No S/C GS
Effective Noise Temp (K) 378 508
Figure of Merit G/T (dB/K) -24.0 -8.6
Signal-to-Noise Power Density (dBHz) 81.1 67.8
Data Rate (dBHz) 39.8 39.8
Command/Telemetry System Eb/No (dB) 41.3 28.0
Demodulation Method GMSK GMSK
System Allowed Error (Bit) 1.0E-5 1.0E-5
Demodulator Loss (dB) 1.0 1
System Required Eb/No 9.6 9.6
Eb/No Threshold 10.6 10.6
System Link Margin (dB) 30.7 17.4
SNR
Signal Power at LNA Input (dBW) -121.7 -133.7
Receiver Bandwidth (Hz) 15,000 15,000
Receiver Noise Power (dBW) -161.1 -159.8
S/N Power Ratio at GS Receiver (dB) 39.4 26.1
Required S/N (dB) 10.6 10.6
System Link Margin (dB) 28.8 16.5

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 LINK SIMULATION

The Antenna Toolbox that can be purchased as an add on to MATLAB was used to generate the
radiation pattern of the 450CP34 Yagi antenna. To ensure that the model could be imported into
STK for link simulation, the cross-polarized Yagi antenna modeling guide developed by AGI was
followed. [4] To confirm sufficiently accurate model generation, sample radiation patterns and peak
gain values were acquired from M2 Inc. and compared against.

(a) Radiation Pattern (dBi) (b) 0◦ Azimuth Pattern Visualization (dBi)

Figure 3: M2 Inc. 450CP34 at 437.075MHz

The antenna model is as a conformal array of two independently constructed Yagi antennas. The
dimensions and location information of the reflectors, exciters, and directors were modeled per the
M2 Inc. datasheet. A 90◦ phase shift between the two antennas, a feed impedance of 50 Ohms, and
an operating frequency of 437.075MHz were also introduced. The Antenna Toolbox utilized the
Method of Moments to solve for the radiation pattern, peak gain, and beamwidth characteristics
of the antenna. For peak gain, the Yagi is estimated to provide 16.6dBi, 0.6dBi above the listed
datasheet. This result was expected as M2 Inc. has indicated that the 16.0 dBi value is an approxi-
mation for transmission at 435MHz. M2 Inc. has also indicated that as the frequency approaches
445MHz, the median operating frequency, the antenna gain continued to increase to 16.4dBi.

The radiation pattern was imported into STK and scenario parameters were defined to simulate
the M-SAT ground station. The latitude, longitude, and elevation values of the ground station were
included as well as line loss, and a 10dB low noise amplifier gain. The Doppler shift was set to auto
track about 435.075MHz and polarization was defined as right hand circular. A constant system
noise temperature of 508K and MSK modulation scheme were applied to the system. STK does
not support GMSK out of the box and modeling GMSK for import to STK was considered as an
option to later increase the model fidelity.

Per the UNP10-77 requirement, a 10◦ elevation mask was applied to the sensor object to simu-
late the Yaesu pointing system. The 10.6dB Eb/No and S/N threshold that were defined in the
AMSAT/IARU link analysis were also incorporated as restrictions in the simulation. If the target-

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 Figure 4: Link Analysis for 10◦ Elevation Mask

ing sensor extended below the 10◦ elevation mask or the 10.6dB threshold was violated, the link
would cut off.

MR SAT downlink targeting capability has not yet been clearly defined. As a result, the simple
transmitter model, an isotropic radiator, in STK was selected with 1.1dBW of EIRP. The Eb/No
and C/N results for an overhead pass reaching 78◦ of elevation was extracted and plotted. All as-
sociated BER values during the overhead pass exceeded STK’s limit of 1E-30, well beyond the
recommended BER for near Earth missions [5]

An access report that satisfied the aforementioned criteria was generated to collect access times
and visualize ground tracks. A 12 month access report was generated to approximate the amount
of monthly access time that MR SAT would have available for downlink. At 44000s of average
monthly access, MR SAT will be able to downlink 0.636GB of data over the course of a 12 month
mission.

CONCLUSIONS

The AMSAT/IARU and STK link results indicates the presence of a link connection that satis-
fies the UNP10-77 requirement. The link connection was further verified in STK using the Com-
munication Package. Having satisfied the requirement, the ground station design could be used
by other universities as an alternative to potentially cost prohibitive commercial packages. As a
consequence of selecting the GOMSpace AX100U as the ground station transceiver, small sats
that employ non GOMSpace transceivers will require additional software development to commu-
nicate. A ground station design that would be capable of communicating with a wider range of
satellites would utilize an SDR. M-SAT has selected the GOMSpace AX100U as its ground station

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 Figure 5: MR SAT Ground Track and Access Tracks (72 Hours)

transceiver due to the MR SAT satellite also possessing an AX100U transceiver.

At the time of writing this paper, the M-SAT Command and Data Handling subsystem team is
reviewing the data budget for the payload, sensors, and system statuses. The 0.636GB downlink
capability will be used to prioritize mission, health, and engineering data if data generation ex-
ceeds the downlink capability. Based on the signal strength received at the 10◦ elevation mark, the
conclusion can be made that a closed system link can be potentially maintained at lower elevations.
This would significantly increase the downlink capability and require further simulation analysis
to extract the access time increase.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Dr. Kosbar for his assistance in the development of this project. I would
also like to thank Dr. Pernicka, the Principle Investigator of the MR & MRS SAT satellite project.
The University Nanosat Program has been instrumental funding, guiding, and providing subject
area expertise as fellow students and I continue to develop the MR & MRS SAT satellite project.
Jesse Olson, the UNP Program Manager, has lead bi-weekly status calls for the last year and
coordinated technical reviews of the project. Without the guidance of the professors of Missouri
S&T and assistance from the AFRL University Nanosat Program, the MR & MRS SAT student
led, satellite project would not be possible.

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 REFERENCES

[1] U. N. Program, The NS-10 User’s Guide. Kirtland AFB, NM: Air Force Research Laboratory
Space Vehicles Directorate, 2019.

[2] K. Kosbar and A. Case, “Communication systems for cubesat missions,” in Proc. Int. Teleme-
tering Conf., (Glendale, AZ), pp. 465–473, Oct. 2018.

[3] J. King, R. Wallio, I. Mas, L. McFadin, J. Capehart, M. Denise, and K. Davis, “Amsat/iaru
link budget calculator,” Jan. 2013.

[4] Analytical Graphics, Inc., Greenbelt, Maryland, Modeling and Exporting Custom Antenna
Radiation Patterns in MATLAB for Use in STK, 2020. Availabe through STK’s online training
modules.

[5] J. Wertz, D. Everett, and J. Puschell, Space Mission Engineering: The New SMAD. Torrance,
CA: Microcosm Press, 2018.