Ground Stations
University Class open ground Station (Uniclogs)
There is an amazing open source project called the Satellite Network Open Ground Station (SatNOGS) run by the Libre Space Foundation. This world-wide network of hundreds of open source ground stations gives amateur radio satellites an incredible global ground station network. It's an incredible resource to amateur radio and open source groups around the world.
SatNOGS is receive only for many reasons, including regulatory compliance for amateur radio transmissions. As a satellite operator, however, we need to transmit commands to our satellite. We realized that we could "piggyback" a transmitter system on top of a SatNOGS station. This became the University Class Open Ground Station (UniClOGS). UniClOGS is a semi-professional, configurable, and open source ground station that can be built for less than $20,000.
We have a the first UniClOGS on the roof of the PSU Engineering Building (1930 SW 4th Avenue). Several other universities around the world are now building their versions of this design.
Status: Fully operational! We're already tracking and receiving data from satellites with amateur radio.
Source: uniclogs-hardware and uniclogs-software
Antennas on the roof of the PSU Engineering Building!
Giant monitor shows satellite passes the state of the roof antenna
Yes, we have an adorable patch. With a unicorn. Whose horn is a 6 turn helical. With clogs on.
UniClOGS is based on SatNOGS. Go check them out, we think they're amazing.
OreSat live hand-held ground station
The OreSat Live Handheld Ground Station (HGS) project provides everything you need to build your own ground station capable of receiving images transmitted from OreSat in Low Earth Orbit. HGS is designed to be inexpensive, easy to assemble, and simple to use so that it can be built by Middle and High School students. The entire design is open source to encourage reuse and experimentation.
HGS is a portable unit built around a high gain directional antenna. Using a mobile phone application to locate OreSat, you aim the antenna to get the best possible signal. The live images are then received by the groundstation, error corrections are applied and the image is made available to any WiFi capable device through a built-in web page.
OreSat HGS act as a wifi access point providing an unsecured wireless network named "OreSatLive". Devices identify the network as a hotspot requiring the user to sign-in for Internet access. To view the image stream simply:
Connect your wifi to the "OreSatLive" network
Choose to sign-in when prompted
The OreSat Live web interface will open automatically
HGS was created for use with the OreSat mission, but it is designed to be used by any group interested in long range image transmission. The handheld ground stations can be reused for other cubesat or balloon launches.
Once the final design is completed, users will be able to purchase all of the required parts as a kit from here
Status: Still in the prototyping phase. Working prototypes exist, but they're not yet ready for primetime.