This page covers all Ground Operations planning for HERON Mk. II, including the ground station being built by the team. HERON will uplink and downlink at 437.120 MHz with a 14.4 kHz bandwidth. The satellite is licensed to operate in the Amateur band. All operators of the ground station need to at least have a Basic operator license.
The ground station is located on the sixth floor roof of the Bahen Center of Information Technology, at the St. George Campus of the University of Toronto. The building is located at 40 St. George Street.
The implementation of the ground station composes of multiple projects.
Assembly
Control (the automatic pointing of the antenna)
Command (the sending of command and receiving of data)
Automation (the automation of the command code so that all passes are automated, and members do not need to operate the station at odd hours to carry out satellite operations)
Ground Station Automation Project
Testing
HackRF and GNURadio Setup Project
Server
The notion pages of the relevant sections, ported over from Confluence, are linked above. The goal is to turn this page and all the linked pages into living documents as the projects continue.
There is also old documentation available on the regulatory information regarding the ground station license and the placement on the Bahen rooftop. These pages will be recommended as necessary, but are not useful right now.
Ground Station Regulatory and Licensing [ARCHIVED]
2021 Satellite Operations Planning [ARCHIVED]
Detailed electrical block diagram (OLD)
Design components:
Mount (includes the mast, two long and two short support rods, and the base which holds the cinder blocks)
Cinder Blocks
- Six 8"x8"x16" cinder blocks (Large Cinder Blocks)
- Two 8"x6"x16" cinder blocks (Small Cinder Blocks)
Rotator box (turns the antenna, two degrees of rotation: azimuthal and axial)
Boom (connects the antenna and counterweights to the rotator box)
Antenna (HELIX-70 Helix Antenna)
- This antenna is rated between 430-440MHz so it should work fine, slightly reduced gain can be compensated with the amplifiers in the signal chain
2x 5lb Counterweights (counteracts the moment of the antenna about the rotator box)
HERON Operations Google Drive folder: Space Systems Division > HERON Systems > 07 Systems Documents > HERON Operations
GND Station Google Drive folder: Space Systems Division > Ground Station
Ground Station - ALL Meeting Minutes [Depreciated - May, 2022]
| Advisors | What they know |
|---|---|
| Prachi Sukhnani | PM stuff, Electrical design, Regulatory, Operations |
| Adyn Miles | Operations, Command | | Bruno Almeida | Knows HERON command protocol + software |