Speakers
Description
Spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) typically have communications windows lasting between 5 and 15 minutes. With limited datarates and significant amounts of information to be synced, many satellite missions cannot afford the time it takes for an operator to manually send commands -- especially if human error comes into play. Large communications companies and deep space operations have automated systems to communicate with their spacecraft, but there exist no freely-available software implementations that are compatible with smaller-scale missions, who often end up inputting and uploading commands individually. Haystack GSI, inspired by MIT Haystack Observatory’s AERO/VISTA CubeSat project, aims to change that by developing a modular open-source software solution with a GNURadio OOT package at its core. It abstracts out signal processing and data “plumbing,” utilizing GNURadio Companion as a convenient user interface for operators to configure ground station hardware, direct the outflow of downlinked packets, and schedule commands well ahead of time. Here, we present our progress in development of the Haystack GSI platform and what we plan to work on next.
