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https://github.com/hazrmard/SatTrack

Real time satellite tracking with antennas.
https://github.com/hazrmard/SatTrack

arduino satellite-tracking

Last synced: about 2 months ago
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Real time satellite tracking with antennas.

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README 

        
# SatTrack

Real time tracking of satellites



This code is for my engineering senior design project. The python class SatTrack is the main interface. It does the following things:

* Load satellite TLE data from file / parse web sources for it

* Track satellite position in real or sped up time

* Predict next pass (or next n passes)

* Controll antenna using servo motors via serial port - arduino interface

* Visualize satellite position using a web interface implemented in D3js

* Access the GUI on a mobile/remote device over wifi

* Record transmissions at a particular frequency using RTL SDR.



An example of satellite tracking interface:  

![image](https://github.com/hazrmard/SatTrack/raw/interface_cleanup/demo.gif)



## Requirements



### Basic

* Python 2.7

* A modern web browser (only for visualization)  



### Antenna control

* Arduino Uno (Board and IDE)

* 2 x servos

* 5-7V DC power supply



## Installation

1. Download/clone this repository,

2. In console, change directory to this repository,

3. Type:

```

python setup.py install

```

Note: python should previously be added to the system PATH variable. Otherwise the general instruction is:

```

  install

```



External python dependencies are:

* [PyEphem](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyephem/)

* [PySerial](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyserial) (for connecting to Arduino)

* [Requests](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/requests) (for downloading satellite data)

* [Dateutil](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-dateutil)

* [SDR_flow_automation](https://github.com/hazrmard/SDR_flow_automation) (for using RTL software defined radio)



For illustration the `sandbox.py` and `trial.py` which contain basic uses of the SatTrack class.



## Usage  

## Easy Way  

The easy way is a GUI in a web browser. After installing SatTrack, type:

```bash

> python -m sattrack.interactive

```  

The GUI simplifies controls by requiring less arguments. The values put in `defaults.py` are used for all satellite instances created.  

This starts a local server on `localhost:8000` and also broadcasts it over the device's network. You can open up the interface by typing `localhost:8000` on your local browser. Or you can access the interface from any web browser on another device by going to `:8000` e.g `192.168.42.1:8000`. For connecting servos etc. see *Set up* and *Wiring* in the next section.  



## Hard Way  



### Tracking Satellites

```python

from sattrack import SatTrack   # Import the `SatTrack` class:

s = SatTrack()                  # Instantiate class

s.set_location(lat='0', lon='0', ele=100)   # Set observer location

s.get_tle('satellite_name')     # Search CELESTRAK or AMSAT for satellite TLE data

s.load_tle('file_location')     # OR Load TLE from a file. get_tle() and load_tle() create the satellite to track.

s.begin_computing()             # Start calculating topocentric coordinates at 1 second intervals.

s.visualize()                   # Start a server and visualize satellite on map in browser

```

Check [AMSAT](http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasa.all) and [CELESTRAK](http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/) for satellite names.  The TLE format SatTrack accepts can be seen in `AO-85.tle`.  



### Servo Control

This functionality was added to allow antennas to track a satellite's pass using 2 servo motors. One servo motor controls azimuth and the other controls altitude.  

Servo control is split into 2 parts: getting coordinates for satellite, and conveying them to servo motors.



#### Set up

1. Connect an arduino board via a USB port to the computer.

2. Load the file `ServoCont/multipleSerialServoControl/multipleSerialServoControl.ino` onto the board.

3. Quit the arduino IDE to free up USB port control.

For most servo motors, you will not need to make any changes to the `.ino` file.



#### Wiring

Each servo motor is has 3 wire connections:

* Voltage High (usually red)

* Ground (usually black)

* Control (usually yellow)

To protect arduino'c circuitry, connect the power supply wires to an external power source. Make sure that the ground connections are tied: both ground pins (on the arduino and the servo motors) are on the same node.  



The arduino is programmed to control up to 6 servo motors. The pin assignments for control wires are:  



| Motor \# | Pin |  

| --- | --- |  

| 1 | 9 |  

| 2 | 3 |  

| 3 | 4 |  

| 4 | 5 |  

| 5 | 10 |  

| 6 | 11 |  



#### Connecting SatTrack

After the satellite TLE data has been retrieved, observer location is set, and position calculations have begun,

```python

# continuing from SatTrack instance 's'

s.connect_servos(port='COM3', motors=(1,2), minrange(0,0), maxrange=(90,360), \

                  angle_map=(lambda x:x, lambda x:x), pwm=(900,2100), timeout=1)   

# All tuples have parameters for (altitude servo, azimuth servo)

# --angle_map is a tuple of functions that takes in the aititude/azimuth angle (degrees)

#   and modifies it according to antenna position (e.g if it is on a slope etc.).

# --pwm is a tuple containing minimum and maximum pulse widths that are used to control

#   the servos.

s.begin_tracking()

```  

*Note:* In case of empty/None parameters, default values in `defaults.py` are used.  

And that's it!

  

### Listening in  

`SatTrack` comes with a basic interface to use RTL software defined radios. Before using this, the [SDR_flow_automation](https://github.com/hazrmard/SDR_flow_automation) dependency needs to be installed and `java`, `sox`, and `rtl-sdr` need to be added to the system path. More instructions can be found on the repository page. After that:  

```python

s.start_radio('freq', 'output_file')      # e.g freq='123M' for 123 MHz

_ = raw_input("Press any key to stop...") # any duration to record

s.stop_radio()

```

Output is stored as a `.wav` file.



### Clean up

```python

s.stop()                # stop computations and tracking

s.server.stop_server()  # stop server in case you are visualizing satellite

```



Class functions pertaining to servo motor control are still undergoing testing.  

For more details, see function definitions in the sourcecode.  

For examples, see `sandbox.py`.