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FAQ

What is the Ground Station Core?

This is the main utility you might need to set up your own ground station. If you need software for an automated satellite ground station, you are in the right place.

What can I use it for?

Education, commercial satellite reception, or just for having fun with satellites.

Okay, you said 'automated'. Does it require an internet connection to operate?

No. Once you configure it, the core is fully autonomous. If the internet connection drops, the ground station will operate.

Which satellites does it support?

The satellites that are operating in FM, BPSK, or FSK (GMSK, GFSK, AFSK) modulations. Overall, potentially more than 250+ satellites are supported thanks to the gr-satellites library.

Which antenna controllers are supported?

All common controllers are supported. The list is below:

 Rot #  Mfg                    Model                   Version         Status        Macro
     1  Hamlib                 Dummy                   20201203.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_DUMMY
     2  Hamlib                 NET rotctl              20200528.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_NETROTCTL
   201  Hamlib                 EasycommI               20191206.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_EASYCOMM1
   202  Hamlib                 EasycommII              20191206.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_EASYCOMM2
   204  Hamlib                 EasycommIII             20201203.0      Alpha         ROT_MODEL_EASYCOMM3
   301  XQ2FOD                 Fodtrack                20200107.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_FODTRACK
   401  Idiom Press            Rotor-EZ                20100214.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_ROTOREZ
   402  Idiom Press            RotorCard               20100214.0      Untested      ROT_MODEL_ROTORCARD
   403  Hy-Gain                DCU-1/DCU-1X            20100823.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_DCU
   404  DF9GR                  ERC                     20100823.2      Alpha         ROT_MODEL_ERC
   405  Green Heron            RT-21                   20140914.0      Alpha         ROT_MODEL_RT21
   501  SARtek                 SARtek-1                20061007.0      Untested      ROT_MODEL_SARTEK1
   601  Yaesu                  GS-232A                 20201203.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_GS232A
   602  Various                GS-232 Generic          20200424.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_GS232_GENERIC
   603  Yaesu                  GS-232B                 20201203.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_GS232B
   604  F1TE                   GS232/F1TE Tracker      20200424.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_F1TETRACKER
   605  Yaesu/Kenpro           GS-23                   20201203.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_GS23
   606  Yaesu/Kenpro           GS-232                  20201203.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_GS232
   607  AMSAT                  LVB Tracker             20200424.0      Alpha         ROT_MODEL_LVB
   608  FoxDelta               GS232/ST2               20200424.0      Alpha         ROT_MODEL_ST2
   609  Yaesu                  GS-232A azimuth         20201203.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_GS232A_AZ
   610  Yaesu                  GS-232A elevation       20201203.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_GS232A_EL
   611  Yaesu                  GS-232B azimuth         20201203.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_GS232B_AZ
   612  Yaesu                  GS-232B elevation       20201203.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_GS232B_EL
   701  WA6UFQ                 PcRotor                 20081013.0      Untested      ROT_MODEL_PCROTOR
   801  Heathkit               HD 1780 Intellirotor    20200112.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_HD1780
   901  SPID                   Rot2Prog                20191208.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_SPID_ROT2PROG
   902  SPID                   Rot1Prog                20191208.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_SPID_ROT1PROG
   903  SPID                   MD-01/02 (ROT2 mode)    20191208.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_SPID_MD01_ROT2PROG
  1001  M2                     RC2800                  20201130        Beta          ROT_MODEL_RC2800
  1002  M2                     RC2800_EARLY_AZ         20201130        Stable        ROT_MODEL_RC2800_EARLY_AZ
  1003  M2                     RC2800_EARLY_AZEL       20201130        Stable        ROT_MODEL_RC2800_EARLY_AZEL
  1101  EA4TX                  ARS RCI AZ&EL           20200112.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_RCI_AZEL
  1102  EA4TX                  ARS RCI AZ              20200112.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_RCI_AZ
  1201  AMSAT                  IF-100                  20110531.0      Untested      ROT_MODEL_IF100
  1301  LA7LKA                 ts7400                  20200113.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_TS7400
  1401  Celestron              NexStar                 20110821.0      Untested      ROT_MODEL_NEXSTAR
  1501  DG9OAA                 Ether6 (via ethernet)   20201203.0      Beta          ROT_MODEL_ETHER6
  1601  CNCTRK                 CNCTRK                  20191220.0      Untested      ROT_MODEL_CNCTRK
  1701  Prosistel              D azimuth               20201215.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_PROSISTEL_D_AZ
  1702  Prosistel              D elevation             20201215.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_PROSISTEL_D_EL
  1703  Prosistel              Combi-Track az+el       20201215.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_PROSISTEL_COMBI_TRACK
  1801  Meade                  LX200/Autostar          20200610.0      Stable        ROT_MODEL_MEADE
  1901  iOptron                iOptron                 20191209.0      Alpha         ROT_MODEL_IOPTRON
  2101  SatEL                  SatEL                   20210123.0      Alpha         ROT_MODEL_SATEL

Which hardware do I need to start?

The project supports all common software-defined radios (SDR), including HackRF One or RTL-SDR.

What if my antenna is fixed?

Just because initially the author had antenna rotators, right now fixed antennas are not supported, but hopefully, this feature will be added soon.

I am a commercial ground station provider, can I integrate your solution?

Yes. This was done recently with one of the pioneering companies in the GSaaS domain, Leanspace SAS, which endorsed the creation of the GNU Radio flowgraph for the solution. Refer to the 'Architecture' chapter of this wiki to find more information.

How flexible is it? What I can change?

According to your purposes, you can modify the GNU Radio flowgraph to change digital signal processing. You can also replace controllers/SDR, and change the topology of the system. For example, you may have antenna rotators managed by one PC (f.e., Raspberry PI), and have your GSC server on the other machine. Of course, you can combine them.

What are the constraints?

Your hardware antenna rotator must be compatible with one within the list above. Also, uplink traffic is not handled at the moment and its support will be added soon. Geostationary satellites are not supported as they can't be scheduled. The bandwidth and sampling rate are constrained by your SDR.