Mahanakorn Satellite Receiving Station Part I : System Architecture and Preliminary Results

Abstract

This paper presents the Mahanakorn Satellite Receiving Station (MARS). The requirements on downstream applications are proposed to select the type of sensors on-boarded the direct broadcast satellites. The communication concern and link budget are taken into account for choosing the suitable COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) RF module for setting up ground receiving station. The MARS architecture consists of three major subsystems; antenna subsystem, acquisition subsystem, and data processing & solution subsystem. In the antenna subsystem, the dedicated X/L band 2.4 metre parabolic antenna mounted on 3-axis positioner is performed to track and receive satellite signals. The COTS of RF feeder, LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) and RF downconverter is performed for providing IF (Intermedia Frequency) signal. The COTS DSP (Digital Signal Processing) based digital receivers are used in the acquisition subsystem. The operational aim of MARS is to receive the direct broadcast signal from Earth Observing Satellites (EOS) which are orbiting in LEO (Low Earth Orbit). The MARS has capability to track and receive the series of NASA’s EOS and NOAA’s EOS. Preliminary testing of satellite signal tracking and satellite images production are performed for verifying the system capabilities.