AMSAT-UK

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Amateur Radio BIRDS CubeSat Constellation

Posted: 11 Aug 2016 09:36 AM PDT
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/08/11/ham-...constellation/

BIRDS CubeSat Engineering Model integration test

The BIRDS constellation, planned to deploy from the ISS in 2017, will
consist of four 1U CubeSats (BIRD-B, BIRD-J, BIRD-G and BIRD-M). They are
made of the exactly same design including the radio frequencies to be used
and will be deployed together.

The main mission of the constellation is to do experiments on radio
communication with a CubeSat constellation via a network of UHF/VHF amateur
radio ground stations all over the world.

The challenge is to distinguish each satellite from the four satellites
transmitting with the same frequency, hand over operation of a satellite
from one ground station to another and assemble the satellite data, such as
housekeeping telemetry, music and the Earth images, obtained at different
ground stations.

Amateur radio enthusiasts are asked to join the network to assist in the
data downlink and reconstruction of the patchy satellite data into one
meaningful data. Orbit information and operational plan of each satellite
will be made available to the amateur radio community in the world.
Software to decode the satellite data will be also made available.

The respective amateur ground stations that can successfully decode the
telemetry data, music and the Earth images, shall receive a QSL card from
the BIRDS team. The data reconstructed by the effort of the amateur ground
station network will be made public to share the sense of satisfaction and
achievement.

A particularly interesting mission of BIRDS project is the SNG mission that
exchanges music via a digi-singer. It is an outreach-oriented mission.
First, music in MIDI format is uploaded from ground. Then the MIDI file is
processed on-board using a vocal synthesizer. Finally, the processed music
is sent back to Earth using UHF antenna as voice FM data.

During organized events on space utilization with schools or general
public, music could be heard using a common hand-held receiver and
hand-made Yagi antenna positioned to track the satellite at each given pass
over the region. This has a tremendous effect on awareness of radio
communication among school children and general public, especially in the
countries participating in the BIRDS project, Japan, Ghana, Mongolia,
Nigeria and Bangladesh.

Proposing to use CW, 1k2 AFSK FM, audio FM and 9k6 GMSK downlinks. Planning
a JAXA sponsored deployment from the ISS during 2017.

BIRDS project information:

http://birds.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/

http://birds.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/amateur.html

http://birds.ele.kyutech.ac.jp/newsletter.html

https://www.facebook.com/Joint-Globa...1403156542445/

Download the Paper IAA-CU-15-01-16 Five-nations CubeSat constellation; An
inexpensive test case for learning and capacity building

https://www.researchgate.net/publica...i-_ty_building

The IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination pages are hosted by AMSAT-UK at

http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/