DIY NOAA APT & GOES-RSATELLITE RECEPTION USING SOFTWARE

DEFINED RADIO

CARL G. REINEMANNHTTP://USRADIOGUY.COM

CIMSS Flash Talk Social Monday, Sep 14, 2020

NOAA 15, 18, 19 AND METEOR M2 POLAR ORBITING SATELLITE APT RECEPTION

Hardware

• Windows Based PC (or Raspberian, Linux, Mac)

• RTL-SDR (Software Defined Radio Dongle) $30

• Nooelec Sawbird+ LNA (Low Noise Amplifier, in this case, tuned to 137.5 Mhz) $35

• QFH (Quadrifilar Helix Antenna) The polar orbit of the satellite changes the polarization of the signal as it travels, the QFH is polarized in all directions.

• A “V” Dipole antenna can also be used (Bunny Ears)

Software for NOAA and Meteor M2• WxToImg Developed by Craig Anderson

• SDR# (Sharp) Developed by AirSpy

• Orbitron Satellite Tracker Developed by Sebastian Stoff

• VBcable Virtual Audio Cable

ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE FOR METEOR RECEPTION

• LRPT (Low-Rate Picture Transmission) Image Processor

• Meteor GIS 2.4 For geo positioning the imagery

QFH Antenna Made from 3/8 copper

tubing and PVC pipe

Nooelec Sawbird+ LNAAmplifies 137 Mhz signal and filters out signals above and below NOAA transmission spectrum

Nooelec Software Defined Radio Donglereceives from 500 MHz to about 2350 MHZ

QFH mounted on roof

System running via Google Remote to my cell phone

TV “rabbit ears”

QFH Antenna -polarized in all directions

RTL-SDR

Windows PC

Low Noise Amplifier

RG6 Coax Cable

Orbitron Satellite Tracking Software-Using two line element sets (TLE’s), Orbitron commands the SDR# Software to start and selects the appropriate signal and adjusts for doppler shift in the radio spectrum

SDR # software, the workhorse of SDR receives the satellite signal from the RTL-SDR then via the virtual audio cable, sends the APT signal to WXtoImg software for image decoding

APT (Automatic Picture Transmission) signal decoded byWxToImg- In this case MCIR Precipitation Enhancement

Using multiple passes,WxToImage can be used to generateWide Area Composites from one station or multiple stations, regionally or globally.

NOAA 15,18, 19- 3 pass composite image.Orthographic Projection 10.Sept.2020

Thermal EnhancementMCIR with Precipitation

MCIR EnhancementRaw Pristine image, in this case from NOAA 15

Using the same hardware, but in this case using Meteor Demodulator and LRPT Decoding software, Digital LRPT imagerycan be received and geo positioned in a Mercator projection, or on a globe representation using Meteor GIS 2.4

Meteor M2 Example LRPT Imagery Meteor M2 off axis capture, showing horizon to the west.

Meteor M2-2 Hit by mirco-meteorite – off axis capture

Receiving the Russian Meteor M2 and M2-2 APT Imagery

GOES-R HARDWARE & SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS:

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 3 B+ or PI 4 $45

• 32 Gb Micro SD Card (Bigger is better) $20

• RTL-SDR (Software Defined Radio) $40

• NooElec LNA Sawbird+ for GOES $35

• 2.4 GHz WiFi Parabolic Grid Dish $70

• Assorted connectors, coax and USB cables $10

• Mounting pole or tripod. $10

• 4 Operational GOES R Satellites $11 Billion- a bit costly but consider them crowd funded.

Software• Raspberian Lite loaded onto RPI

• Either choose wifi or ethernet connection

• Required dependencies for SDR operation (librtsdr)

• Goestools –Developed by Pieter NoordhuisThis is the software that receives and processes the HRIT into usable imagery. It is a LINUX product and was created to run on PI but can run on any LINUX system.

• Syncthing – transfers files between PC and RPI

• ImageMagick and FFMPEG for image processing

• Sanchez – for false color underlays of IR imagery

RECEIVING GEOSTATIONARY GOES-R DATA AND IMAGERY

LNA

RTL-SDR

Raspberry PI3 B+

The GOES- R Receiver V 1.5

Sighting in on GOES-16 at 75.2°W Elevation: 38.5°GOES 17 at 137.2°W Elevation: 20.9°

Signal testing from GOES 16 1694.1 MHz2.4 GHz WiFi dish reconfigured to receive at 1.6 GHz

Comparison of my grid dish size to a dish on top of the UW Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences Building

GOES East

Grid Dish

Low Noise Amplifier

RTL-SDR

Raspberry PI4

PI 4 and PCsynched wirelessly

PC used for post-image enhancements

GOES 17 and 16 False Color Imagery using Bands 02 and Bands 13, then applying a custom CLUT or Color Look Up Table

Using ImageMagick and FFMPEG software I wrote batch scripts to compose the individual frames into an interpolated video, in this case showing the 8 bands and 1 false color imagery my system is set to generate. M1 and M2 Mesoscale imagery is also received.

In addition I have written some scripts within Goestools software to receive EMWIN and Non-Cloud Moisture Imagery Products.

Sea Surface TemperaturesNWS Radar via EMWIN

Himawari-8METEOSAT IR

GOES 16, GOES 17 and Himawari -8 Processed with a beta version of “Sanchez”

All of the software used for receiving and processing of the GOES-R, NOAA and Meteor Satellites is either open source, or freeware. WxToImg is “Abandoned Ware”, that is the original author released right to the program as freeware and no longer charges for it. I believe in paying it forward and have posted all my custom CLUTS, scripting, modifications and rewrites to software on usradioguy.com for others to try and learn from.

➢ Guides- http://usradioguy.com/➢ SDR # https://airspy.com/➢ Goestools https://github.com/pietern/goestools➢ WxToImg https://wxtoimgrestored.xyz/➢ Orbitron http://www.stoff.pl/➢ Meteor GIS http://www.meteorgis.space/➢ LRPT Decoder http://happysat.nl/Setup_Meteor/Setup.html➢ VB Cable https://www.vb-audio.com/Cable/➢ Syncthing https://syncthing.net/➢ Sanchez https://github.com/nullpainter/sanchez

What’s next? GRB Receiving station using a bigger dish and open source GRB ingestion and image decoding software.