Satellite tracking Project

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

Satellite Tracker Project

I am looking for help with this project.
I am a virgin to the code and controller world.
Would like to create a satellite tracking antenna system.
Would love any help with this . I am a machinist fabricator and willing
to learn new stuff. I know there is software open source to track satellites that can be accessed on the interweb.
Parts so far:

Uno R3

Arduino motor shield

2 L298N motor controllers

2 12v DC gear motors ( equipped with P3 America

ERCK0505 360 magnetic single turn Hall effect angle sensor)

2 HD4478 IICIC1602 LCD displays with IIC I2C TWI SPI serial interface

Possibly connect and control with a tablet

I have fabricated the antenna and the mechanical portion of the rotator.

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Do You have any technical information telling how the Arduino will get information about the satellite?
Google comes up empty on ERCK0505.

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Do you dont know if the 'system' you have built is compatible with amateur radio satellite tracking systems ?

Or are you desigining a system from scratch ?

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Yes. the antenna is for 70cm band resonant at 450mhz.
i am first configuring for a manual Azimuth and elevation thru joystick and then hope to connect and control through uno r3 and tracking software. I have designed all so far from scratch.
Thanks for your interest.

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Analog Kit Encoder | Hall Effect | Frictionless Operation (p3america.com)

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CelesTrak: Satellite Tracking Software Index

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Satpack: Arduino satellite tracking and doppler tuning - Make: (makezine.com)

this seems to be popular!

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You look like being well equipped with knowledge about the stuff needed.
Fascinating project. Good luck!

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just brand new to the Controller and code thing so looking for some guidance.

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Yes, but You know the peripheral stuff. That's not always the case.

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alot of research

1 Like
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I can guess. Well done!
Sorry but I'm not able to dig down in the interfacing of the satellite receiver and the Arduino interface. It calls for too much work for the moment.

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If you have internet, you can use an online sat tracker api to pull sat location in lat/lon/alt. You can then use a GNSS receiver and IMU to determine your current location, your current orientation, and (as a result) the pointing vector between you and the satellite.

In order to do the pointing, you can use either stepper motors or BLDC motors (might need a quality worm gearbox for the BLDCs). I would highly, highly discourage the use of a brushed DC motor. Their lowest RPM is generally too high for fine adjustments (which you will likely need) and the gearboxes they usually come with have fairly large amounts of slop (potentially degrading accuracy).

Then you can use PID control in software with absolute encoders as feedback to ensure you point in the right direction. There are already a couple arduino PID libraries out there.

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Thank you for your feedback

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Well a lot depends on the beam width of the antenna. This is likely to be large depending on the size of them.

The main problem with tracking satellites is the Doppler shift changing the frequency of transmission and reception.

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hey, Nasa does it.
Single 4lb helical radiating antenna. Rotator is balanced quite ridged for its size. Uses both radial and thrust bearings to limit friction as to allow for smaller motors. torque ratings and weight all have been considered.
All that's left is the electronics, first manual manipulation with joystick control. This will prove the mechanics Next the automation part.

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I doubt you have their budget though. :wink:

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Yep this is LOW, LOW budget!
less the electronics I fab everything myself

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Hi, @mmullenhour
Welcome to the forum.

Have you Googled;

arduino satellite tracker

There are some projects out there doing what you require.

Thanks.. Tom.. :smiley: :+1: :coffee: :australia:

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Thank you
yep, I have issue is one that is close to my hardware