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UniSat Troubleshooting Guide

Common issues and solutions for building, running, and debugging the UniSat CubeSat platform.

Build Errors

CMake: ARM toolchain not found

Symptom: WARNING: ARM toolchain not found, building for host (test mode)

Cause: arm-none-eabi-gcc is not in your PATH.

Solution:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install gcc-arm-none-eabi

# macOS
brew install --cask gcc-arm-embedded

# Windows — download from https://developer.arm.com/downloads/-/gnu-rm
# Add the bin/ directory to your PATH

After installing, verify: arm-none-eabi-gcc --version

CMake: build fails on FreeRTOS headers

Symptom: fatal error: cmsis_os2.h: No such file or directory

Cause: FreeRTOS and CMSIS-RTOS2 headers are not included in the base repo. The firmware expects STM32CubeMX-generated middleware.

Solution:

  1. Generate the project with STM32CubeMX for STM32F446RE with FreeRTOS enabled.
  2. Copy the Middlewares/ directory into firmware/stm32/.
  3. Add the include path to CMakeLists.txt: 
    include_directories(stm32/Middlewares/Third_Party/FreeRTOS/Source/include)

Alternatively, build in simulation mode (host build) which skips FreeRTOS:

cd firmware && mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. && make

The SIMULATION_MODE define is set automatically when the ARM toolchain is absent.

pip install fails for sgp4

Symptom: error: Microsoft Visual C++ 14.0 or greater is required (Windows)

Solution: The sgp4 package includes C extensions. Install Build Tools for Visual Studio, or use a pre-built wheel:

pip install sgp4 --only-binary=:all:

pip install fails for aiofiles

Symptom: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'aiofiles'

Solution: This dependency is required by the flight-software DataLogger:

cd flight-software
pip install -r requirements.txt

Runtime Errors

Serial port permission denied (Linux)

Symptom: serial.serialutil.SerialException: [Errno 13] could not open port /dev/ttyS0: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Solution:

# Add your user to the dialout group
sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER
# Log out and back in, then verify
groups | grep dialout

Serial port not found

Symptom: FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/dev/ttyS0'

Cause: The default serial port in CommunicationManager is /dev/ttyS0. Your device may be at a different path.

Solution: Pass the correct port via config:

comm = CommunicationManager(config={"port": "/dev/ttyUSB0", "baud_rate": 9600})

On Windows, use COM3 (or whichever port your device is on):

comm = CommunicationManager(config={"port": "COM3"})

Missing mission_config.json

Symptom: FileNotFoundError: mission_config.json when starting the flight controller

Solution: The controller looks for mission_config.json first in the CWD, then in the repository root. Either:

  • Run from the repo root: cd unisat && python flight-software/flight_controller.py
  • Pass an explicit path: FlightController("/absolute/path/to/mission_config.json")
  • Generate one using the configurator: cd configurator && streamlit run configurator_app.py

SQLite database locked

Symptom: sqlite3.OperationalError: database is locked

Cause: The DataLogger uses check_same_thread=False for async access. Multiple processes writing to the same database file simultaneously can cause locks.

Solution: Ensure only one FlightController instance writes to a given db_dir at a time. If testing, delete data/telemetry_current.db and restart.

Ground Station Issues

Streamlit: command not found

Symptom: bash: streamlit: command not found

Solution:

cd ground-station
pip install -r requirements.txt
# If still not found, use the module directly:
python -m streamlit run app.py

Streamlit page not loading / blank screen

Symptom: The browser opens but the page is blank or shows a spinner indefinitely.

Possible causes:

  1. Missing dependencies: Run pip install -r ground-station/requirements.txt
  2. Port conflict: Streamlit defaults to port 8501. If it is in use: 
    streamlit run app.py --server.port 8502
  3. Plotly version mismatch: Ensure plotly >= 5.18.0.

Ground station shows stale/demo data

Symptom: Dashboard displays synthetic data instead of real telemetry.

Cause: The ground station pages generate demo data when no serial connection is configured. This is by design for development.

Solution: To connect to real hardware, configure the serial port in mission_config.json under ground_station.network_port and ensure the TNC (e.g., Direwolf) is running and forwarding packets.

Firmware Flash Issues

ST-Link not detected

Symptom: Error: unable to find a matching CMSIS-DAP device or No ST-Link detected

Solution:

  1. Check USB cable (use a data cable, not charge-only).
  2. Install ST-Link drivers:
  3. Verify detection: st-info --probe

Flash fails with "target voltage too low"

Cause: The Nucleo board is not powered, or the target MCU is in a locked state.

Solution:

  1. Ensure the board is powered via USB or external supply.
  2. If the MCU is locked, perform a full chip erase: 
    st-flash erase
  3. Then re-flash: 
    st-flash write firmware/build/unisat_firmware.bin 0x08000000

OpenOCD: flash write failed

Solution using SWD with OpenOCD:

openocd -f interface/stlink.cfg -f target/stm32f4x.cfg \
  -c "program firmware/build/unisat_firmware.elf verify reset exit"

If OpenOCD fails, try STM32CubeProgrammer as an alternative:

STM32_Programmer_CLI -c port=SWD -w firmware/build/unisat_firmware.bin 0x08000000 -v -rst

Telemetry Decode Errors

"Bad sync word" in TelemetryManager

Symptom: Packet too short or Bad sync word: 0x... errors in logs

Cause: The parser expects packets starting with the 4-byte sync word 0x1ACFFC1D. Possible causes:

  • Partial packet received (serial buffer underrun)
  • Byte alignment lost due to noise on the link
  • Non-CCSDS data on the serial port

Solution:

  1. Increase the serial read timeout in CommunicationManager.
  2. Check baud rate matches between firmware and ground station (default: 9600).
  3. Verify the firmware is sending CCSDS-framed packets (check CCSDS_Init() was called).

CRC mismatch in ground station parser

Symptom: crc_valid: False in parsed CCSDSPacket

Cause: The ground station ccsds_parser.py uses CRC-16/CCITT (poly 0x1021). The firmware must use the same polynomial.

Solution: Check firmware/stm32/Core/Src/ccsds.c uses the matching CRC algorithm. If you modified the firmware CRC, update crc16_ccitt() in ground-station/utils/ccsds_parser.py to match.

Decoder returns empty dict

Symptom: decode_obc(data) or similar returns {}

Cause: The payload bytes are shorter than the decoder expects. Minimum sizes:

  • OBC: 18 bytes
  • EPS: 32 bytes
  • ADCS: 34 bytes
  • GNSS: 38 bytes
  • Beacon: 14 bytes

Solution: Verify the firmware telemetry packing matches the expected struct layout. Check firmware/stm32/Core/Src/telemetry.c against the struct formats in ground-station/utils/telemetry_decoder.py.

Simulation Issues

Import errors in simulation scripts

Symptom: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'orbit_simulator'

Cause: The simulation scripts use relative imports and must be run from the simulation/ directory.

Solution:

cd simulation
pip install -r requirements.txt
python mission_analyzer.py

Plotly figures not displaying

Symptom: plot_ground_track() runs but no window appears.

Solution: The visualize.py script saves figures as HTML files. Open the generated files in a browser:

cd simulation
python visualize.py
# Open output_ground_track.html, output_power_budget.html, output_thermal.html

For interactive display, use Jupyter or call fig.show() instead of fig.write_html().