Low Cost Nano Satellite Communication System

using GNURadio, HackRF, and Raspberry Pi

Rizky Pratama Hudhajanto Heru Wijanarko Muhammad Arifin Budi Sugandi
RizkyEngineering
Dept. of Electrical Dept. of Electrical
Pratama Hudhajanto, Heru Engineering
Wijanarko, Muhammad Arifin,
Dept. of Electrical Budi Sugandi,
Engineering Dept. of Siti Aisyah,
Electrical Engineering
Politeknik Negeri Batam Politeknik Negeri Batam Politeknik Negeri Batam Politeknik Negeri Batam
Batam, Indonesia Nur Sakinah
Batam, Asaad, Abang Ahmad
Indonesia Syardiansyah
Batam, Indonesia Batam, Indonesia
[email protected] Dept. of
[email protected] Engineering
[email protected] [email protected]
Politeknik Negeri Batam
Siti Aisyah NurBatam,
SakinahIndonesia
Asaad Abang Ahmad Syardiansyah
Dept. of Electrical Engineering Dept. budi
of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering
{rizkypratama,
Politeknik Negeri Batam
wijanarko, arifin, sugandi, siti aisyah, nina.asaad}@polibatam.ac.id,
Politeknik Negeri Batam Politeknik Negeri Batam
Batam, Indonesia [email protected]
Batam, Indonesia Batam, Indonesia
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—In recent years, nano satellite has gained popularity communication system such as signal processing device and
among students and young researchers. The reason is that, nano modulation, is processed by mean of software. SDR also has
satellite has the ability similar to larger satellite, but in tiny ability to reconfigure and reprogram easily. In other word,
compact size. It is easy to made and can be made using low cost
devices. However the main problem in making a nano satellite is SDR is a suitable telecommunication device to implement
in the its communication system. Nano satellite communication telecommunication system logic rather than using simulation
system has to be reliable to send information from ground station software for implementation. Even satellite communication
to nano satellite or vice versa. In this paper, we propose a system logic can be implemented using SDR [1].
nano satellite communication system using Raspberry Pi, and a This research combines the use of SDR device with the nano
HackRF SDR which is programmed using GNURadio. From the
testing process, the text data can be transmitted properly from satellite technology. SDR is used as a communication device
ground station to nano satellite using GMSK modulation scheme. for nano satellite, in the sky, to communicate with the ground
This communication system also has ability to be reconfigured, unit. As a computer device to operate with SDR, a mini PC,
which means many modulation scheme and algorithm can be Raspberry Pi, is used. Raspberry Pi is chosen because of its
implemented easily without changing the hardware. compact size, and its processing ability to run linux based OS.
Index Terms—Software Defined Radio, HackRF, nano satellite,
GNURadio, Raspberry Pi This Raspberry Pi is necessary for use with SDR, because
SDR is an embedded hardware, and cannot work by itself.
For SDR itself, we choose HackRF from GreatScottGadget.
I. I NTRODUCTION
This SDR is a low cost but powerful enough to prototype the
Nano satellite is a communication device which is gaining communication system of satellite.
its popularity along students or young and new researchers. A
lot of researches have been done in nano satellite. The reason II. S YSTEM D ESIGN
is that nano satellite has numerous advantages compared to A. The Ground Unit Setup
larger satellite. The primary advantage of nano satellite is, it
is easy and only need a low cost money to make. Therefore, At the ground unit, we use a standard computer with Linux
many students and young researchers are able to make and Ubuntu OS. The software used to program and take data
do research about nano satellite. Although the system of nano from HackRF SDR is GNURadio. GNURadio is a free and
satellite different from larger satellites system, nano satellite open-source software with a lot of signal processing block.
is an easy and cheap way for student to start learning about This software block can be used to make a communication
satellite. The frequency used for nano satellite communication system easily and fast. Also, this software block can be
system is an amateur radio band which is free to use without changed, reconfigured, and reprogrammed easily even while
pay for frequency cost. This amateur band is in the UHF the HackRF is working. Fig. 1 shows the setup for the ground
band, which means the nano satellite does not need a high system.
power to transmit compared with larger satellite. However, the
main problem is the size of the communication device of nano B. The Nano Satellite Setup
satellite. As we already knew, UHF band is a low frequency For nano satellite setup, we use Raspberry Pi 3 model
band which means it has a long wavelength. With its long B as a computer device. This Raspberry PI 3 work under
wavelength, it need a more massive antenna to use. Raspbian OS based on Linux OS. GNURadio is installed in
Digital technology has been developed recently to the the Raspbian to program and configure the HackRF. HackRF
system which the hardware can be substituted by program- SDR is connected to Raspberry Pi 3 via USB slot. For the first
ming software. Software Defined Radio (SDR) is one of set up, we will use a monitor for programming the HackRF,
the device in digital telecommunication technology. SDR is but when we deploy the nano satellite in the sky, the monitor is
a communication system hardware which is the traditional not attached. Fig. 2 shows the setup for nano satellite system.

978-1-5386-8066-7/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

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 in to frame. 2 Samples per Symbol and 2 bits per symbol
are used for packet encoder’s configuration. For modulation,
GMSK Mod Block is used. This block only have 2 parameters,
which are samples per symbol and bt. bt itself is gaussian
filter bandwidth multiplied with symbol time, for this initial
testing we use 0.350. To show the signal in frequency and time
domain, also to show the constellation diagram, QT GUI sink
is used. The last block in transmitter side is osmocom sink.
This block is used to transmit modulated data to transmitter
side via HackRF SDR.
In the receiver side, the data from transmitter side, is catched
by antenna and received in GNURadio using Osmocom Source
Block. The output of Osmocom Source Block is complex
numbers. These numbers can be demodulated by using GMSK
Fig. 1. Ground Station Setup
demodulation block. The parameter used in demodulator block
is the same with the modulator block in transmitter side. To
transform the data back to text again, packet decoder is used to
decode the frame back to byte. The last block of the receiver
side is file sink, which used to transform the byte to txt file
again.
III. R ESULT AND D ISCUSSION
By using the system design, Fig. 6 shows the frequency
domain of the transmitted signal and received signal. The
magnitude of the receiver signal is lower than the transmitted
signal. However, the bandwidth of the signal is still the same.
There are already some noise signals in the transmitter side,
because of the white noise from the HackRF hardware. Fig.
7 shows the constellation diagram from the transmitter and
receiver side. The constellation is circle because the use of
GMSK modulator. In the transmitter side, the distance between
Fig. 2. Nano Satellite Setup points is clearly visible, but in the receiver side, the distance
between constellation points is gone. It makes the constellation
diagram of the transmitter side is a full circle. The last Fig. 8
C. The Communication System shows the transmitted data text and received data text. Because
For communication system, we use Gaussian Minimum we used the parameter “Repeat = yes” in File Source Block,
Shift Keying (GMSK). GMSK is a binary modulation scheme the received text is repeated. However, the text is received
which is an upgraded modulation scheme from Minimum Shift perfectly without any character error.
Keying (MSK). MSK itself is a specific case of Continuous IV. C ONCLUSION
Phase of Frequency Shift Keying (CP-FSK) which is the The signal analysis of the communication system in the
maximum frequency is equal to half of the bitrate. This researched nano satellite design has been demonstrated. The
modulation also has modulation index of 0.6 [2]. GMSK is text data from the transmitter side has ben sent properly
suitable for mobile nano satellite communication, because it to the receiver side. Although there are some degradation
has a good power and spectrum efficiency. Also it has a very of the signal level received in the receiver side, the text
good Bit Error Rate (BER) performance [3]. GMSK can be data can be received perfectly without any character error. It
easily implemented in GNURadio because the GMSK block is has been shown that the signal in frequency domain has an
already developed within GNURadio software. Figure 3 shows identical signal from transmitter and receiver side. But, in the
the GNURadio Block for GMSK transmitter (Tx) and figure constellation diagram, it is shown that the distance between
4 shows receiver (Rx). points in transmitter side, is gone in receiver side. However,
In this testing scenario, the distance of transmitter and the text data still can be received properly.
receiver is around 5 meters. Fig. 5 shows the trial setup in the
laboratory. The text data is sent from transmitter side, which is R EFERENCES
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