Mark Roland

Weather Satellite Imaging System

Left to right: Mark Roland, Kawaya Swana Eric Mbaka, Vijo Varghese, Bill Dower

• Full Project Report (PDF)
• Project Poster (PDF)

Abstract

The goal of this project was to develop a weather station capable of receiving and processing weather satellite signals into readable images. The system in this project consists of a Quadrifilar Helix antenna, a pre-amplifier, a receiver and a PC sound card. The recorded audio signal was decoded using Matlab.

Background

Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites complete an orbit over the Earth’s poles at an altitude of 840 kilometers every 104 minutes. Currently, there are 4 operational NOAA satellites that orbit and send signals: NOAA-15, NOAA-16, NOAA-17 and NOAA-18 (Current Status). These satellites use cameras to scan the visible spectrum as well as the infrared spectrum and take strips of images that span approximately 3000 km. This is done repeatedly to make a continuous image, which is then transmitted continuously on the 137 MHz frequency band. This signal can be received while the satellite is overhead, which can last up to 15 minutes. The Quadrifilar Helix antenna (QFH) is regarded as one of the best antennas to receive this signal.

Results from commerical decoding software (left) compared to our matlab solution (right)

Resources

• NOAA APT Audio Sample, 5 seconds, 10 APT frames in Length (.mp3 file)
• Full 15 minute uncompressed sample NOAA APT signal with decoded images (29 MB zip file)
• Matlab Decoding Code

• NOAA Satellite Info
  • NOAA-N Satellite Booklet (view PDF)
  • NASA GOES POES Program http://goespoes.gsfc.nasa.gov/poes/index.html
  • NOAA KLM User’s Guide http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/klm/
• Satellite Tracking
  • NOVA tracking software - http://www.nlsa.com/index.html
• Receiver
  • Hamtronics R137 Receiver User’s Guide (view PDF)
• Satellite Imaging
  • Remote Imaging Group - http://www.rig.org.uk/
• Antenna Design
  • Quadra-helix Antenna - http://www.qsl.net/kf4cpj/qha/
  • Antenna - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/phqfh1/qfh_diy_guide.htm
  • WXSat QFH Antenna - http://www.frars.org.uk/cgi-bin/render.pl?parameter=&pageid=1154
  • Design - http://perso.wanadoo.es/dimoni/ant_qha.htm
  • LNK Receiver Pre-amp from Hamtronics - http://www.hamtronics.com/
• Signal Processing
  • NOAA Signal Specs - http://www2.ncdc.noaa.gov/docs/klm/html/c4/sec4-2.htm/
  • WXtoImg Imaging Software - http://www.wxtoimg.com/
  • WXSat Imaging Software - http://hffax.de/html/hauptteil_wxsat.htm
  • Wavepad Audio Software - http://nch.com.au/wavepad/masters.html
  • APT Decoder - http://www.ptast.com/apt/decoder/

This project was completed as an Electrical Engineering Senior Project at the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS) in May 2006.