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4m1g0 edited this page Dec 16, 2019 · 14 revisions

Welcome to the ESP32-OLED-Fossa-GroundStation wiki!

The aim of this project is to create an open network of ground stations for the Fossa Satellites distributed all over the world and connected through internet.

This project is based on ESP32 boards and is compatible with sx126x and sx127x you can build you own board using one of these modules but most of us use a development board like the ones listed in the Supported boards section.

The developers of this project have no relation with the Fossa team in charge of the mission, we are passionate about space and created this project to be able to track and use the satellites as well as supporting the mission.

[IMPORTANT] Status of the project

Currently we are at an early stage of development (just a couple of weeks of work), the current version is functional but not fully stable and we are actively developing new changes so you will have to update the firmware quite regularly if you want to stay updated.

The first Fossa satellite, FossaSat-1 was launched on December 12, 2019 and it is still in evaluation stage by the Fossa team, so it is important not to communicate to the satellity and only listen until the Fossa team says otherwise.

FossaSat-1 is currently in a healthy state and sending packets, however several issues were found are being evaluated:

  • Satellite antenna and solar panels might not be properly deployed. Received signals from the satellite were too weak compared with theoretical values and simulations which could indicate an improper deployment of the antenna or no deployment at all. Currently the team is trying to command an emergency deployment. It will be not possible to receive satellite signals without huge antennas until this is done.
  • It was discovered a misconfiguration on FossaSat-1 LoRa module. The syncWord parameter used is 0x0F0F which is not documented and not compatible with sx127x receivers. This means that even if the antenna deployment works, it will be difficult to communicate with FossaSat-1 with a sx127x modules although not impossible as this was already achieved with large antennas.
  • The satellite might be rotating. The satellite has a Passive Magnetic Stabilization (PMS) system and the Fossa team pointed out that it seems to be stabilizing gradually, so signal quality should improve.

The Fossa team has announced that two new satellites will be launched on March 2020 and those will be 100% compatible with all the boards including sx127x, so at this moment the priority is keep improving the project, try to receive communications from FossaSat-1 with high gain antenas and be prepared for the next launch on march when all boards will be compatible.

We are using Telegram as the mean of communication for the project, there are also two channels where you can suscribe and be updated automátically whenever a new packet is received by the network from the Satellite.

Supported boards

Supported modules

  • sx126x
  • sx127x

Getting started

Configuration

Useful resources

Other

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