AmitySat and Amateur Radio

Ved Prakash Sandlas

Director General Amity Institute of Space Science & Technology, Noida
Principal Adviser, Cogent EMR Solutions Ltd, New Delhi (2006-2008) Distinguished Scientist and Chief Controller R & D, DRDO (1996-2005) Director, Defence Electronics Applications Lab (DEAL), Dehradun (1986-1996) Group Director, Electronics, VSSC, Thiruvanathapuram (1984-1986) Project/Mission Director, SLV-3, ISRO (1980-1984)
AISST, Noida, Jan 18, 2010

AmitySat
Education, experimentation, teaching & training Free access to students and learners - Universities, Schools & Volunteers Amateur Radio Operations & Networking

Global and 24 hr Tracking

Ground Control Station at Amity

New Technology Options

Miniature Satellites
International Space Station (ISS) 245, 735 kg
Space Shuttle Payload Capacity 24, 400 kg Ariane 5 Payload capacity 16, 000 kg PSLV 1200 kg in PSS, GSLV 2000 kg in GEO Large Satellite < 1000 kg

Small Satellite
Mini-Satellite

500-1000 kg
100-500 kg

Micro-Satellite
Nano-Satellite Pico-Satellite

10-100 kg
1-10 kg < 1 kg

History of Communications
Not very old Well preserved
1837 1st Telegraph 1.5 km London 1844 Samuel Morse Code 1851 1st submarine cable England to France 1876 Alexander Graham Bell Telephone 10th March TURN OF THE CENTURY AMATEUR RADIO 1901 JC Bose Marconi UK/Canada 1st Transatlantic message 1906 First voice over radio broadcast (May 18)

1925 Transatlantic Radio telephone

1936 1st TV in UK/Germany

Revolution every Quarter Century WW II

History of Communications
1945 Arthur C Clarke Wireless World Oct, 1945 1957 Sputnik Launch 1958 Explorer I

1960 Echo Satellite OSCAR I

1962 TELSTAR Transatlantic TV 1965 INTELSAT (Early Bird) OSCAR 3

APPLE & SITE 1975 SATCOM AGE

SLV-3 1980 INSAT I 1983 1st Private then Post Office (Govt.) Public Companies Mid 60s scene Satcom age 1st Public then Private OPTICAL FIBRE CELL PHONE INTERNET GLOBAL VILLAGE UNIVERSAL DESKTOP

AMATEUR or HAM RADIO

Recognised word over as a Scientific Hobby
Contributing Considerably to the progress of Communication Technology and Communication Systems

Radio Amateurs (also known as Amateur Radio Operators, just Amateurs, Hams or Ham Radio Operators) are licensed by Govt to own, operate and maintain radio transmitters and related equipment to communicate with their counter parts any where in the word
ITU has allocated a number of radio frequency bands for their exclusive use in the short-waves (15 %), VHF, UHF and higher frequency spectrum, all the way up to MM waves and beyond Realising the importance, WARC had been allocating additional frequency bands for Amateur Services

Commercial or Professional Communication Organisations

Aim at Reliable and Pleasing Communications using: High Power, Good S/N, Redundant Channels, etc.

Radio Amateurs
Work with Limited Power Aim at Achieving or Improving Communications in the presence of: Interference and unpredictable natural and man-made Noise Obligatory to maintain Written Logs with: Quantitative assessment of performance (RST reports) Weather conditions, Characteristics of Antenna, Tx and RX Data and Experience exploited for Emergency Communications

HISTORY OF AMATEUR RADIO

Marconis Wireless Experiments Enthusiasm to Communicate grew around Spark Transmitters and Crystal Receivers 1910 Hundreds of Amateurs few Govt. and Commercial Stations Need for Regulations, Laws, Licenses, Frequency Allocations, etc. Wave lengths lower than 200 meters (Frequency > 1.5 MHz)? Relay stations for long distance communications Organised System of Relays and also the Art of Communications 1914 American Radio Relay League (ARRL) launched

Soon became synonymous with Radio Comm. and Short Waves

1917 Skilled Radio Amateurs enlisted for World War-1 ban End of Phase-1 Survival of Amateur Radio? Potential!

HISTORY OF AMATEUR RADIO

October 1, 1919 War time ban lifted Sudden rush of Amateur Radio activities Era of Vacuum Tubes, Short Waves and Super Hetrodynes 1924 1st International Radio Conference Dozens of Governments and commercial companies fighting for slots around 200 meters and above Radio Amateurs had already experimented below 200 meters Reserved for themselves not only 160 m, but all submultiples: 80 m, 40 m, 20 m, 10 m and even 5 m (bands)

HISTORY OF AMATEUR RADIO IN INDIA

1st Ham 1921 Amarendra Chandra Gupta (VU2JK) Radio broadcasting began on July 23, 1927, when the Indian Broadcasting Company, IBC, inaugurated 7BY in Bombay 1939 Ham Radio suspended and equipment sealed WW II 1948, May 15 1st Radio Club School of Signals, Mhow (VU2SS) Maj BM Chakravarthy (VU2 BU) 1954, May 15 Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI) - New Delhi

HOME BREWING TO GO ON THE AIR

1963-80 ISRO depended a lot on Ham radio
1982-83 VU2RG pushed Import Duty Exemption for Hams Antarctica Operations 1983 (VU2IF) 1994 (AT3D)

1966 Vidyasagar Hall, IIT Kharagpur On-line Voltage Doubler 500 V EL34+1625x2 PA with Screen Modulation BC 348 Rx Lamp-cord Antenna feed

ORBITING SATELLITE CARRYING AMATEUR RADIO

(OSCAR)
1957 Sputnik Launch 1958 Explorer I OSCAR-1 Dec 12, 1961
Thor-Agena B 10 lb 146x258 NM 100 mW, 145 MHz, HI beacon

OSCAR-3 Mar 9, 1965 VHF Transponder

Thor-Agena D 35 lb 564x585 NM 50 kHz BW 144.1 MHz up-link 25 mW 145.89 down-link

Worlds 1st free access communication relay transponder NASA honoured traditional pioneers by launching ahead of Early Bird (INTELSAT-1) Apr 6, 1965 OSCAR-5 Jan 23, 1970 With Telecommand
Thor-Delta N 910 km polar sun-synchronous orbit 29.45 Mhz 250 mW HF beacon 1st non-US (Australian)

ORBITING SATELLITE CARRYING AMATEUR RADIO

(OSCAR)
OSCAR-6 Oct 15, 1972 CODE-STORE 40 lb 100 kHz 1 W Transponder 29.5 MHz DL 145.95 UL Joint Project of USA, Australia & West Germany OSCAR-7 Nov 15, 1974 Mode A (2 W) and B (8 W) 1st Dual Satellite relay with OSCAR-6(Mid 1981-Jun21 2002 G3IOR On Solar Power)

OSCAR-9 Oct 6, 1981 1st UoSAT

Synthesised speech TM, 6 Beacons, CCD camera for SSTV OSCAR-10 Jun 16, 1983 Ariane L6 launch Phase III 1000x36000 km 15 hr access in N Hemisphere Mode B 150 kHz, Mode L 800 kHz 50 W PEP PA

OSCAR 40 AO 40 Phase 3 D
Nov 16, 2000 Ariane 5 1000x58000 km Largest, most complex and most powerful

Dec 2000 incident left a damaged satellite

Uplinks V, U and L1 & L2 Downlinks S1 & S2 and K (24.048 GHz)

RUDAK (Regenerating Transponder for Digital Amateur Communications) 2 programmable computers with error control and modems CEDEX, GPS, MONITOR and SCOPE Store and Forward capability
Contest to celebrate 3rd Birthday Sep 16-Nov 17, 2003

RS (Radio Satellite) Series

Dec 2, 1981 RS-3,4,5,6,7 & 8 simultaneous launch RS-5 & 7 Robot equipped Automatic Routing, Reply & Logging of QSOs RS-20 Nov 28, 2002 Experimental payload on Russian Mozhayets Satellite Significant use of HF with beacons Large scale use in schools

Mini Sat Institutions

AMSAT Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation - 1961 OSCAR Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio AMSAT-INDIA CubeSat International Collaboration Project of Universities SSTL Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.

Space Centre, University of Surrey

Space Flight Laboratory, University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment (CanX)

SNAP
Surrey Nanosatellite Application Platform
First launch 2000 SNAP-1 Cosmos 6 to 12 kg total mass up to 4 kg payload GPS Orbit Determination Onboard Computing

Communication System Option

3-axis Attitude Control Micro Propulsion System Constellation and Swarm Missions

Rear (L-R): David Brown, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon Front (L-R): Rick Husband, Kalpana Chawla, William McCool

STS-107

Columbia

Jan 16 Feb 1, 2003

Back (LR): Curbeam, Patrick, Sunita Williams, Fuglesang Front (LR): Oefelein, Higginbotham, Polansky

STS-116

Discovery

Dec 9-22, 2006

SLV-3 D2 with Rohini Satellite D2 and Smart Sensor Apr 17, 1983
41.5 kg

ISRO AMATEUR RADIO LINKAGES

Thumba-GSFC, USA radio link 1963-70 Through Ed Bissell (W3MSK) Thumba-Kanya Kumari radio link Mar 1968 Barium Cloud Experiments of PRL Thumba-Tokyo radio link Apr 1968

X-Ray Astronomy Experiments

Thumba-SHAR back-up radio net Jun-Jul 1980 SLV-3 Mission (Jul 18, 1980) Thumba-DFVLR, Munic radio link 1981-86 Through Garry Mayer (GF0VR)

HAMSAT VU Sat OSCAR 52 VO-52 PSLV-C6 May 05, 2005

PSLV-C9 Mission

Apr 28, 2008 09:24 823 kg 637 km Polar Sun Synchronous

690 kg

83 kg

50 kg Indian Mini Satellite. Mini & MEMS Sensors. Multispectral & Hyperspectral Cameras. Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment HAM Satellite HAM Transponder HAM downlink HAM downlink HAM downlink Nanosatellite Launch System CAN-X4 & 5. Formation flights Relay navigational data from ORBCOM fleet. Separation?

ANUSAT
PSLV-C12 Apr 20, 2009
Size: 600 mm 600 mm 600 mm Mass: 40 Kg Solar Array: Ga As Cells 40 Watts Battery: Li Ion 10 Ah

Uplink: 435 MHz

Downlink: 145.8 MHz Spin Rate: 8 RPM Attitude Control: Magnetic Torquer Payload: Store and Forward Data

Jan 26, 1997 Republic Day at Antarctica SSTV link through INMARSAT and HF Radio

AMATEUR RADIO TECHNOLOGIES

Speech processing and Artificial Speech
Voice Operated Controls Advanced Error Correcting Codes and Protocols

Spread Spectrum and Bandwidth Compression

Coherent CW and Noise Modulation Variable IF Bandwidth and Pass-band Tuning Variable Pulse-width Noise Blanker PLLs and Frequency Synthesisers

Introduced in mass-produced Ham equipment (1980s)

EXTRACTS HAM RADIO

Address at the Inauguration of General Assembly of

International Union of Radio Science (URSI)

Sirifort Auditorium, 23 October 2005 Electromagnetic Spectrum: A Friend of the Humanity Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, President of India

It is important to mention and acknowledge the contributions made by the Amateur radio operators called HAMs, who started using radio communication techniques, particularly the short waves, for long distance communications through the ionosphere during the first decade of the 20th century.

EXTRACTS HAM RADIO (Contd. 2)

The experience of HAMs has been used for remote area, disaster management and emergency communications world over during the last hundred years.

NASA, ISRO and other space agencies have honoured the HAMs by launching exclusive satellites for them so that they can continue to contribute in the latest trends of satellite communication. During the recent Tsunami, it was a coincidence that a Government of India approved amateur radio expedition was in Andaman and was operational during the disaster and provided vital communications to the main land and Indonesia, for getting latest updates on the movement of Tsunami waves and rescue operations. The contributions made by Indian HAMs in this Tsunami have been acknowledged at national and international level.

EXTRACTS HAM RADIO (Contd. 3)

Amateur radio and remote area communications are synonymous with emergency communications. It is advisable to promote this hobby, to set up amateur radio stations in Panchayat offices, schools and hospitals by voluntary agencies who will be able to locate and get operated by the HAMs, throughout the day and night, on all days. Each Panchayat must encourage this hobby and can make it as a part of the village knowledge centre. This will act as an early warning system for the village community in case of an unforeseen eventuality. Commercial radio communication systems operates with high power, frequency diversity and with large antenna to improve the reliability of communications. HAMs work with limited power, under man made and natural radio interference and work in difficult circumstances.

EXTRACTS HAM RADIO (Contd. 4)

There is a lot of scope to improve narrowband communication techniques, multi hop HF communications to remote areas such as Antarctica and Arctic to improve the quality of HAM communications. The members of the radio science community can definitely assist the HAM operators through research in establishing low cost narrow band communication techniques. There are possibilities of co-relation between the seismic activities and electro-magnetic activity in particular regions. There is a need to have a comprehensive study on the subject. This study should also be linked with the study of other geophysical parameters relevant to an earthquake. This will be a great contribution of the radio science community to the mankind towards disaster mitigation.

EXTRACTS HAM RADIO (Contd. 5)

I understand that the adaptive radio and software radio are among the thrust areas of wireless communication technologies. In this connection, it is essential for the radio scientists to provide a solution for getting high bandwidth communication in the wireless spectrum, in a mobile environment, for an optimal distance, without the constraints of line of sight. Radio scientists and technologists should continue to strive for optimum and bandwidth efficient communication techniques even when higher frequency bands like millimeter waves, sub-millimeter waves and quasi optical waves have started becoming available; there is not much congestion at this stage in these frequency bands, but the ever increasing use of radio frequencies spectrum needs evolution of an allocation criteria.

Thank You