1 / 17

Project #48: Satellite Dish Tracking System

Project #48: Satellite Dish Tracking System. Randall Brace Daniel Whitted TA: Jon Benson. Reasons. Both have interest in communications Both are proficient in software programming Appeared to be a useful project not only for us, but department as well. Physical Objective.

blanca
Download Presentation

Project #48: Satellite Dish Tracking System

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Project #48:Satellite Dish Tracking System Randall Brace Daniel Whitted TA: Jon Benson

  2. Reasons • Both have interest in communications • Both are proficient in software programming • Appeared to be a useful project not only for us, but department as well

  3. Physical Objective • To be able to control roof mounted satellite dish from inside a lab • To be able to accurately determine and track the dish’s relative position • Do these things with LabView

  4. Personal Objective • To develop our teamwork skills • Learn more about hardware/software interfacing and the issues involved

  5. Original Design • To build an antenna array that could be used to track satellites • Found out that department was looking to control a satellite dish on the roof of Everitt • Decided to change because moving the dish on the roof was more interesting

  6. Original Design • Software • List box for stored satellites • Lock Motor Position button • All functions residing within one program

  7. Original Design • Hardware • Fasco Magnetic Digital Sensors • Optical Isolators • National Instruments DAQ board

  8. Software Movement Hardware I/O Stored Satellite Positions File I/O Calibration Scheme Hardware National Instruments Digital I/O DAQ Board Satellite Dish Motor Bread Board/TTL Building the Project

  9. Building the Project • Hardware • Functionality of motor • Intended Sensor Output • Actual Sensor Output

  10. Building the Project • Software • Calibration Scheme • Moves one way to extreme • Moves other way over the entire range • Halves the count • Centers Dish • Subtracts a small number from each limit

  11. Building the Project • Software • Manual move/stop in both directions • Tracks Satellite Position • Store/Load Satellites

  12. Functionality Tests • Used function generator to simulate digital sensor inputs • Gave us a square wave input for our counters • Used oscilloscope to test DAQ board outputs • Allowed us to verify voltage outputs

  13. TTL Trial & Error Ran into problems pulling motor wires down to ground Tried numerous chips Hex Inverters Schmitt Triggers Hex Inverting Schmitt Triggers Amplifiers Finally found chip that worked Reed Relays Functionality Tests Common Ground Motor Wire +5 Volts Control Wire from DAQ

  14. Challenges • Acquiring Digital Sensors • Configuring the DAQ Board • Interfacing DAQ Board & Hardware • Debugging Stored Satellite & Calibration Schemes

  15. Problems • No Digital Sensors Shaft from motor Sensor Wires Piece of hard plastic Toggle Switch

  16. Problems • Board not configured on time • Wrong wire configuration to satellite motors/sensor • Finding a working TTL configuration

  17. Recommendations • Bringing Feed Line down so as to actually receive satellite signals (addition of a down-converter) • Persistent Communication • Interfacing this software with a secure web site

More Related