Hello fellow space enthusiasts,
On 23/11/2023 @azisi , @aris12 and I assembled the first PCB of the newest version of SatNOGS COMMS (v0.3). This version aims to achieve a more mature design, building upon the previous version and improving various bugs. We tested the - completely redesigned - power system and things look good so far with correct output levels, adequate current capabilities and power protections working as expected !
As more tests will be coming up in the following weeks, we will do our best to keep this topic active with the results.
You can find out more about the project by visiting the SatNOGS COMMS GitLab group.
Here is a pic of the newly assembled board :
Cheers,
Dimitris
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Hello fellow space enthusiasts,
First week into testing the newly assembled SatNOGS COMMS v0.3 board and the first results are in !
- We were able to flash both the MCU and the FPGA and achieve SPI communication between the two.
- We confirmed that the eMMC memory is detected as well as the sensors on the SMBus.
- We managed to perform some transmissions on UHF, where we verified that some spurious emissions which appeared on v0.2 have been eliminated. Those emissions were due to poor synchronization between the enabling of the power amplifier and the transmission from the transceiver.
On the downside, we are facing an issue with the updated power delivery structure on the RF power supplies. There seems to be an issue with the way the load switches are connected, which prohibits deterministic and proper opening / closing. We are working on it, reporting the investigation process and results here.
Iām closing the post with a picture of the device under test, mounted on the PC/104 FlatSat test board !
Stay tuned,
Dimitris
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