We have extended our DVB-S2 experimental facilities with two brand new modems.
These two Newtec MDM 6000 are joining the two Newtec Elevation 470 we already had. They feature DVB-S/S2/S2x + ACM and a BB Frame over IP capability to enable external decoding of the baseband frames.
Below, a snapshot of the setup.
And just below the modems, we’ve also added two PC-based network appliances. They will host the performance enhancement proxies for speeding up TCP trafic.
Looking back over the past 18 months, I’m struck by the major leap we achieved in terms of field experimental facilities. To summarise : our lab is now going outdoor.
The last (?) piece of this puzzle is our brand new Internet access via satellite.
It was made possible thanks to the generosity of SES. Let them be thanked.
This Ka-band internet access is a perfect match with the multi-service terminal that was integrated by our students. Wired and wireless Internet , wired and wireless VoIP telephony. All packaged in a ruggedised 19″ rack with a UPS.
You know the “image d’Epinal” (traditional picture) where Evolution is pictured starting from the four-leg ape to the bipedal human being.
It is time to revisit the concept from the standpoint of a Ku band fly away antenna
(the last two are straight from our lab, the first one goes uncredited … so far).
Yes, winter is at our door steps.
The proof is the ice we removed from the cover of the antenna trailer.
Which brings Today’s quote
“Winter is coming, icicles are shining, tough times for link budgeting”.
Santa is a bit early this year, but this is all good and we won’t complain.
We were donated a Ku-band fly-away antenna (see below). A lot of thank yous to our generous sponsor (they know who they are !)
Together with the AvL drive away antenna (see in an earlier post), our Ku-band capabilities are up to date (not mentioning another drive away we have … more news on that later).
The next stage is to go to Ka-band and complete our line-up of experimental facilities. On that very topic, I can briefly tell that we’re heading the right way. Stay tuned.
Last Friday (Nov, 21) we were lucky enough to visit the Aussaguel-Issus teleport. The menu was fabulous: large dishes, huge interconnects and monstrous waveguides.
And the cherry one cake was the weather. Wonderful.
Thanks to the teleport staff for organising this nice visit.
Here we go again !
On September 15, 2014 we inaugurated the 2014-2015 issue of the SCS programme. 18 students (from 8 different countries) are attending the programme this year.
And yesterday (September 23) we organised our – now traditional – “networking dinner” where SCS veterans (read: former students) meet new students.
Time for discussions, calzone pizzas, moussaka and chocolat cakes !
About two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to give an invited talk at the IEEE MetroAeroSpace workshop. The topic of my talk was about software-defined-radio for satellite communications. You know how fanatic we are about SDR.
Since there is no copyright on the talk material, here it is.
We are back with the Antenna Install Party and we made it !
First to make things easier, we got a trailer. Now the antenna can be handled by a single person, if necessary.
With Damien R. (thanks!) we conducted some extensive testing, finding the best place to ensure line of sight, checking with the LNB polarization and – lastly – mastering the TV demodulator.
Here is a series of snapshots showing the antenna in auto-deploy mode.
And eventually we made it. By that time, it was night.
You can’t imagine the number of TV channels “free to air” available on HotBird 13. And here is the proof of our success in mastering space technology.
Yes, this is correct. The ultimate proof of successfully receiving a radio signal sent from space over a distance of about 36 000 km is … soccer. So disappointing.
We are currently engaged in writing a conference paper about the use of software-defined-radio for satcom teaching.
In order to support our findings about this interesting experience, we have issued a quick survey to our (former) students. Thanks to their incredible reactivity, we managed in a couple of days to gather 21 answers out of 25 polled persons (thanks !).
We feel it’s interesting to share the results with you. They are summarised here: survey_20140513-10-21-19.pdf.
PS: as a side note, commenting is now enabled starting from this post.