Meteor Receiver

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Meteor Receiver

• Andrew Thoni
• Charlie Hunter
• Greg Watkins
• Nick Nicholson
• Will Marshall

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Project Overview

• Design a receiver to detect objects in orbit
  passing through the NAVSPASUR.
• There is a community of hobbyist who want to
  detect space objects.
• Dr. Smith is extremely interested in owning one
  of these systems for a personal hobby.
• Total cost estimate is 360

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Design Objectives

• Detect objects in space flying over the 33rd
  parallel.
• Convert the antenna signal to the audio band.
• Output the antenna signal to a computer for
  storage.
• Playback the signal as audio.

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Illustration of Design
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Design Approach

• Antennas
• Amplifier
• IQ Demodulation
• PC Control and Capture

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Antenna Gain vs. Frequency
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Antenna Impedance vs. Frequency
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Antenna 3D Gain at 217 MHz
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Amplifier Design
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PC Control and Capture Design
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Testing

• Audio board
• Parallel port driver

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Parallel Port Driver Testing
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Antenna Problems

• Antenna design is 75 ? but the testing equipment
  is 50 ?
• Mechanical solution for attaching a connector
• Optimal spacing between the two dipole sides

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Schedule

• Finish Hardware by April 26, 2010
• Finish Computer interface by April 30, 2010
• Present on ___________

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Future Work

• Complete software package to display position and
  velocity of space objects.

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Meteor Receiver

• Andrew Thoni
• Charlie Hunter
• Greg Watikins
• Nick Nicholson
• Will Marshall