Ground Station Vigo
The Ground Station Vigo team is composed of two professors and three students from Vigo University, Spain, and California Polytechnic State University. Ground Station Vigo will be used as a backup alternative to the main ground station in Forlì, Italy. Together with other researchers from California Polytechnic State University, the team is adapting software called SatNet, which will allow remote operations.
Driving global networking of radio amateur ground stations
The Vigo University Ground Station has already been used for two satellites: HumSat and Xatcobeo. The equipment can receive and process VHF, UHF, S-band and L-band data. For the ESEO mission, a migration to an SDR-based ground station fully compatible with the one based in Forlì will be made.This will allow ESEO telecommands to be sent from both facilities.
Researches from Vigo and California are also adapting the SatNet software to the requirements of this mission. SatNet is an open source software project used to construct the necessary telecommunications infrastructure to enable the sharing of radio amateur ground stations between CubeSat operators. Its main objectives are to enable the remote operation of this type of satellite and encourage cooperation within this research field.
During the ESEO mission, SatNet will enable a single Mission Control Centre (MCC) in Italy to use three ground stations located in three different countries: Italy, Spain and Germany. Thanks to this software, the data received in all three ground stations will be sent to the MCC for further processing.