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João Pedro Vilas Boas edited this page Jan 13, 2022 · 3 revisions

Information for Communicating with PION-BR1

PION-BR1 satellite communicates through UHF band. A downlink on 437.300 MHz has been coordinated.

Operation and Communication Parameters

The satellite has a UHF downlink using 1k2 GFSK with NGHam protocol. For tracking, please use the following information:

  • NORAD ID: TBD
  • International Designator: TBD

Orbit

  • Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO);
  • Altitude: 525 km;
  • Inclination: 97.6°;
  • Ascending Node Local Time: TBD
  • TLE: TBD

For the first weeks past launch PION-BR1 will be on it's safe mode while we asses and understand it's working state and the downlink details will be as following:

Downlink Details

Property Value
Frequency 437.3 MHz
Baudrate 1200bps
Frequency Deviation 10 kHz

Downlink Interval

Power State Transmission Interval
Normal Power 30s
Low Power 60s

Protocol Details

The figure below describes the NGHam protocol fields of each packet. For more information, visit https://github.com/skagmo/ngham

There are customized parameters from the protocol changed in PION-BR1, which are applied for both frequency communications:

  • Sync. Word: To be informed.

Telemetry frame

The bytes recovered after the decoding of the NgHam frames are:

0-3 4 5 6-7 8-9 10-11 12-13 14-15 16-17 18-19 20-21 22-23 24-25 25-26
UpTime State Antenna Battery Voltage Battery Current Solar Voltage Solar Current OBDH Temp EPS Temp xMinus Temp xPlus Temp zMinusTemp OBDH Reset Counter EPS Reset Counter

The following C struct was used for the data:

typedef struct __OBDHBeaconData{
  uint32_t uptime;
  uint8_t state;
  uint8_t antennaStatus;
  uint16_t batteryVoltage;
  int16_t systemCurrent;
  uint16_t solarVoltage;
  int16_t solarCurrent;
  int16_t obdhTemp;
  int16_t epsTemp;
  int16_t xMinusTemp;
  int16_t xPlusTemp;
  int16_t zMinusTemp;
  uint16_t OBDHResetCounter;
  uint16_t EPSResetCounter;
}PIONBR1Beacon_t;

Amateur Radio Community

Could you capture a signal from PION-BR1? Email us and get your QSL card. To receive your QSL card send an email to liftoff@pionlabs.com.br containing the following information:

  • Full name with identifier number
  • Date containing day, month, year and time UTC of signal reception
  • Grid locator
  • Frequency used
  • Signal audio received in the format. wav
  • Important: the audio must be recorded directly from the radio or SDR, if recorded by a speaker the decoding will not be possible.

If you want to describe the equipment that was used to capture the signal we will be happy know!

Our card comes in 4 different versions with different photos on the back, if you prefer one of them let us know! Check them out below:

Front of QSL card

To be uploaded.

Back 'PION Version'

To be uploaded.

Back 'Integration Version'

To be uploaded.

Back 'Launch Version'

To be uploaded.

Back 'Team Version'

To be uploaded.

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