[Ground-station] Project Roundup at ORI

Fri Jul 15 10:56:44 PDT 2022

Greetings all! Below is the draft project roundup. It's a snapshot of ORI's
work as of Summer 2022.

## Draft Project Report

Thank you to everyone that contributed to this report. If you see something
that was missed or needs to be corrected, please send it in via email or
file a pull request to this document when it is published to github.

### AmbaSat Inspired Sensors

AmbaSat Inspired Sensors is currently referred to as AmbaSat 70cm Re-Spin
and Sounding Rocket Project. As you know, the 915 MHz AmbaSat board was
redesigned for 70 cm. A very small number were able to be built (5) and
they are in the hands of developers. Developers were solicited through open
community outreach.

We now have an opportunity to be on a sounding rocket, have purchased the
right 70 cm antenna for the sounding rocket, and are working towards useful
experiments for the upcoming flight.

Original budget: $4200.00

Current balance: $2841.27

Capabilities:

1) New design submitted as a pull request back to AmbaSat. A 70 cm version
is much more useful to the amateur satellite community than a 915 MHz
version.

2) Improvements in power supply and noise performance were also made and a
pull request made back to the original AmbaSat repo.

3) 10 GHz beacon (the community-chosen sensor) design and presentation was
made at QSO Today Ham Expo.

4) Students under the supervision of Dan White were able to use the
hardware in a university lab environment to learn about LoRa, digital
communications, and space communications.

5) Sounding rocket opportunity, coordinated by Jay Francis, will result in
useful data and additional published designs.

The design will be exploited until the budget is exhausted.

### P4DX

GEO/HEO Transponder Communications is the goal of P4DX, which stands for
Phase 4 Digital Multiplexing Transponder.

P4DX is a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) uplink, which is
received, demodulated, and decoded in the spacecraft. Processing makes
decisions based on the information streams, which use the Opulent Voice
open source protocol. The downlink streams use Generic Stream Encapsulation
over Digital Video Broadcast Satellite version 2 and extension, or
DVB-S2/X. This is a time-division multiplexing standard. Ground station
design is included in this project.

Original budget:
$50,000 for Phase 1
$450,000 for Phase 2

Current balance: $458,700.95

We've arguably achieved Phase 1 goals, are on time, and within budget. Some
of Phase 2 goals are being worked on right now. Phase 1 goals were written
before covid, but dev boards have been substituted in for custom PCBs.
We've been very frugal with the budget and leveraged capabilities to reduce
risk all along the way.

Thank you to everyone that has helped backfill the budget to keep this
project fully funded and supported.

Capabilities:

1) Open Source DVB-S2/X encoder in FPGA. See the video presentation from
Andre Suoto for a deep dive on the mathematics required to produce this
work.

https://youtu.be/RL5uZSM5cA4

2) Three Remote Labs established. Remote Labs West, Remote Labs South
(formerly East), and Remote Labs UK. We took the original budget and
increased the number and capability of the Remote Labs for the original
budgeted amount. Remote Labs allow a developer full access a zc706 (with
ADRV9371 attached), a zcu106, a PLUTO SDR, fully licensed MATLAB with all
toolboxes (through March 2023), and a floating license of Vivado and Vitis.
Remote Labs are fully described at this link. Labs are open for all open
source FPGA and SDR work and will remain open as long as ORI can maintain
them.

https://github.com/phase4ground/documents/tree/master/Remote_Labs

3) Open source electric motor synchronization for integrated digital
communications. We have obtained permission to develop a patent from George
Washington University in this area and will prototype an application of the
patent. Ion and electric engines provide a serious challenge for digital
communications in terms of noise. Better synchronization of engines for
spacecraft is desired in and of its own right, but enhanced communications
are a particularly attractive benefit. There is a fundraiser for this part
of the project going on right now. Find it at the following link.

https://us.commitchange.com/ca/san-diego/open-research-institute/campaigns/where-will-we-go-next

4) Opulent Voice open source digital protocol. This is the native digital
uplink for P4DX. Loosely based on the M17 protocol, Opulent Voice increases
the bit rate from 3200 bps CODEC2 to 16 kbps (or higher) OPUS. It drops
puncturing, updates the randomizer, updates the interleaver, drops the Link
Status Frame (LSF) simplifies the state machine, allows for flexible codec
rates, and adds standard data networking layers in order to allow voice and
data to use the same protocol, and to allow for simple integration of
authorization and authentication. While Opulent Voice is intended for use
at 5 GHz, it seemed a shame to not deploy this protocol terrestrially for
more to enjoy. Therefore, a 1.2 GHz portable point-to-point version is
currently in progress and has a late-summer demonstration target.

https://github.com/phase4ground/opv-cxx-demod

5) Multimedia beacons. Demonstrated at the end of 2021, these multimedia
beacons are actually a subset of our downlink. Sending out either camera
views or pre-recorded video with test signals, the beacons are getting a
big boost from San Bernardino Microwave Society, which has made them a
priority in mountaintop deployment. Five are planned and fundraising is in
progress.

6) Polyphase channelizer implementation in FPGA. Leveraged from Theseus
Cores, it’s a big step forward to have a working open source polyphase
channelizer. Most examples right now are limited by desktop general purpose
processing performance, or are proprietary.

The design will be exploited and shared until the budget is exhausted.

### Ribbit

Acoustically coupled open source project that transmits SMS messages over
amateur bands using an Android cellular phone and a free application. Lead
by Pierre W4CKX and Ahmet Inan (xdsopl). This project will have a poster
and demonstration at DEFCON 2022.

### Versatune

A software project supporting a major revision of an open source product in
the DATV space. Demonstration expected in February 2023 at HamCation.
Contact Anshul Makkar to get involved.

### Skylark

This open source satellite project has asked ORI to be the fiscal sponsor
and we have agreed. Proposed project budget for Phase 1 is $50,000.
Currently unfunded, but that will change. Design and engineering work has
commenced and critical regulatory paperwork has been completed.

### ITAR/EAR Regulatory Work

While the ITAR part of the regulatory relief effort (see poster about this
work linked here: ) was funded by ARDC, a reimbursement request for the EAR
classification and the advisory opinion work was rejected. An application
has been made to YASME Foundation to reimburse the individuals that funded
the successful legal work.

An article describing the successful completion of this work was censored
from the final version of the October 2021 AMSAT Journal. However, it can
be found here:

https://www.openresearch.institute/2021/09/13/itar-ear-regulatory-work-background-and-summary

This is significant legal work that will have lasting positive impact well
outside of open source amateur radio satellites.

Poster here:

https://www.openresearch.institute/2022/04/02/poster-presentation-itar-ear/

Capabilities:

1) If you publish, it must be free.

2) You can do open source satellite work. If you publish as you create,
your work is free of ITAR and EAR.

Work continues to support those using the regulatory results.

Original Budget: $15,262.50

Current Negative Balance: ($14,425)

### Sounding Rocket with University of Puerto Rico

Our proposal to support UPR for their entry to RockSat has been accepted.
We will provide hardware and software for their student team to integrate
Opulent Voice as the communications link for the scientific payload. Design
and engineering is leveraged directly from P4DX, but will provide a
different integration and test experience than a terrestrial side
deployment.

Budget handled through the university. If the University is selected, and
if the project is completed as scheduled, then travel expenses will need to
be discussed.

Capabilities:

1) Students educated.

2) Sounding rocket integration for Opulent Voice.

3) Useful information concerning protocol performance obtained from the
flight.

Work is in progress, and if the project is selected by NASA, it will launch
in August 2023.

### Sponsorships, Affiliations, and Collaborations:

#### Villages at DEFCON

We are sponsoring the Retail Hacking Village at DEFCON 2022. Please visit
this Village if you get the chance.

We are part of Radio Frequency Village at DEFCON 2022, as part of an Open
Source Showcase. Please visit if you get the chance. An in-person ORI board
meeting will occur at DEFCON 2022, so if you have items for the agenda,
please send them to a board member.

#### Libre Space Foundation

We support the work and mission of Libre Space Foundation. We are a
signatory to the Libre Space Manifesto and actively support technical and
regulatory work of value to Libre Space Foundation.

#### IEEE

IEEE remains a productive and affirming partner, with multiple
opportunities throughout the year for our work to be represented to the
largest engineering organization in the world. IEEE LEO Sats has reviewed
our work and provided appreciated advice and support. We thank the
Communications Society, the Information Theory Society, and the Signals and
System Society in particular for being gracious, accommodating, and
welcoming to our speakers.

#### United States Federal Communications Commission TAC

Membership in the Federal Communications Commission Technological Advisory
Committee. Our working group is AI/ML and we co-chair the AI/ML “Safe Uses”
Sub-working group. Membership concludes with the production of written work
products late in 2022. Working group meets on Wednesday and the sub-working
group meets on Thursday. We represent open source, open process, and open
access to science to the FCC. These are deeply important topics to AI/ML
regulation and the future of all radio services, as AI/ML becomes an
increasingly important part of the radio and networking landscape.

Do you believe that ORI work is important and should continue?

Then help us spread the word.
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