(Manned Amateur Radio Experiment, North American Division)

 Web version March 5, 2001

Summary:

The MAREX-MG SPACECAM-1 System is an entry-level PC based Slow Scan Television system designed to be used on board the International Space Station. The SPACECAM-1 system chosen will support multiple common SSTV transmission modes. And has been specifically designed to be accessible to as many stations as possible around the world. The original proof-of-concept system was built by the MAREX-MG team and successfully flown on the Russian Space Station Mir (December 1998 till present). The proof-of-concept system has proven the ability of the hardware design and it has taught us how to make additional improvements for the next generation SSTV system for ISS.

The MAREX-MG team has been very dedicated to free and easy access to Amateur Radio Satellite access for over 9 years. The MAREX-MG projects have help keep people worldwide interested in supporting Amateur Radio Satellite projects. The MAREX-MG projects have helped keep the world interested in Amateur Radio space exploration.

The MIREX/MAREX-MG team had over 9 years of experience in continuous support of Manned Amateur Radio Space Flight projects. This experience has prove over and over again in our ability to anticipate potential problems and to make corrections to avoid problems.

With assistance and support from ARISS and the amateur radio community and sponsors it should be possible for MAREX-MG to deliver flight quality software and hardware to Russia for safety testing in Q2 2001.

 Educational Objective:

This project will satisfy some of the project requirements requested by Energia's Chief of Cosmonaut Amateur Radio Department Sergej Samburov in their fax proposals in June 1998. The original project request from Energia had a specific request for a Slow Scan TV project.

 Simplicity:

The MAREX-MG SPACECAM-1 uses a very common mode of image transmission format, which is commonly used on HF and VHF frequencies. SSTV has already been used through several Amateur Radio satellites, including the Space Shuttle and the Russian Space Station Mir. The FM transmission mode has proven to be easy to use and helps reduce interference and will allow easier Doppler frequency tracking.

External Antenna Connections:

The MAREX-MG ISS SPACECAM-1 system will need to be connected to one of the Amateur Radio external antenna ports on ISS. The preferred operational amateur radio band would be the 2-meter band. The MAREX-MG ISS SPACECAM-1 system will be capable of operating on either the 2-meter or 70 centimeter bands. The frequency flexibility of the system is a desirable feature. The feature will allow the ISS HAM Technical team great flexibility in choosing frequencies. The actual frequency and band can be changed while in flight.

Internal connections:

The MAREX-MG SPACECAM-1 system will need to be connected to 12-14 VDC power source. At the present time, the MAREX-MG team has been informed by Energia/MAREX-RU, that the 28 VDC power converters will be provide by a commercial power supply company.

 Development Schedule:

The ISS SPACECAM-1 project development is well under way. Existing PC-SSTV software is being modified specifically for the SPACECAM-1 Project. The software chosen has been on the public market for over a year and has proven to be very stable. Specific modifications are being made to make the SPACECAM-1 system easier to use. Sponsors for the ISS SPACECAM-1 project have been contacted and was are negotiation additional hardware for the ISS SPACECAM-1 project. The first beta release of the SPACECAM-1 software has already been delivered to ARISS, SAREX and MAREX-RU.

NOTE--This specification describes a simple system that can easily be used as a DUAL PURPOSE System for SENDING as well as RECEIVING Pictures To and From Mission Control, for example. The Transceiver can also serve as a backup VOICE Channel.

SSTV Unit: MAREX-MG Space-Cam-1 Software

SSTV Controller: Software will run on most standard lap-top PC's

Transceiver TBD

Packet Controller: Future Upgrade

Camera: RS-170 Style Camera

RF Cavity Filters (optional): DCI will custom make the filters for the SPACECAM-1 system.

The filters will reduce the potential of RF interference.

The program is a full 32 bit Windows95 ® or WindowsNT 4 ® application is based on state of the art DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology. The DSP engine can process SSTV images at near the theoretical limits of the SSTV signal specifications.

DSP VM (Virtual Machine)

 Analog signal detection provides superior performance over ‘hard limited’ FM detectors by permitting sub-cycle frequency recovery.

 DSP VM runs at all times to provide detector spectral display, tuning meter display, and receive autostart based on VIS or sync recovery.

 Simple custom designed user interface, one panel to receive or transmit images.

 Most image operations are based on fast ‘drag and drop’ or ‘single click’ operations. All controls can be rapidly accessed using powerful tab function panels.

 Image processing functions include adjustment of brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and sharpness. Additional median and average filters quickly remove noise from received images.

 Disk storage of images is handled by a thumbnail tray which provides small preview images of files on your disk as well as instant drag and drop access to your favorite directories. Load time effects make adding borders and drop shadows a snap. An integrated slide show allows you to easily display your image collection.

Image collection access locations:

DEFAULT

LIBRARY

REPEATED

CREW

DEFAULT

This will be the default location for all AutoSave images to be stored after a boot-up.

LIBRARY

Could contain 'working' images, grabbed by the camera, from other sources, whatever desired.

REPEATED

When the SPACECAM-1 is configured for Repeater mode, any images Re-transmitted by the MAREX-MG SPACECAM-1 system will be stored in this directory.

CREW

Could contain anything the crew felt they wanted to keep separate, personal, whatever.

 System Control Tabs

MANUAL

When placed into manual mode, the SPACECAM-1 system will stay in this mode until the ISS crew manually makes a change or the SPACECAM-1 system receives a Sysop DTMF command.

BEACON

When placed into BEACON mode, the SPACECAM-1 system will stay in this mode until the number or beacons transmission has completed. After the beacons have completed, the SPACECAM-1 system will switch to Slide Show mode

REPEATER (a few variations here)

When placed into Repeater mode, the SPACECAM-1 system will stay in this mode until the ISS crew manually makes a change or the SPACECAM-1 system receives a Sysop DTMF command.

SLIDE SHOW (camera or disk)

When placed into Slid Show mode, the SPACECAM-1 system will stay in this mode until the ISS crew manually makes a change or the SpaceCam1 system receives a Sysop DTMF command. Note this will be the Boot up default.

 Video Input and Output

NTSC SSTV MODE (optional PAL)

Robot 36 compatible, Robot 72 compatible

AVT 90 compatible, 94 compatible

Scottie, S1 compatible, S2 compatible

Martin, M1 compatible, M2 compatible

1. Turn the transceiver ON, and boot the PC. The PC will automatically start up with the MAREX-MG Space Cam-1 software running.

2. Select any desired scene with the camera or send an image stored on the PC disk drive, as viewed on the Lap-top LCD Screen.

3. After suitable picture is selected, press Image Select and then transmit image.

 VIDEO OPERATING MODE-Automatic

1. Turn the transceiver ON, The PC will automatically start up with the MAREX-MG Space Cam-1 software running.

2. Select any desired scene with the camera or send an image stored on the PC disk drive, as viewed on the LCD Screen.

3. Select Start Automatic mode.

Typical Automatic mode sequence

Sequence of events that follow: Elapsed Time:

a) After completion of the above steps Transmission starts. 2 sec

b) ID begins, (R0ISS) is sent in CW tone @ 12 wpm. 6 sec

c) After ID completed, picture Transmission starts immediately in Robot 36 mode of transmission. 36 sec

NOTE—The transmission mode will be adjustable via the PC or remotely (Remote operations 2002)

d) Auto pause starts which provides an opportunity for Earth Stations to view or store picture before next picture is Transmitted. 76 sec

Total Cycle time for 1 picture. ................................. 120 sec

The above sequence repeats every 74 seconds, automatically acquiring a new picture every transmission. For example, if camera was pointed to Earth, a different image would be acquired and Transmitted each time. If camera is viewing inside of spacecraft, then unless camera is moved or the inside scene changes, the same picture keeps repeating. Above cycle continues until Manual mode button is click or the software is shutdown.

1. Turn the transceiver ON, the PC will automatically start up with the MAREX-MG Space Cam-1 software running.

2. Select any desired scene with the camera or send an image stored on the PC disk drive, as viewed on the LCD Screen.

3. Select Start Automatic mode with Repeater.

Typical Automatic mode with Repeater sequence

Sequence of events that follow:

The SpaceCam-1 System will listen to the radio channel for a 1750 HZ frequency tone. If the tone is heard, the SpaceCam-1 system will transmit the letter "K" in Morse code to tell the Earth station the SpaceCam-1 system is ready for receive a new SSTV image.

After a successful reception of an SSTV image from Earth the SpaceCam-1 system will then send the image back to Earth for everyone to see.

a) After completion of the above steps Transmission starts. 2 seconds

b) ID begins, (R0MIR/R) is sent in CW tone @ 12 wpm. 6 sec

c) After ID completed, picture Transmission starts immediately

in Robot 36 mode of transmission. 36 sec

NOTE—The transmission mode will be adjustable via the PC or remotely

d) Auto pause starts which provides an opportunity for Earth Stations to view or store the picture before next picture is Transmitted. If a new Access tone is not heard from Earth within 76 seconds, the Space-Cam-1 System will continue to Automatically send new images to Earth from the Camera or Disk drive.

The above sequence repeats every 74 seconds, automatically acquiring a new picture every transmission or repeating a new picture from Earth. For example, if camera was pointed to Earth, a different image would be acquired and Transmitted each time. If camera is viewing inside of spacecraft, then unless camera is moved or the inside scene changes, the same picture keeps repeating. Above cycle continues until Manual mode button is click or the software is shutdown.

ALTERNATE VIDEO SOURCES

Besides the Camera , which is supplied as part of the System, any other source of NTSC video may be used. For example, a video frame may be "grabbed" from a Camcorder, VCR, or Digital Camera (providing that it has an NTSC output). Video from the new source can then viewed on the LCD Screen the same as Camera image was viewed.

The PC may also be considered a video source. The crew may have the ability to select the PC as the source and have JPG/GIF images automatically transferred from the PC to the Codec.

The Codec System will interface to a Laptop style PC. The crew will have the ability to manually transfer images from a PC to the Codec and save new images from the Codec to the PC.

Auto Save Mode.

Any images received from the Codec will automatically be saved in a directory on the PC. Each image will have a unique name which will include the date and time.

Example

AutoImageJune0198UTC1405.jpg

The actual disk format can be an intermediate format, however, all images must be easily converted to JPG and GIF format.

The Automatic save mode, should have the ability to run for several days at a time with out any user intervention.

The SSTV codec must be able to operate independently of the PC system. The PC system will only added extra functionality and can not interfere with the normal SSTV Codec operations.

Gregory "Miles" Mann WF1F

Chelmsford Massachusetts

MAREX-MG Director of Engineering.

Coordinated the Design efforts of the Mir SSTV project, including funding, hardware acquisition and Mir crew training in Star City Russia. Also designed and delivered two other projects to the Russian Space Station Mir. The Kantronics KPC-9612 Modem upgrade and the DCI Filter projects.

Henry Cantrell W4HTB

Bowling Green, Kentucky

MIR SSTV Project- Designed Auto Controller

Boris Garber (not a amateur radio operator)

Bowling Green, Kentucky

Provided translation into Russian technical documentation

Don C. Miller W9NTP

Waldron, IN

Integration of all the different pieces equipment into a working module and to take part in all tests such as terrestrial, airborne and satellite relays through several amateur satellites.

Chris Scott WB9NEQ

Bowling Green, Ky.

Assisted Hank Cantrell in testing the Slow scan unit in an aeronautical environment.

In particular he flew the airplane while ground stations recorded transmission quality. Transmission simulations have determined that stations with a zero gain antenna system should be able to decode several images a day.

Farrell Winder W8ZCF

Cincinnati, Ohio

Project originator and design integrator.

John Langner, W2OSZ

Chelmsford, Mass

Testing and evaluation

Jim Barber, N7CXI

Selah, Washington

Software design, imaging hardware integration

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