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Satellite Selfie

Download an image from a weather satellite as it passes overhead! Design an antenna to improve image quality and compete for a cash prize.
About
Rules / Scoring
Guide

About the Competition

The Satellite Selfie is a competition to download an image from a weather satellite as it passes overhead. Participants will build an antenna and use a low-cost software-defined radio to listen to the satellite radio broadcasts. Then software will be used to decode the signal and generate an image. Participants will win by downloading the clearest image.

This competition takes place during the spring and summer semester. It has been configured to accommodate those who are away from campus or out-of-state.

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Skills Learned

Welcome to the world of radio! This project will teach you the basics of radio and antennas. After completing this project, you'll be equipped with the skills to build simple antennas, use software-defined radio to tune into various radio transmissions, and decode audio and data streams. You'll gain experience exploring the VHF/UHF radio spectrum and you'll be well on your way to learning about radio transmission and reception.

noaa-apt-full
Image taken by the NOAA 18 satellite with a map overlay. This is an example of an image received during the Satellite Selfie competition.

Eligibility

Participants must be undergraduate students enrolled at BYU.

Scoring

Scores will be assigned based on quality of the image. Quality is primarily judged by the number of consecutive un-corrupted image lines, but may also include factors such as image clarity and visible features.

Supplies Needed

For this competition, you will need the following:

  • A software-defined radio (SDR)
  • A VHF-band antenna
  • Coaxial cable with an SMA connector
  • A laptop computer with a USB-A port

There are a wide variety of software-defined radios (SDRs) on the market, and almost any of them will work for this project. However, many of them are prohibitively expensive. The SDR we recommend is the RTL-SDR Blog V4, which can be purchased from the RTL-SDR store. We recommend getting the SDR kit with the included dipole antenna. This kit includes all the hardware needed to complete the competition at a basic level.

Getting Started

For this competition you will use a software-defined radio (SDR) to download images directly from NOAA weather satellites. The images you will receive are the APT transmissions from the NOAA 15/18/19 satellites.

There are plenty of guides on the internet for how to receive these signals and convert them into images, so detailed instructions are not given here. You should locate one (or more) of these guides to follow. Although different guides may use various hardware configurations and software packages, the process will be something like the following:

  1. Set up the SDR and antenna
  2. Use satellite-tracking software to determine when the NOAA satellites will pass overhead
  3. Use SDR software to tune into the APT signal and record the data
  4. Use software to convert the APT data stream into an image

After successfully downloading an image, participants may want to research and experiment to improve their results. This could include using a better antenna, reducing interference, or other options to improve the signal quality.

At the conclusion of the competition, participants will present their images along with the hardware and software they used to capture them.