APSCO ground station network design and application

During the past decades, small satellites in the LEO orbit have played an important role in the fields of space remote sensing, communication, scientific exploration, new technical demonstration and society public services. The G.S. is the key ground facility to track satellite, receive telemetry data package and send telecommand. For an established G.S., the TT&C coverage limitation and the low service efficiency are the two common problems. In order to solve the two problems and support APSCO SSS project, which is the largest basic activity of in-orbital micro/nano-satellite technology demonstration and the hand-on practice space engineering training program in APSCO, Beihang university proposed the APSCO G.S. network based on the obtained UHF/VHF band and/or S/X-band ground stations which are distributed in APSCO member states. The APSCO G.S. network is defined the standard network interface, integrated the ground station resources and improved the coverage of the telecommand, telemetry and control and shared the satellite application data for the APSCO SSS project. In this paper, it surveyed the established G.S. network in the worldwide. It presented the GS network system design, network topology and interface design. APSCO G.S. network is mainly composed of MCC and DPAC, and various MS ground station nodes. When connecting with the different ground station nodes, the G.S. specific interface is designed. In order to schedule G.S. resource allocation, management plan, receive satellite telemetry data and payload data, generate the satellite telecommand, and provide international space technology engineering practice education and training. At present, Beihang has established the UHF/VHF/S/X-band ground station and the MCC and DPAC. At the same time, we have also conducted network intercommunication tests with other sites in China and APSCO member states through network. The work results will be analysed in the paper.