Automatic tracking system for weather satellite image reception

We present a tracking ground system for low Earth-orbiting (LEO) satellite image reception composed of a. software part and a material part. The developed prediction software (LAAR-TRACK) ensures an efficient satellite orbit, determination. It is based on the simplified general perturbations model (SCP4) used by the North American Aerospace Defense Command for generating orbital elements. LAAR-TRACK gives the azimuth and the elevation needed for the antenna to signal; in real time; LEO satellites during their passage above the ground receiving station. The software is loaded on a computer directly connected, via the parallel port, to the tracking interface that we developed, which will be detailed in this paper. The proposed tracking system is composed of a simple hardware interface structure that can. be easily technically reproduced without any programming. The cost of the proposed tracking interface is lower than, that of the other proposed realizations.