Combined beacon and noise satellite propagation measurements using software defined radio

Considering the imminent migration of services to the Ka- and Q-bands, a payload dedicated to propagation measurements in these bands has become available from the Alphasat satellite under the coordination of the European Space Agency. This has strongly motivated the formation of many measurement campaigns across Europe in an effort to enhance the scientific databases with new, more reliable propagation data. In the framework of our campaign at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in Greece two identical beacon receivers targeting the Alphasat's Ka-band beacon were designed and deployed; these receivers make use of the relatively new Software Defined Radio (SDR) paradigm. Apart from the beacon measurements themselves, additional noise measurements are performed to supplement the campaign. The present paper constitutes an attempt to outline the characteristics and associated advantages of this methodology over the conventional techniques.