Design and implementation of Nano Satellite data receiver using SDR

Satellites weighing less than 10kilograms are named as nano satellites [1]. In the last decade nano satellites has become the main focus in the area of space research activities. For communication most of the nano satellites transmits telemetry or payload signal in UHF band frequencies. Now a days nano satellites are launched by government space agencies, private space sector companies and educational institution for carrying out special activities or research.On the other hand, software define radio is another advancement in the field of telecommunication, wherein a wide range of signal frequency can be tuned, recorded and processed to get the data from the satellites all using software. In this paper design and complete implementation of Nano satellite data receiver using software defined radio is presented and data processing techniques are discussed in details. The paper also discusses the importance of choosing sampling rates while recording RF signal and further the baseband processing.