In addition to being a relatively affordable Linux computer, the Raspberry Pi also offers a set of general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins that allow you to explore the Internet of Things and control electronic components for physical computing (IoT). The most popular and well-known open source operating system is Linux. As an operating system, Linux is software that runs in the background of all other applications on a computer, receiving requests from them and transmitting them to the hardware. We have mentioned below the steps to receive weather satellites on Raspberry Pi or Linux.
Steps to Receive Weather Satellites on Raspberry Pi or Linux
Prepare the Raspberry Pi
Step 1: The first step is to get the Raspberry Pi up and running. There are many tutorials in getting Raspbian set up and booting on the Raspberry Pi. You shouldn’t have a hard time finding one: Step 2: Launch the Raspberry Pi after copying the Raspbian image to your micro SD card. Must be connected to the network and SSH must be enabled. You can, of course, connect wirelessly or over a traditional Ethernet connection. We are using wireless because our attic doesn’t have a wired connection. Step 3: use the Raspberry Pi Configuration Tool in the Preferences menu to enable SSH. While you’re there, you might want to configure it to boot from the CLI. There is no need to use resources in a GUI as that would be a headless setup. Step 4: Next, we want to ensure that the Raspberry Pi is fully up-Up to the present date. Issue the following commands:
Install the necessary software
Step 1: The first thing we need is the USB drivers for the RTL dongle: Step 2: How do we need to build the latest version of rtl-sdr to actually use the RTL dongle we will need to install to do: Step 3: We need to make sure the Raspberry Pi doesn’t load any SDR core modules that will interfere the rtl-sdr software. Step 4: Using your favorite text editor, create a new file called /etc/modprobe.d/no-rtl.conf and put the following text in the file. You need to run this text editor as sudo (i.e. ‘sudo vi’ or ‘sudo nano’ etc) to write to the modprobe.d directory: Step 5: we will need the sox audio tool kit to handle the incoming audio stream: cd ~git clone rtl-sdr/mkdir buildcd buildcmake ../ -DINSTALL_UDEV_RULES=ONmakesudo make installsudo ldconfigcd ~sudo cp ./rtl-sdr/rtl-sdr.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/sudo reboot Step 6: We need a way to timeline that captures happen as the satellites pass over. install the em scheduler: Step 7: We need a way to know when the satellites will pass overhead. We will use an application called predict: Step 8: Finally, we will need wxtoimg to convert the captured audio stream into a real image:
testing things
Step 1: Since all software is installedmake sure your USB dongle is connected and run the following command: Step 2: if you get any error messages, you will need to resolve them before proceeding. if your RTL dongle is not working at the moment, there is no point in continuing. Step 3: To determine the position of your ground station, run the forecast once. You’ll need your latitude and longitude to get this. By entering your address into Google Maps, right-clicking the pointer and choosing “What’s Here”, you can get your latitude and longitude. One thing to keep in mind is that Google shows good statistics for east and north. predict uses WEST but not the North as a good. If you don’t make the necessary adjustments, your predictions will not be accurate. Step 4: Run the prediction from the command line and select the ‘G’ option. Enter your ground station information and exit the program.: Step 5: You need run wxtoimg once to accept the terms and conditions. Step 6: To correctly build an overlay map, wxtoimg needs to know where your base station is. To achieve this, create a file called /.wxtoimgrc in your home directory. In this file, North is positive, as it is in the forecast, but East is positive instead of North, as predicted. Make sure you change your values accordingly. Step 7: Using your favorite text editor, create a new file called ~/.wxtoimgrc and place the following text in the file, replacing its values:
the scripts
It’s time to really make your Raspberry Pi get some weather maps now that you have a working RTL dongle installed on it. Make sure your antenna is correctly positioned and connected. Mine is mounted in my attic and works reasonably well from there. It would be even better if you could ride it out. Raise it as high as you can. To automate things, we’ll need to write some scripts. This is where your Linux experience will come in handy. Step 1: first let’s go I create some directories to store our files: Step 2: Next, we’ll do the two scripts that start scheduling. The first is ‘schedule_all.sh‘. This script will be called every night at midnight. It downloads the satellite pass information from celestrak and creates a TLE file for intended use. It then removes all AT jobs from the system so that no pass is scheduled twice. Finally, it calls the second script ‘schedule_satellite.sh‘ for each satellite we are interested in. Step 3: The second script, ‘schedule_satellite.sh‘, is repeated on each pass of the given satellite for the current day. Determines if the maximum elevation is 20 degrees or more. If it is, it calculates the duration of the pass and schedules the recording and processing of the pass. If the maximum elevation is less than 20 degrees, the pass will be ignored as it will generally not produce a decent image. Step 4: When the time comes for a passing pass to be recorded and processed, at the kick-off the final road map ‘receive_and_process_satellite.sh‘. When this script is called, it uses rtl_fm to receive the audio from the satellite pass and sends that audio to sox for processing. Sox saves the audio to a file. Once the pass is complete, wxmap is called to generate an overlay map for the image. Finally, wxtoimg is called to generate the real image and place the overlay map on it. Step 5: Once everyone three scripts has been createdwe need to make the executable by issuing the following commands: Step 6: Now, the last step to automate the reception is timeline the first script to run just after midnight. Run the following command: Step 7: It will be open a text editor of your choice to edit the cron File. Just add the following line at the bottom of this file and save: Step 8: Now, at 00:01 the time will start. (if you don’t want to wait, just run the following command once to start the process:)
check things out
Step 1: To see next satellite passes that are scheduled to be processed, run the following command: Step 2: Check the ~/weather directory for your results. Each pass will generate three files:
Final Words
We hope you like our article on how to Receive Weather Satellites on a Raspberry Pi or Linux. The breadth and depth of assistance offered to Raspberry Pi users is among the most incredible. features. The Foundation’s website has discussion forums, projects, blogs, how-to articles, instructional videos, and troubleshooting manuals. The site provides the information in an understandable style, making it a great resource for parents, instructors, and self-motivated students. The service to educators is broad and goes beyond the site’s tools. The Foundation has ensured that educators have the necessary resources to guide students through the interesting exploration of computer technology.
