2015 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN)

Real Time Tracking of TV Satellites on Moving

Vehicles Using Kalman Filter
Fatih Kocadag

Askin Demirkol

I.T. Centre
Abant zzet Baysal University
Bolu, Turkey
fatihkocadag@ibu.edu.tr

Sakarya University, Faculty of Engineering

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Sakarya, Turkey
askind@sakarya.edu.tr

the location of mobile vehicle for calculating the azimuth and

elevation angle parameters for receiving the signals from the
satellite. The orientation information of mobile vehicle is
useful for calculating the azimuth and elevation angle of the
parabolic dish antenna on mobile vehicle. It is filtered using
Kalman filter for tracking the satellite.

Abstract This paper presents a real time tracking of TV

satellites on mobile vehicles using Kalman filter. Kalman filter is
adapted to tracking the satellite for uninterrupted broadcasting
on moving vehicles. Information about the real time position of
the vehicle and satellite is gathered with the aid of onboard
sensors on an android device and then analyzed on an android
based application. A real time application has been implemented
continuously to calculate the azimuth and elevation angle of the
satellite. Accelerometer and magnetometer sensors are used for
collecting the information on the position of the antenna. GPS
sensor is used for collecting the latitude and longitude data of the
vehicle. These data are then used for calculating the azimuth and
elevation angle of a parabolic dish antenna.

Using a special Kalman filter in question for tracking the

difference between the azimuth elevation angle of the
android device and the azimuth elevation angle of the
satellite, an interrupted, also a quality TV broadcasting can be
provided by moving vehicles.
This paper describes the design, implementation and
experimental testing of real time tracking of a satellite using a
parabolic dish antenna on mobile vehicle. In Section 2, the
gathering location orientation information of the mobile
vehicle and calculation of the azimuth elevation angle
parameters for the satellite which are tracked consecutively.
Kalman filter process is analyzed in section 3. Additionally,
Section 4 focuses mainly on the implementation, testing of the
real time tracking system and test results. Finally the
evaluations and comments are shared in the Conclusion.

Keywords Real time tracking; Kalman Filter; Azimuth angle;

Elevation angle; Parabolic dish antenna.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays real time systems and applications are used

widely on mobile platforms such as bus, car and etc. Real time
applications are valuable and crucial to mobile platforms. Real
time systems are well integrated with mobile platforms and
they became integral part of mobile platforms. This paper
provides an introductory level overview for real time tracking
of TV satellites on Moving Vehicles Using Kalman Filter.

II.

TV watching is possible by tracking the satellite signals

with an antenna on mobile vehicle. While the antenna moves,
the real time tracking is evidently required for receiving signals
from a satellite. The position information of satellite and the
orientation information of mobile vehicle have to be known by
real time application for TV watching. The position and
orientation information of mobile vehicle continuously changes
due to movement of it. Therefore the position of parabolic dish
antenna has to update continuously according to the movement
of mobile vehicle for receiving the signals from the tracked
satellite.

Location and orientation information of the moving vehicle

are needed to track the satellite with a parabolic dish antenna.
The location information is gathered from the moving vehicle
on earth by a GPS sensor. The orientation information is about
the movement of the mobile vehicle, is gathered by an
electronic compass. Those data are useful for calculating the
parabolic dish antennas azimuth and elevation angle for
receiving the satellite signal.
A. Location information of the mobile vehicle
Firstly, longitude and latitude data have to gather from the
GPS sensor continuously. They changes slowly by the velocity
of the mobile vehicle and route. Therefore azimuth and
elevation angle of satellite varies slowly according to the
motion of the mobile vehicle at the movement territory where
the distance between earth and the satellite trajectory are too
far from each other.

The location and orientation data of mobile vehicle can be

gathered from commonly used GPS, accelerometer and
magnetometer sensors [1]. The location information of the
mobile vehicle is continuously gathered from GPS sensor of
mobile vehicle. GPS sensor gives the longitude and latitude
data of the mobile vehicle on the earth. This data is useful at

978-1-4799-5991-4/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

GATHERING LOCATION AND ORIENTATION INFORMATION

OF THE MOBILE VEHICLE

2015 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN)

B. Orientation information of the mobile vehicle

Orientation information of the mobile vehicle can be taken
continuously by an electronic compass. Electronic compass is
to be well filtered and convenient for the motion of vehicle. In
implementation, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors are
used for collecting the orientation information of mobile
vehicle [2]. Low pass filter, moving average filter and Kalman
filter are essential in bringing about a stable reading of sensor
data [3]. Electronic compass is affected by many noise
parameters such as vibration of the vehicle and
electromagnetic interference etc.

B=cos-1 (Cos (Antenna Latitude).cos N)

(2)

P=R/D,

(3)

I = Elevation Angle
I

= tan-1((cos(B)-P)/Sin(B))

(4)

Figure 3: Elevation angle of a parabolic dish antenna

C. Calculation of the azimuth and elevation angle of current

location
Azimuth and elevation angle are calculated by the latitude
and longitude data of the current location of the moving
vehicle. Elevation angle of a parabolic dish antenna is
continuously calculated by the (4) as real time [4].
Figure 1: Azimuth and elevation angle [5]:

Azimuth angle for the antenna:

T =Azimuth Angle,
N=Satellite Longitude Antenna Longitude,

(1)

(5)

= tan-1(tan(N)/sin(Antenna Latitude))

Azimuth angle is continuously calculated by the formula

(5) as real time for current position of the moving vehicle.

Figure 2: Azimuth and elevation angle of a parabolic dish

antenna [6]:

Figure 4 Azimuth angle of a parabolic dish antenna:

Elevation angle of the parabolic dish antenna:

R=Radius of Earth,
D=Distance between satellite and Earth center,
N=Satellite Longitude Antenna Longitude,

(1)

2015 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN)

III.

In discrete time applications, Kalman filter equations fall

into two groups. These are time and measurement updating
equations. The time updating equations are used for calculating
a priori estimation for the next time step by using the current
state and error covariance estimations.

KALMAN FILTER

Kalman filter is one of the most well-known linear filtering

problem. It is also well known technique for stochastic
estimation from noisy sensor measurements [7]. It is called by
its inventor name as Rudolph E. Kalman [8].
We begin by assuming the random process to be estimated,
can be modeled in the discrete form:

Fk

A F k 1  Bu k  wk 1

Figure 5: Kalman filter algorithm cycle

(6)
Time Update (Predict)

The observation (measurement) of the process is assumed

to occur at discrete points in time in accordance with the linear
relationship [9].

H k F k  vk

zk

(7)

Measurement Update (Correct)

Notation and various terms of equations:

xk = (nx1) process state vector at time tk.
A = (nxn) matrix relating state at the step xk-1 to step xk in
the absence of a driving function or process noise.
B = (nx1) matrix B relates the optional control input u at the
state x.
wk-1 = (nx1) vector assumed to be a white (uncorrelated)
sequence with known covariance structure.
zk = (mx1) vector measurement at time tk.
Hk = (mxn) matrix giving the ideal (noiseless) connection
between the measurement and state vector at time tk.
vk = (mx1) measurement error - assumed to be a white
sequence with known covariance structure and
uncorrelated with the wk sequence.

Time Update equations:

1. Project the state ahead

2.

1.

2.

Compute the Kalman gain

= a posteriori state estimate at step k given

xk  K k ( zk  H

Pk

( I  K k H ) Pk

3.

Pk H T ( HPk H T  R)1

Update estimate with measurement zk

the process prior to step k.

k

APk 1 AT  Q

Kk

= a priori state estimate at step k given knowledge of

Pk

Project the error covariance ahead

Measurement update equations:

Q = Process noise covariance

R = Measurement noise covariance

 Buk 1

k 1

The measurement update equations are used for an

improved a posteriori estimate. The time update equations can
also be thought of as predictor equations, while the
measurement update equations can be thought of as corrector
equations. Indeed the final estimation algorithm resembles that
of a predictor-corrector algorithm for solving numerical
problems [10].

E[wk, wit]={Qk i=k , 0 ik}

E[vk, vit]={Rk i=k , 0 ik}
E[wk, vit]= 0, for all k and i

Ax

The covariance matrices for wk and vk vectors are given by

x)
k

Update the error covariance

measurement zk.

Priori estimate error is,

Posteriori estimate error is,

ek

xk 

Probabilistic origin of the filter is,

x x

ek

Posteriori estimate error covariance is,

( zk  H

In discrete time applications, Kalman Filter is cycles

between time update step and measurement update step and
recursively predicts the current estimate on all of the past
measurements.

A priori estimate error covariance is ,

Pk

E[ek ekT ] ,

Pk

E[ek ekT ] .

x x  K (z
k

H

IV.

IMPLEMANTATION OF THE TEST SYSTEM

The developed real time application is tested on a bus from

Bolu to Yalova cities in West part of Turkey. An application is
developed for reading the azimuth elevation data of the
android device (as a moving vehicle) and GPS data of an
android device. Android device is used to represent the
moving vehicle. The position information of the android

x)
k

x ) , is called measurement innovation.

k

2015 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN)

device is gathered continuously by the motion of the vehicle.

GPS data is also gathered from the android device in real time
and stored in a file on the device. All the gathered data are used
in the calculation of the azimuth and elevation angle of a
parabolic dish antenna for receiving the signal from the
satellite. The difference between the azimuth elevation angle
of the android device and the azimuth elevation angle of the
satellite are filtered by a real time Kalman filter for tracking.
Open source library is used for the calculation of the Kalman
Filter [11].

Figure 6: Application on Android

Flow Chart of the System is:

1. Continuously read the azimuth and elevation angle of
the android device and filter the data gathered with a low pass
filter in real time.
2. Continuously read the GPS position of android device
in real time.(for latitude and longitude data of current location)
3. Calculation of the azimuth and elevation angle of the
satellite according to the GPS data.
4. Calculation of the differences between the azimuth
angle of the android device and azimuth angle of the satellite.
5. Calculation of the differences between elevation angle
of the android device and elevation angle of the satellite.
6. The calculated values are then filtered by a Kalman
filter for estimating the variation in the azimuth and elevation
angle of the satellite with respect to the moving vehicle
(android device) in real time.
7. All the measured and calculated values are stored in a
text file on the device.
Table 1 : Azimuth Angle samples of the test
A
Number
of
sample

Time

Azimuth
angle
of
current
position

Azimuth
Angle
of
moving
vehicle

Kalman F.
azimuth angle
of
difference
between
C-D

1661

20141031_100647

164.3

280.6

116.1

4936

20141031_104507

163.7

331.2

167.5

5914

20141031_105521

163.4

294.5

131.2

Figure 7: Real time tracking of the satellite azimuth angle test

results

Table 2 : Elevation angle samples of the test

A

Time

Elevation
angle
of
current
position

Elevation
angle
of
moving
vehicle

1661

20141031_100647

41.8

0.9

40.9

4936

20141031_104507

41.6

2.7

38.8

5914

20141031_105521

41.5

-0.9

42.5

Number
of
sample

E
Kalman F.
elevation angle
of
difference
between
C-D

2015 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN)

[6]

How to Align a Satellite Dish Antenna , Philippine Cable Tv

Association , http://www.pcta.org.ph/?q=node/122, 09.01.2015
[7] G. Welch, G. Bishop, SIGGRAPH 2001 Course 8 An Introduction to
the Kalman Filter,pp.19-20,2001, http://www.cs.unc.edu/~{welch, gb}
[8] Kalman, R. E. 1960. A New Approach to Linear Filtering and
Prediction Problems, Transaction of the ASMEJournal of Basic
Engineering,pp. 35-45 (March 1960).
[9] Brown, R. G. and P. Y. C. Hwang. 1992. Introduction to Random
Signals and Applied Kalman Filtering, Second Edition, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
[10] G. Welch, G. Bishop, An Introduction to the Kalman Filter,pp. 5-7
2006, http://www.cs.unc.edu/~welch/kalman
[11] .Open source java kalman library , http://jkalman.sourceforge.net/,
10.11.2014

Figure 8: Real time tracking of the satellite azimuth angle test

results

V.

CONCLUSIONS

In rapid advancements in the technology, real time

applications became very important issues. Because Kalman
filter is one of the most feasible way in real time tracking, in
this work, it is used for estimating the parabolic dish antennas
azimuth and elevation parameters in real time. The satellite is
tracked as expected with a parabolic dish antenna by support
of Kalman filter which provides the gathered data from the
android device sensors.
In the end, using the real time Kalman filter for tracking
between the difference between the azimuth elevation angle
of the android device and the azimuth elevation angle of the
satellite, it can be reached an interrupted and quality TV
broadcasting on moving vehicles. This benefit is provided and
felt along the travelling on moving vehicles on Bolu Yalova
highway.
Future studies can focus on quality of the signal level from
the satellite broadcast and clear readings by sensor devices on
the moving vehicles.
VI.
[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

REFERENCES

Javier Almazan, Luis M. Bergasa, J. Javier Yebes, Rafael Barea and

Roberto Arroyo, Full auto-calibration of a smartphone on board a
vehicle using IMU and GPS embedded sensors, pp.1-3,
http://www.robesafe.com/personal/javier.yebes/docs/Almazan13iv.pdf,
09.01.2015
T. Ozyagcilar, Implementing a Tilt-Compensated eCompass using
Accelerometer and Magnetometer Sensors, Freescale Semiconductor,
AN 4248, Rev. 3, (2012) Jan.
S Ayub, A Bahraminisaab and B Honary,A Sensor Fusion Method for
Smart phone Orientation Estimation, Proceedings of the 13th Annual
Post Graduate Symposium on the Convergence of Telecommunications,
Networking and Broadcasting, Liverpool. 2012
H. GZDE, Design Of A Two Dimensional Microprocessor Based
Parabolic Antenna Controller, Gazi University Institute Of Science And
Technology M.Sc. Thesis, pp.8-11, August 2003.
How to Align a Satellite Dish Antenna , Philippine Cable Tv
Association , http://www.pcta.org.ph/?q=node/122, 09.01.2015