Development of Automatic VSAT Antenna

Pointing System based on AVR Microcontroller

Muhammad Ammar Wibisono, Iskandar, Achmad Munir

Radio Telecommunication and Microwave Laboratory
School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Institut Teknologi Bandung
Bandung, Indonesia
ammarwibisono@students.itb.ac.id, iskandar@stei.itb.ac.id, munir@ieee.org

AbstractIn this paper, the development of automatic VSAT time and energy without automated process. Furthermore, the
antenna pointing system based on AVR microcontroller is process of obtaining maximum received signal strength from
presented. The system consists of ATMega128 microcontroller as the satellite can be more challenging. Therefore, an automatic
the main controller unit (MCU). User interface is implemented VSAT antenna pointing system is needed to ensure that the
using android smartphone via bluetooth connection with HC-05 antenna points directly towards the satellite to obtain maximum
bluetooth module for communicating the MCU with the android
signal strength in shorter amount of time.
smartphone. Stepper motors are used as actuators for controlling
antenna position in the azimuth, elevation and polarization angle. In this paper, a development of automatic VSAT antenna
Meanwhile, a CMPS11 module are used for measuring the pointing system which consists of hardware, software and
azimuth, elevation and polarization position. A PAM-7Q GPS mechanical system design is described. The hardware system is
module is applied for measuring the latitude and longitude
implemented using ATMega128 microcontroller as the MCU.
position of the antenna. The signal strength from the antenna
is detected and measured using an RF detector. Stepper motors are applied as actuators [5], compass module is
used for measuring the azimuth angle of the antenna [6], and
KeywordsAntenna pointing system; AVR microcontroller; accelerometer is used for measuring elevation and polarization
satellite; VSAT antenna. angle of the antenna [7]. A module of GPS is used for
obtaining the latitude and longitude position of the antenna
I. I NTRODUCTION [8], and an RF detector is used for detecting and measuring
the signal strength from the antenna [9]. The software system
The telecommunications market has continuously
is realized on android smartphone which is connected to the
increasing demands for high bandwidth and data rate
microcontroller using bluetooth connection. The mechanical
mobile communications. Recent advances in mobile
system implements elevation over azimuth configuration [5]
telecommunication technology still could not satisfy the
with gearbox to increase the torque from the stepper motor
need of broadband services with high bandwidth and data
and reduce the speed of the antenna rotator.
rate, especially in remote areas which are not covered by
fixed and cellular network. The only existing solution for
this case is implemented using satellite broadband technology II. OVERVIEW OF S YTEM D ESCRIPTION
which can cover large and remote areas including rural The overall system of VSAT antenna pointing system
areas, forest, mountain and sea [1]. Existing commercial consists of AVR ATMega128 microcontroller as the MCU. The
mobile satellite communication service such as Inmarsat and VSAT antenna usually takes a parabolic type to obtain high
Iridium which operate at L-band are widely used but are
limited in data rate and also relatively expensive for large
data transmission. Another solution for lower cost broadband
mobile communication can be implemented using very small
aperture terminal (VSAT) technology [2].
VSAT provides higher data rate and wider bandwidth
because it operates at Ku and Ka-band which has higher
frequency than L-band. In addition, VSAT signal has shorter
wavelength, which means the antenna and RF device have
smaller size. Therefore, the manufacturing cost also becomes
lower [3]. VSAT implements geostationary satellites designed
specifically for high bandwidth and data rate communications
and high-gain directional antenna at the earth station with
small aperture (less than 2.4m of diameter) which needs to
be pointed accurately to the satellite [4]. Majority of VSAT
satellites has linear polarization, which requires the earth
station antenna to be aligned to the satellite polarization
angle [2]. These process of pointing and aligning the earth
station antenna to the satellite takes considerable amount of Fig. 1. Block diagram of automatic VSAT antenna pointing system.
gain signal reception. The user interface is implemented by
using android smartphone connected wirelessly to the system
using HC-05 bluetooth module. Stepper motors are used as
actuator for the azimuth, elevation and polarization angle
of the VSAT antenna with a driver for each stepper motor.
CMPS11 tilt-compensated compass module is implemented
for measuring the azimuth, elevation and polarization angle
of the antenna. PAM-7Q GPS module is used for obtaining
the latitude and longitude position of the antenna which are
required for determining the pointing angle (azimuth and
elevation) of VSAT antenna to the satellite. The signal strength
is measured by using RF detector by tapping RF signal from
the modem. The block diagram of VSAT antenna pointing
system is shown in Fig. 1.
When the user initiates the system through specific
application software on android smartphone, the latitude and
longitude position of the antenna from the GPS module and
the initial azimuth and elevation position from the compass
and accelerometer module are read by the microcontroller. The
latitude and longitude position of the antenna then used to
calculate azimuth () and elevation () pointing angle for the Fig. 2. Schematic of AVR ATMega128 microcontroller.
selected satellite using (1) and (2), respectively [4].

[ ] B. Stepper Motor and Driver

1 tan()
= tan (1)
sin()
] motor has small step angle (usually 1.8o or less without
[ cos() cos()
+
= tan1 (2)
1 [cos() cos()]2
where is the absolute value of the difference between the
longitude of VSAT antenna and the geostationary satellite, and
is the latitude of VSAT antenna. Whereas is the radius
of earth, i.e. 6,378km, and is the altitude of geostationary
satellite, i.e. 35,786km.
After the pointing angle, i.e. azimuth, elevation, and
polarization angles, are obtained, the AVR microcontroller
moves the stepper motors at corresponding direction, so that
the antenna eventually pointed to the selected satellite. After
conducting the pointing process, the user can also moves
the antenna manually or automatically to find the maximum
received RF signal from the satellite. In this case, an algorithm
for obtaining direction of VSAT antenna with maximum RF
signal strength is required [8].
Stepper motors are implemented as actuators for azimuth,
elevation, and polarization angle as they have high precision
compared to DC motors and servo motors. A stepper
additional gearbox) which allows more accurate pointing
process. However, sice the stepper motor draw higher current
than the DC motor, hence a high current driver is required.
The microcontroller drives the stepper motor via dual
H-Bridge driver. The stepper motor driver has 4 input pins
(IN1-IN4) which are connected to the I/O pins of the
microcontroller. Each input provided with an optocoupler (e.g.
4N25) for isolating the microcontroller TTL voltage level from
the high voltage and current from the stepper motor. A pair of
-channel and -channel power MOSFET (e.g. IRF540 and
IRF9540) act as current switching for controlling stepper motor
movement and direction, and each MOSFET is connected
to a reverse-biased diode for surpressing back electromotive
force generated from stepper motor coil [5]. The schematic of
stepper motor and its driver are shown in Fig. 3.

III. H ARDWARE S YSTEM D ESIGN

A. Microcontroller Module
The AVR ATMega128 microcontroller provides some
useful features, e.g. basic I/O ports and pins for interfacing
with stepper motor, GPS module, and CMPS11 module. The
USART serial communication pins are also available for
interfacing with HC-05 bluetooth module, whilst the ADC of
microcontroller can be applied for measuring signal strength
from the antenna through an RF detector. The schematic of
ATMega128 microcontroller which is shown in Fig. 2 uses
11.0592MHz as the clock source. Fig. 3. Schematics of stepper motors and drivers.
Fig. 4. Module of CMPS11 tilt-compensated compass.

Fig. 5. Module of PAM-7Q global positioning system (GPS).

C. CMPS11 Tilt-Compensated Compass Module
A CMPS11 is a tilt-compensated compass module featured
with 3-axes of magnetometer, accelerometer and gyroscope.
The module can be connected to the microcontroller via
USART or I2C interface. Figure 4 shows the picture of
CMPS11 module [7]. The CMPS11 tilt-compensated compass
module provides 16-bit compass bearing value from 0 to 3599
which represents 0359.9o [6]. It also provides 16-bit raw
output value of magnetometer, accelerometer and gyroscope
in , and axes.
The value of compass bearing from the module directly
represents the azimuth angle of VSAT antenna, whilst the
elevation and polarization angles need to be calculated from
the value of , and components of accelerometer readings.
The value of elevation angle () and polarization angle () can
be calculated using (3) and (4), respectively, where , , and
represent acceleration values due to the earth gravity in ,
and axes of accelerometer, respectively [7].
[ ]

= tan1 (3)
Fig. 6. Module of HC-05 bluetooth.

[ ]

= tan 1
(4)
+ 2
2

D. Module of PAM-7Q Global Positioning System (GPS)

A PAM-7Q GPS module is applied for measuring the
latitude and longitude positions of VSAT antenna. It has
accuracy of 2m and position update rate up to 10Hz. The
module can be connected to the microcontroller via USART or
I2C interface. The picture of PAM-7Q GPS module is shown Fig. 7. Module of RF detector.
in Fig. 5 [8].

E. Module of HC-05 Bluetooth F. Module of RF Detector

An HC-05 bluetooth module is used for communicating the
microcontroller with android smartphone as a user interface.
The module is connected to the microcontroller via USART
connection with baud rate from 9.6kbps to 460.8kbps. Figure
6 shows the picture of HC-05 bluetooth module [8].
An RF detector acts as a signal strength sensor which
converts an RF signal from VSAT antenna into a DC voltage.
The simplified schematic of RF detector consists of a matching
resistor, a rectifying diode, and a capacitor [8]. The schematic
of RF detector module is shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 8. Mechanical design of automatic VSAT antenna pointing system.
IV. M ECHANICAL S YSTEM D ESIGN
The mechanical system of the automatic VSAT antenna
pointing system consists of a parabolic reflector and an arm
for supporting the antenna which are placed on a rotator
with elevation over azimuth configuration [8]. The rotator
uses gearbox to increase torque from the motor and reduce
the antenna rotating speed. The antenna can also be rotated
around pointing direction axis of the antenna, which represents
the polarization angle. Materials for realizing the mechanical
system are mainly made from light and non-magnetic metal
such as aluminum.
Overall mechanical system weight is about 22kg or 220N.
The arm length is about 1m which means the maximum load
torque of mechanical system will be 220Nm. By using a
gearbox with 1:20 gear ratio, a stepper motor with torque
of 11Nm is implemented. However by considering the wind
resistance, a larger gear ratio, e.g. 1:30 or 1:40, is required.
Figure 8 illustrates the simplified mechanical system design
for automatic VSAT antenna pointing system.
V. S OFTWARE S YSTEM D ESIGN
The software system for controlling automatic VSAT
antenna pointing system is designed on an android smartphone
which is connected to the microcontroller using bluetooth. The
algorithm of software system can be described as follows:
1) The user selects a desired VSAT satellite from the
android smartphone and initiates the system.
2) The MCU reads the initial azimuth, elevation and
polarization angles of VSAT antenna from the
CMPS11 module and also reads the latitude and
longitude positions of VSAT antenna from the
PAM-7Q GPS module.
3) The MCU sends the latitude and longitude positions
of VSAT antenna to the android smartphone.
4) The software on the android smartphone calculates
the azimuth and elevation pointing angles to the
satellite and sends the data to the MCU.
5) The MCU moves the azimuth and elevation stepper
motors to the designated pointing angle.
6) After the antenna is pointed to the satellite, the MCU
moves the polarization stepper motor to align VSAT
antenna with the polarization angle of satellite.
7) When the maximum RF signal strength is achieved,
the polarization angle of VSAT antenna has been
aligned to the satellite.
8) The user can choose to perform automatic scanning
to obtain the maximum signal reception around
the current azimuth and elevation angle of VSAT
antenna, or choose to do it manually.
9) If the user choose to perform the scanning
automatically, the MCU moves VSAT antenna within
1o range from the current azimuth and elevation angle
to find the maximum RF signal reception.
VI. C ONCLUSION
The development of automatic VSAT antenna pointing
system based on AVR microcontroller has been presented. The
overall system consisted of AVR ATMega128 microcontroller
as the MCU, stepper motors as the actuators for azimuth,
elevation and polarization positions of VSAT antenna, a
CMPS11 tilt-compensated compass module for measuring
the azimuth, elevation, and polarization angles of VSAT
antenna, a PAM-7Q GPS module for measuring latitude and
longitude position of VSAT antenna, an RF detector for
measuring signal strength from VSAT antenna, and a HC-05
bluetooth module for communicating with software controller.
The software system for controlling automatic VSAT antenna
pointing system has been designed on android smartphone. The
mechanical system has implemented elevation over azimuth
configuration. In addition, the realization of hardware system
is in progress, where the results will be reported later.
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