Automated downlink satellite dish alignment system using mobile application (SatFinder)

Abstract

Nowadays, satellite TV is one of the most spread services. Satellite TV requires a receiver and a satellite dish which must be pointed to a certain satellite in the sky. Dish pointing is a tricky process that requires the presence of a technician. This makes satellite TV impractical and problematic for people who live on caravans or do long road trips, for they are forced to stick with terrestrial broadcasting. However, auto-aligning to satellites using advances in the automation field can solve the problem of dish pointing. Accordingly, this project presents SatFinder; a novel solution to the problem of dish pointing. The solution enables any user, while outdoors, upon choosing a location, to point the satellite dish to any satellite covering that region with just a few clicks from the mobile phone. This system consists of a satellite dish position controller made up of stepper motors, position sensors, and a microprocessor, connected to a mobile application through Bluetooth from which the controller takes the user input, which is the desired satellite to be pointed to. The controller analyzes the system's position using a GPS sensor, and drives the satellite dish to specific azimuth and elevation angles computed via a mathematical formula that relates the GPS position to the desired satellite degree. In this paper, a smart auto alignment satellite downlink system is designed and implemented to ease the access of satellite TV. Satellite downlink systems exist widely but very few are automated and can achieve auto-alignment to satellites. SatFinder, by achieving the auto-alignment, enables people who live on caravans or do long road trips to access satellite TV anywhere they would be.