Varsity launches satellite ground station

A university in Dubai has launched a satellite ground station on their campus, which will allow students to track satellites, predict weather patterns and pollution levels. The station at Amity University targets students studying aerospace, electrical, electronics, computer science or nanotechnology engineering.
The facility is open to all students and staff who want to get satellite data or run any sort of analysis.
"The main goal of the ground station is to give students the opportunity to perform the following operations - telemetry data visualisation and storage, antenna control and positioning system, radio communication using very high frequency (vhf) and satellite data analysis. Through this initiative students will not only learn how to read and analyse such data but also get the support they need for research projects," said Dr Vajhat Hussain, CEO of Amity University Dubai.
"Students will learn how to track satellites by understanding how to predict their orbits. They will be able to learn to transmit/receive signals and metadata from various satellites while also gaining knowledge on how to disseminate and analyse this data to create predictions on weather, water reservoirs, elevation levels, pollution and population levels among other things." 
He insisted that the students will be "more equipped" to tackle projects in their future careers, as there is a "big demand" of the efficient use of resources, as well as having the ability to predict and analyse environmental effects due to increasing effects of global warming. 
The project has applications in a lot of engineering and science courses such as aeronautics, astronautics, computer sciences, electrical and electronics, nanotechnology and environmental sciences. "As aspiring engineers, students will be able to utilise the platform to conduct various kinds of analysis for publishing in journals or conference papers. They will also gain knowledge of various software that can be used for transmitting and receiving data and remote sensing applications," Dr Hussain said. 
"The data that is retrieved from this station will be used to perform analysis on metadata using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) based software. This software allows for integrated processing of images and for the visualisation of data subsystems, which can be applied within fields like landscape ecology and genetics, cartography, marine sciences, remote sensing, public health etc. This will definitely have very major applications in accordance with the UAE's environmental vision for 2030."
The Amity Dubai Ground Station is part of a two-phase plan. The next phase of this project involves the construction of a 4U (40 cm3) CubeSat in accordance with the UAE's Environment Vision 2030 - gathering data for weather forecasting, biodiversity maintenance, scavenging of water sources, global warming data and agricultural development. Work on phase-two has already started and the university is aiming to complete this by 2020.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com