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GP-AE-0OEHTTNAerospaceOpen for request

Indian ground-station contact planner

An orbital contact-planning simulator for predicting satellite visibility and scheduling passes across selected Indian ground-station locations.

  • Nuxt
  • Vue
  • FastAPI
  • PostgreSQL
  • Python
  • Skyfield
  • Orekit
  • CesiumJS
  • Docker

Project definition

Problem statement

A satellite may be above the horizon for only a few minutes, and useful contact also depends on elevation mask, station availability, antenna transition time, frequency assumptions, data priority, and overlapping passes.

The engineering problem is to propagate public orbital elements, calculate contact opportunities consistently, and schedule limited ground resources while reporting orbital and link-model assumptions.

Project objectives

  • Model selected satellites, public orbital elements, Indian station locations, horizon masks, and antenna availability.
  • Calculate ground tracks, rise, culmination, set, azimuth, elevation, range, and range rate.
  • Estimate Doppler and a simplified link margin under documented equipment assumptions.
  • Schedule contacts by priority, required duration, station compatibility, and transition constraints.
  • Validate pass predictions and schedule feasibility against reference calculations.

System design

System modules

01

Orbit registry

Stores public element sets, epochs, update history, satellite metadata, and propagation configuration.

02

Ground-station modeller

Defines location, altitude, horizon mask, antenna constraints, frequency band, availability, and transition time.

03

Pass predictor

Propagates the orbit and calculates visibility intervals, geometry, range, range rate, and Doppler estimates.

04

Contact scheduler

Selects feasible passes under station conflicts, priorities, duration needs, and transition constraints.

05

Mission dashboard

Shows ground tracks, station cones, pass tables, contact timelines, conflicts, and utilisation.

Methodology

System workflow

  1. 01
    Load planning set

    The student selects public orbital elements, prepared station profiles, time horizon, and satellite requests.

  2. 02
    Predict passes

    Orbit propagation and elevation masks generate station-specific contact opportunities.

  3. 03
    Evaluate contacts

    Geometry, Doppler, duration, and simplified link margin are checked against requirements.

  4. 04
    Build schedule

    The scheduler resolves station conflicts and assigns compatible contact windows.

  5. 05
    Validate and compare

    Reference passes, constraint checks, and alternative station or priority cases are compared.

Demonstration scenario

Three public satellite element sets are propagated over two prepared Indian ground-station locations. Several passes overlap at one station. The scheduler assigns contacts by priority and duration, while the dashboard displays the ground tracks, elevation profiles, Doppler estimates, conflicts, and station utilisation.

Engineering

Technical architecture

Web application
Nuxt, Vue, and CesiumJS for ground tracks, station views, pass tables, timelines, and schedule editing.
Planning API
FastAPI for orbit records, stations, propagation jobs, opportunities, schedules, and exports.
Data layer
PostgreSQL for satellites, element histories, stations, requests, passes, contacts, and metrics.
Orbital engine
Python with Skyfield or Orekit-compatible calculations for SGP4 propagation, frames, geometry, and events.
Scheduling engine
Deterministic heuristic or optimisation methods with explicit compatibility, overlap, transition, and priority rules.

Testing

Evaluation

Evaluation measures

  • Rise, culmination, and set time error against prepared reference passes
  • Azimuth, elevation, range, and Doppler agreement at selected timestamps
  • Schedule conflict and constraint satisfaction
  • Contact demand fulfilled, station utilisation, and priority-weighted coverage
  • Sensitivity to element age, elevation mask, station availability, and transition time
  • Propagation and scheduling time across satellites, stations, and planning horizons

System boundaries

  • The simulator uses public orbital information and prepared ground-station profiles.
  • It does not transmit, receive, command, track, or establish contact with a satellite.
  • Predictions degrade as public element sets age and are not suitable for collision avoidance or operational flight safety.
  • Link estimates are simplified and require validated equipment, propagation, licensing, and mission data for operational use.

Included

  1. 01Satellite, station, antenna, and planning interface
  2. 02Orbit, visibility, link-estimate, and scheduling modules
  3. 03Ground track, pass, Doppler, conflict, and utilisation views
  4. 04Prepared public orbital elements, stations, scenarios, and results
  5. 05Complete source code in a private GitHub repository
  6. 06Complete project documentation with synopsis, abstract, methodology, orbit and ground-segment diagrams, simulation results, screenshots, and conclusion
  7. 07Setup and usage guide

Project record

No buyer information is collected on this page.

Permanent project ID
GP-AE-0OEHTTN
Catalogued
21 Aug 2026
Completed
Pending
Verified
Pending
Demonstration
Added when ready

Handover

After purchase

  1. 01
    Payment is confirmed

    The project is marked unavailable and cannot be purchased again.

  2. 02
    Repository access is granted

    The buyer's submitted GitHub account receives access to the private repository.

  3. 03
    The purchase record is delivered

    The certification sheet is prepared from the reviewed buyer details and sent privately by email.