SVsat

Who We Are

About Us

The SVsat team is made up of five students and their mentor from Svetits Catholic Secondary School in Debrecen, united by a shared passion for science and a belief in the future. Two of our members competed in the CanSat Hungary 2025 competition, advancing to the finals as a reserve team. This year, we took on satellite development with greater experience and new teammates.

6

MEMBERS

155+

WORK HOURS

Our Mission

Two independent onboard systems, three missions — all packed inside a soda-can-sized cylinder.

PRIMARY

Atmospheric Monitoring

Using a Pico 2 (RP2350) microcontroller and BME280 sensor, we measure temperature, air pressure, and humidity, transmitting telemetry every second via LoRa radio.

BME280 GPS SD LOG

SECONDARY

Radio Spectrum Reconnaissance

A Raspberry Pi Zero 2W and RTL-SDR V4 pair automatically scans the ISM band and generates waterfall diagrams — all at 1000+ meters altitude, mid-flight.

RTL-SDR V4 ISM BAND WATERFALL

TECHNOLOGICAL

Telecommand Protocol

The satellite starts in „sleep” mode and waits for the ground station’s „wakeup” command. Bidirectional LoRa communication, acknowledgement confirmation, and energy-saving operation mode.

WAKEUP CMD ACK SLEEP MODE

// FLIGHT SEQUENCE

🚀

Launch T+0s

⚠

Deployment ~1000-1500m

📡

Data Collection 1 pkt/sec

🪂

Parachute Descent ~10.2 m/s

💾

Data Analysis POST-FLIGHT

Live Telemetry

Real-time sensor data streamed from the satellite via LoRa radio link.

Database offline

TEMPERATURE

—

°C

PRESSURE

—

hPa

HUMIDITY

—

%

ALTITUDE (GPS)

—

m

ALTITUDE (BARO)

—

m

SPEED

—

m/s

GPS

NO FIX

0 sats

LAST UPDATE

—

Technology

Dual-brain architecture: a Pico 2 controls the flight, a Pi Zero 2W monitors the radio spectrum. Custom PCB, bank-vault locking mechanism, and binary telemetry.

MAIN SYSTEM

CPU

Raspberry Pi Pico 2 (RP2350)

Main microcontroller, C++ Arduino framework

ENV

Bosch BME280

I2C temperature + pressure + humidity

GPS

NEO-6M GNSS Module

115200 baud UART, 256B FIFO buffer

COM

E220-900T30D LoRa

868.125 MHz, 24 dBm, 2.4 kbps, LLCC68 chip

PWR

5000 mAh Li-Po + TP-4056

3.7V, USB-C charging, ~11 hours runtime

SDR SUBSYSTEM

SBC

Raspberry Pi Zero 2W

Linux, systemd auto-start, independent operation

SDR

RTL-SDR V4 (R828D)

USB dongle, 10 kHz resolution, ISM band

SW

rtl_power + Python processor

30-minute scan, CSV + waterfall PNG

PWR

1200 mAh Li-Po + DC-DC boost

5V, ~1.3 hours runtime, awakened by telecommand

CTL

Pico GPIO 15 → RUN pin

Pico „wakes up” the Pi Zero on wakeup command

STRUCTURE & MECHANICS

▶ Frame designed in Autodesk Fusion 360
▶ Bank-vault inspired quick-lock mechanism — maximum strength, minimal space, instant access to all internals
▶ Built-in airflow channels guide fresh air directly to sensors, reducing measurement delay
▶ 3D printed in PETG (20% gyroid infill) for excellent impact resistance
▶ Custom PCB — designed in EasyEDA, manufactured by JLCPCB
▶ 60 cm diameter round parachute, sewn from raincoats, attached with fishing line

GROUND STATION

▶ ESP32 + E220-900T30D LoRa receiver
▶ 80 cm LoRaWAN HELIUM rod antenna, 5.8 dBi gain, tested 2+ km range
▶ PyQt6 PC application: real-time charts, map view, flight phase detector, anomaly detection
▶ Bidirectional communication: „Wakeup” button → LoRa uplink → ACK confirmation → LED flash
▶ Automatic CSV + log + anomaly report saving to timestamped folders
▶ Doppler shift analysis of LoRa signals using a separate RTL-SDR