During the pandemic, students could not visit our satellite station on the roof of the university. The development direction is increasingly toward being able to experiment with the equipment inside by accessing it remotely from home. In case of hardware failures, our teachers, who were able to get into the university, helped us. Thanks to them, the cables torn down in January's storm were also repaired. This year's World Telecommunication Day had a separate section dealing with space telecommunications, and we did not want to be left out either. We started planning back in January what presentations we could contribute to enrich the World Telecommunication Day event held in May. We wanted to share our experiences and development directions with the professional community. In coordination with the organizers of World Telecommunication Day, the section's presentations were recorded in advance and screened on the day itself. However, we also had surprises in store for the participants in the virtual space besides the pre-recorded presentations: we joined live from our station, and after the welcome speeches by prominent leaders we released our balloons, which could also be followed online. Although the conference participants did not wait for the landing of the balloons, we would like to note here that every balloon we launched reached an altitude of 20,000 meters and returned to our station.
The presentations of World Telecommunication Day can be viewed here:
Following tradition, our college members reported on their achievements and research in several presentations. Anna Fábián and Róbert Varga were the first in our country to achieve real video signal transmission via the geostationary QO-100 satellite. In the satellite's footprint covering several continents, they thus carried the name of our university and this notable occasion to those living there, celebrating our profession's international day. The transmitting station was also visible during the live broadcast. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so they not only talk about the difficulties of establishing the link, but also actually achieve it.
Their presentation can be viewed here (08:00-27:15):
Máté Bertalan and András Simon's interest turned toward meteorology and space telecommunications over the past year. Besides LEO satellites, GEO satellites providing meteorological data with freely receivable signals also came into focus. Our students still owe us the images provided by the latter, but it is clear that this marks a new development direction for the coming year. The pandemic period held plenty of excitement for András and Máté, with the calibration of their self-built receiver head, or the timely arrival of the low-noise amplifier from Canada, followed by a factory replacement, adding to the excitement. Although they focused on receiving the Chinese and American satellites, it soon became apparent that receiving Eumetsat could also be an exciting challenge.
Their presentation can be viewed here (27:15-43:02):
Péter Pataki and Tibor Fekete conducted high-altitude wave propagation experiments using meteorological balloons and various radio communication devices. They sought answers to questions such as "can a mobile phone work at an altitude of 20,000 meters?" and "from how far away can a launched LoRa device be detected?". Beyond the radio frequency experiments, they also gained considerable construction experience regarding power supply, thermal balance, and ensuring adequate buoyancy. Special attention had to be paid to preserving air traffic safety, as well as to the safe filling of the balloons.
Their presentation can be viewed here (48:05:15-1:06:15):
Of course, thanks to all our SZE-SAT members and teachers who helped the presenters prepare their presentations!
Evoking the spirit of Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition"
Interview with the balloon hunters:
The archive reports are based on the college’s contemporary documentation.
