Main Tracker

🛰️ Satellite Tracker

An ESP32-based automated dual-axis antenna tracking system for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, featuring real-time orbital prediction, closed-loop motor control, and a web-based telemetry interface.

📡 Description

Satellite Tracker is an embedded platform designed to automatically track Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites in real time using orbital prediction algorithms.

The system is powered by an ESP32 microcontroller, which:

• Computes satellite position using the SGP4 orbital propagation model
• Synchronizes time and geographic location via GPS
• Controls a motorized offset dish antenna in azimuth and elevation
• Provides telemetry and configuration through an integrated web interface

The platform is modular, scalable, and suitable for experimentation, amateur satellite tracking, and engineering research.

🚀 Features

• Real-time satellite tracking using SGP4 orbit prediction
• Automatic next-pass prediction
• GPS-based time and position synchronization
• Integrated web interface for monitoring and configuration
• JSON API for remote telemetry access
• Configurable antenna mechanical offsets
• Satellite visibility calculation (eclipse / daylight / visible)
• Scalable and modular firmware architecture
• Manual and automatic tracking modes
• Dual-axis mount control (azimuth & elevation)
• Position feedback using reed switches
• Motor current monitoring for protection and diagnostics
• PI-based closed-loop position control

📁 Proyect Structure

sat-tracker/Firmware
│
├── src/                 # Source code
├── include/             # Headers y configurations
├── data/                # Web Page (SPIFFS / LittleFS)
├── lib/                 # Libs
├── platformio.ini       # PlatformIO config.

🔧 Hardware Requirements

• ESP32 DevKit V1
• GPS Module
• Custom Power Interface Board
• Custom Main Control Board
• Azimuth and Elevation actuators
• 36V / 5A power supply

💻 Software Dependencies

• SGP4 -- Satellite orbit prediction
  https://github.com/Hopperpop/Sgp4-Library

• ESPAsyncWebServer -- Asynchronous web server
  https://github.com/me-no-dev/ESPAsyncWebServer

• TinyGPS++ -- GPS NMEA parsing
  https://github.com/mikalhart/TinyGPSPlus

• ArduinoJson -- JSON serialization and parsing
  https://arduinojson.org/

All dependencies are automatically managed via PlatformIO.

🛠 Building and Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/larfym/sat-tracker.git

2. Install PlatformIO: https://platformio.org/

3. Open the Firmware folder in VS Code with the PlatformIO extension.

4. Build and upload:

platformio run --target uploadfs platformio run --target upload

🌐 Web Interface

To access the web interface:

1. Connect to the ESP32 WiFi Access Point (Default SSID: SatTracker)
2. Open your browser and navigate to:

http://tracker.local

From the web interface you can:

• Configure satellite TLE data
• Adjust antenna offsets
• Monitor real-time telemetry
• Switch between manual and automatic tracking
• View GPS and system status
• Monitor next pass prediction

📜 License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see LICENSE for details.

🛰 Satellite Tracker -- Embedded autonomous satellite tracking platform.