South Pole TDRS Relay Joint NASA/ATSC Engineering Status As of 8/12/97 1. Highlight's A. S-Band Filter A revised calculation shows that a filter is necessary to prevent the GOES signal from causing intermodulation distortion at the S-Band LNA. A quote from K&L filters is expected by Wednesday, 8/13. B. Ku-Band TWTA's The units have been inspected by Logimetrics. One unit had a bad regulator and is fixed. The other keeps going out of regulation and troubleshooting is continuing. The TWT unit itself seems okay so Logimetrics is concentrating on the power supply. They believe it is a chip and should be providing an update later this week. C. Ku-Band TWT Remote Control The TWT remote control is a non-standard non-computer controlled remote interface. Unique hardware will have to be built to allow computer control. Logimetrics will provide a quote for providing this interface. Making a custom interface and other alternatives are being investigated. D. Antenna Mounts ASA has confirmed that the antenna mounts mentioned as being of possible use for the SPTR antenna's have been retro'd from McMurdo. Work on the new mounts continues as a joint ASA/ATSC effort. E. Received an e-mail request from ASA to determine grounding and bonding plan for the SPTR system in the elevated dorm. This is in progress and will be submitted before the next meeting. In that South Pole has no real earth ground due to the thickness of the ice and the separation from ground, the focus will be to bond all equipment, waveguide, and antennas to a common equipotential plane radiating in a star pattern from the SPTR racks. Rack 1 then needs to be bonded back to the power source. Implementation is to be discussed with ASA. 2. Hardware Procurement A. Items received during the last week included the Hoffman Box and the Avtec board. The Pentium 133 motherboard for the MCS computer arrived Monday. 3. Software A. The remote control of the Satellite Modem is essentially complete including auto operations (configuration, transmit on/off, etc.) B. The remote interface with the South Pole File Server has been formalized and the programming is nearly complete. C. The routine to automatically send e-mails from the MCS is complete. An e-mail account for the MCS computer must be requested. Hardware Configuration Items 1.0 Ku-Band Equipment a. The antenna is on order and is due to be complete on 8/13. The antenna feed work would be completed and tested and the completed unit would be here at BLT by 9/13. b. Detailed work on the antenna mount has begun. c. See Highlights for TWTA status. d. The Switches and power divider require testing and characterization. e. The attenuator is in and requires testing. f. The line coupler requires testing. g. The lowpass filter research is complete and a unit is being procured. 2.0 S-Band Equipment a. The antenna is on order and is due to be complete on 8/13. The feed work is to be completed and tested and the completed unit delivered to BLT by 9/13. b. Detailed work on the antenna mount has begun. c. The Transceiver/SSPA/LNA is on order through Miteq. d. The diplexor has been tested. e. The line coupler requires testing. 3.0 Baseband Equipment a. Satellite modem effort is complete. b. Work efforts for the Encoder have begun. The chassis has been ordered. Board detailed design work has begun. c. Modulator parts are being procured. The chassis is on order. R. Conrad has taken over this effort from C. James. d. NISN has placed the router procurement order. Details on the router have been obtained from the Cisco website for the EC. e. Awaiting the motherboard, chassis, SCSI-3 hard drive, CD-ROM, and SCSI-3 controller for the Data Server PC. 4.0 MCS Hardware a. The motherboard is in for the MCS PC. Awaiting the chassis and CD ROM drive. b. The Spectrum Analyzer is due 8/25. c. The Switch Driver unit has been received and will be checked out within the next two weeks. d. The test port switches and control cables require testing. 5.0 Cables and Connectors a. With the arrival of the Hoffman box, the work on the CEB can begin. Information on the building penetration is required to finalize the detailed design for the Hoffman box. This is being worked with ASA. b. Waveguide is being shipped to BLT from WSC excess. 6.0 Racks and Accessories a. Rack and stack at BLT should begin when the PC chassis arrive. b. The UPS chassis were ordered last week. c. Ventilation discussions indicate a desire for the fans. One tray has been obtained from excess. Six top hat style rack fans have been found in excess. These units would require and additional 6 inches of clearance for top mounting on the racks and approximately an additional foot for air flow. The units will be discussed with ASA as all six could be sent down for the SPTR racks and the GOES racks. d. The replacement Hoffman Box for the CEB has arrived. 7.0 White Sands Complex a. A. Fortin is checking out the PTP at Bldg 12. b. Awaiting to hear the results of a router buy. c. TDI work has begun at the Heathrow bldg. The chassis order was placed and the detailed design of the PCB and circuit is in progress. Three units are being built. Software Configuration Items 1.0 Software Software orders are all complete. Schedule No change. Medical Clearance A. Fortin has submitted dental and physical forms and has been approved to go. D. Israel, NASA Code 531.2 K. Culin, ATSC S&T Dept. ************************************************************** * This message was forwarded by the South Pole TDRSS Relay * * (SPTR) listserver. To send a message to the SPTR list, * * address it to sptr@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov. * * * * SPTR Website: http://rodent.gsfc.nasa.gov/sptr/index.htm * **************************************************************