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International Space Station Amateur Radio SSTV System (SpaceCam)

1. Any compatible NTSC RS 170 video source can be connected to the SSC video port including a NTSC camera or Camcorder This portion of the SpaceCam project will require manifesting of the SSC Video IN OUT cable for the SSC computer Refer to related documentation for detailed instruction SpaceCam can however be operated without any cameras attached In fact SpaceCam can be operated as a simple SSTV image repeater or be configured to sequentially transmit images previously stored on the SSC disk drive Therefore ISS operators can at their leisure load images taken with any standard Digital Camera onto the SSC SpaceCam disk drive Or they can even draw and store images on their own SpaceCam can then be instructed to send selected stored images to Earth All the common image storage formats are supported including JPEG GIF TIF and BMP amu speup mp a Fig 2 4 Sources of images 2 4 What to do with SpaceCam Given the previous experience on the MIR Space Station the SpaceCam project for the ISS is set to become one of the most valuable educational tools available to the ARISS project The different operating modes enable many diverse utilisation scenarios but the simplest one will foresee amateur ground stations receiving slow scan images from a camera left attached to an ISS laptop and pointing the inside of the ISS or to the outside through a porthole Alternatively the crew might collect images label t
2. Transmission Slide Show Mode The user can select a series of images to be transmitted continuously at a given interval The image source can be a collection of image files or frames automatically grabbed from a video source Reception Manual Mode The user can manually force the acquisition of a single image The received image is stored in the Default directory Reception Auto Receive Mode The user put SpaceCam in an automatic acquisition mode and the program will start an image acquisition whenever an image preamble is recognised Every received image is stored in the Default directory Repeater Mode This combined mode configure SpaceCam as a space borne repeater of images sent by ground stations SpaceCam after the reception process is complete re transmits the received image An option exists to retain received images in the Repeated directory 2 6 Remote operations Remote operations have been removed starting from this version of SpaceCam Issue 1 DRAFT 11 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 3 USER INTERFACE This section provides a graphical walk around of the SpaceCam software Graphical User Interface Detailed explanations of available functionalities are provided in the next section The SpaceCam User Interface has been designed after careful operational considerations For instance no standard drop down menus are provided and all main controls are in view like in a hardware control panel A summary of User Interface
3. iecore reete et tete edet ete tee tdt vet ese ede ved 29 5 24 Automatic transmission of multiple Images 30 524 1 Slide ShoW MOde from Camera eet et ge ee ee vate pe ge dir er Praveen 30 5 242 Slide Show Mode fromidisk aee tie re ie poa ee eda dee Ed 30 5 2 4 3 Slide Show Mode Timeline ree eret ere ere eret tede deed ea eda 31 5 25 Manual reception of single Images 31 5 22 51 IMan al Receive Mode it eet er e peer e tre etae ned ee e ere ede eg euge 31 5 2 5 2 Manual EE 32 5 2 6 Automatic reception of multiple Images 32 5 2 6 1 Auto Receive Mode eese i Ue ce ara heredero der aie dede deed deed 32 5 2 6 2 ManiuallRe Syne eet aaa 32 5 2 7 Auto Receive and Slide Show combined operations ssssseoessssneneneeeeneinnnnnneeeeeeene 32 5 28 Repeater Mode operations ness nnn 33 5i2 8 1 Repeater access Control isadi dat 33 5 2 8 2 Basic Repeater Mode Operaton AA 33 5 2 8 3 Slide Show Repeater Mode Operation 33 5 2 8 4 Repeater Mode meine ku 34 5 3 SPACECAM OPERATION SETTINGS ccccccccnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnss 35 SBE DSPand SSTV SOUS EE 35 5 3 2 Other Settings EE 36 5 39 39 EE 36 5 3 3 1 Normal Reception of Images sss nnns 36 5 3 3 2 Normal Transmission of Images AANEREN 37 5 8 8 8 Transmission of Repeated Images ANEN 37 5 3 3 4 Additional text overlays esee da 38 5 4 OPERATING MODES TRANSITIONS AND ELIG
4. Issue 1 DRAFT MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 2 OVERVIEW 2 1 Whatis SpaceCam SpaceCam is an entry level PC based Slow Scan Television system designed primarily to be used on board the International Space Station for transmission and reception of images via ISS HAM radio links The system supports multiple common SSTV transmission modes and it has been specifically designed to be accessible to as many stations as possible around the world SpaceCam has been designed by the MAREX NA team which developed and built the original proof of concept system The proof of concept system was successfully flown on the Russian Space Station MIR December 1998 until August 1999 and has proven the ability of the hardware design and it has taught how to make additional improvements for the next generation SSTV system for ISS On the ISS most of the original proof of concept hardware is replaced by already available IBM Thinkpad Portable Computers SSC Station Support Computer while the radio equipment will be composed by the ISS HAM Amateur Radio Station developed in the framework of the international ARISS project 2 2 What are SSTV operations Slow Scan TeleVision is a radio operating mode widely used by the amateur radio community which permits the transmission and the reception of images through conventional narrow band radio links The technique is similar in principle to narrow band facsimile transmissions and it can be used on any radi
5. The Callsign of the radio station using SpaceCam is defined during program installation and can be modified by means of a dedicated setting control see paragraph 5 3 This Callsign is shown on the initialisation screen which appears at program start up It is possible to add a guest callsign in order to handle cases when not ISS resident astronauts are willing to send images see paragraph 5 3 The SSID Secondary Station Identifier is a special option which is supported by most SSTV vendors The sending station s Callsign is stored digitally in a line of SSTV data This data can be read and translated into a standard Amateur Radio call sign If the SSID is not sent or it is received garbled the SSID information will just be omitted 5 2 2 Manual Stand by The STANDBY ABORT button is similar to an Abort or Stop button Issue 1 DRAFT 28 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual Acting on the STANDBY button activates the Standby Mode not shown in the previous table which permits to maintain the application running without any operating mode being active Upon activation the Standby Mode will stop the active mode at the moment of activation as well as resetting the Repeater Mode option The STANDBY button will be highlighted to indicate the suspension of SSTV operations 5 2 3 Manual transmission of single images 5 2 3 1 Transmit a Single Image from Camera With the Video source enabled checkbox the camera output is repl
6. oooooniconccconnnccnnnnooonoconnnnnnnnnnnrncnnnnn cnn nan nr na nn rra nn r naar nn cnn na nn nnnnnnns 47 Issue 1 DRAFT 52 SpaceCam User s Manual MAREX NA 6 74 Repeater access CONO iria 48 6 75 Dedicated settings ette a 48 Y CREDITS 49 E nn 49 8 INDEX E 51 Issue 1 DRAFT 53
7. Minimise button The Minimise button reduces the application to a button item in the Windows application bar Clicking on the button item restore the application window to its original size and position on the desktop Issue 1 DRAFT 19 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 4 2 1 2 Close button The Close button terminates the application instantly Some details of the current application state are saved in the SpaceCam configuration file so that they can be re instated at the next activation of SpaceCam 4 2 2 SpaceCam controls 4 2 2 1 Left hand image window This window is used to present e an image being received or just received e an image selected from thumbnails tray or grabbed from video source for transmission e astart up image which also notifies the callsign of the station which is using SpaceCam 4 2 2 2 Right hand image window This window is used to present continuously live video images from the attached video source 4 2 2 3 Status indicators These are two progress bar type indicators situated below the Left hand Window 4 2 2 3 1 Tx status indicator This indicator is active whenever an image transmission occurs It provides a text indication of the preamble transmission phase and a percentage of image transmitted during the image scanning process 4 2 2 3 2 Rx signal strength indicator This indicator is active whenever there is an audio signal at the PC audio input During image acquisition i
8. Pass Narrow BP mutually exclusive with each other selects different filtering options for the SSTV receiver The first two options are suggested for the Robot 36 SSTV Mode default one 4 2 2 8 3 3 DSP Adjust Slant timing button This button opens a form containing two slider controls for the separate adjustment of Tx and Rx sampling frequencies 4 2 2 8 3 4 SSTV Sensitivity slider This slider control permits the adjustment of the sensitivity of the SSTV receiver 4 2 2 8 3 5 Slide Show Delay slider This slider control permits the adjustment of the delay between two successive Slide Show Mode transmissions 4 2 2 8 3 6 Registration button This button opens a form containing information about the registration of the SpaceCam application This include the default callsign used for SoaceCam operations 4 2 2 8 3 7 Vid Capture settings button This button opens a dedicated form which permits the adjustment of different video source parameters This button is enable only when a video source is enabled and recognised 4 2 2 8 4 TEXT Tab 4 2 2 8 4 1 Guest callsign text area This single line text area is reserved to specify a guest callsign different from that used during SpaceCam operations This callsign substitutes the default one in the basic Issue 1 DRAFT 24 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual callsign time tag message normally displayed The content of this text area is preserved from one activation of Spac
9. and SpaceCam overall set up 2 3 1 Laptop to Audio Adapter connections The SSC IBM 760 computer running SpaceCam will be connected to the SAREX 2 meter or 70 cm transceiver via the SSTV VOX Module built by AMSAT NA which acts as audio isolation adapter The complete set of connections will require two or three 3 cable attachments to the SSC computer using existing connectors on the SSC computer two for the audio input and output and one optional for transmit control See section 6 7 for more details on the hardware The SSC computer connections will feed into the SpaceCam VOX SSTV Module which will provide DC isolation between the SSC and the SAREX transceiver and will provide automatic switching of the transceiver into transmit mode upon presence of an audio signal coming from the SSC Issue 1 DRAFT 8 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual The audio adapter will also convert the SSC the optional cable into a transmit control signal which is compatible with the ISS HAM SAREX transceivers in case the VOX option cannot be used 2 3 2 Radio equipments connection The SpaceCam system is capable of operating on either the 2 metres 145 MHz or the 70 centimetres 440 MHz bands The actual operating frequency and band for SSTV operations depends on SAREX equipment management plans as defined by the ARISS consortium and are out of the scope of this manual The preferred operational amateur radio band would however be the 2 meter band be
10. composed line by line 3 Image reception ends when the expected number of lines for the selected mode is reached 4 f the Save Repeated Images option is set checkbox then the received image is automatically stored in the REPEATED collection and its filename will be composed with the current system date and time i e 2002 03 19 221532 JPG 5 After reception the transmission process begins and the received image still in the LH window is re transmitted 6 When the transmission of the image has completed SpaceCam will return to the Auto Receive Mode Repeater Mode operations can be terminated at any time by acting on the STANDBY ABORT button or by initiating a Manual Transmission or a Manual Reception 5 2 8 3 Slide Show Repeater Mode Operation The program is operating in Auto Receive Mode and Slide Show transmit Mode is On 1 During the delay period between the transmission of two subsequent images the software is ready to receive images Whenever a signal is present at the audio input of the SpaceCam SSC the software will attempt to determine which SSTV Mode is being used by the sender If the signal is recognised and stable the SSTV receiver will be activated to start decoding the image and the Slide Show Mode will be suspended 2 During reception the result of the SSTV receiver process will be shown in the LH window as an image which is composed line by line 3 Image reception ends when the expected number of l
11. image file stored in a directory SpaceCam can also be placed in auto receive mode or can be manually forced to start acquisition of an image When placed into Manual Mode or Slide Show Mode the SSTV system will stay in this mode until the user manually makes a change or the SSTV system receives a Sysop DTMF command REPEATER TAB The REPEATER Tab panel is used to configure all of SpaceCam Image Repeater options When placed into REPEATER MODE the SSTV system will stay in this mode until the user manually makes a change or the SSTV system receives a Sysop DTMF command DRAFT 15 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual SETTINGS TAB The SETTINGS Tab panel is used to configure several parameters mainly related to SpaceCam receiving algorithms including DSP receiver filter controls and sensitivities Sharpness Sensitivity The Settings tab is also used to configure SpaceCam Slide Show timings C No filter Slide Show R36 6 High Pass Delay MA 1 minutes C Bandpass C Narrow BP or REGISTRATION Adjust slant timing Vid Capture Settings MANUAL REPEATER SETTINGS TEXT TAB The TEXT Tab panel is used to enter ASCII text messages which will be ues callsign overlaid on images transmitted from SpaceCam if the relvant option is enabled The free format text field supports all common ASCII Text Overlay 7 Enable characters The text overlay position can also be specified In addition it is possible to specify the call
12. receiver will assume the incoming image is encoded according to the last SSTV mode selected 2 During reception the result of the SSTV receiver process will be shown in the LH window as an image which is composed line by line Issue 1 DRAFT 31 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 3 Image reception ends when the expected number of lines for the selected mode is reached The received image is automatically stored in the DEFAULT collection and its filename will be composed with the current system date and time i e 2002 03 19 221532 JPG 4 When the transmission of the image has completed SpaceCam will always switch to the Auto Receive Mode Manual Reception Mode can be terminated at any time by acting on the STANDBY ABORT button or by initiating a Manual Transmission or by switching to Auto Receive Mode The partially received image will not be saved to disk 5 2 5 2 Manual Re Sync The RE SYNC button is used during image reception to manually attempt to stabilise a poorly aligned image Each image line has a coded tone which marks its beginning Re sync ing the reception will force the SSTV receiver to re evaluate the receive signal for a better lock on these tones 5 2 6 Automatic reception of multiple images 5 2 6 1 Auto Receive Mode This is the default mode with the SSTV receiver ready to acquire images 1 Acting on the Auto RECEIVE button the software will switch to Auto receive Mode This mode is also reached at the
13. the selected image A fixed text caption in the lower left corner reports the station ID and the transmission time tag Another optional text caption may be added for crew comments During reception the image is seen being composed line by line A fixed text caption in the lower left corner of the image will be added to report the receive time tag The size of this window can slightly increase to account for the number of TEST 20020316118347 lines used in SSTV mode selected RIGHT HAND IMAGE WINDOW This window shows a continuous sampling of video images from the selected video source When a transmission from the video source is started the image is frozen and transferred to the left hand windows Issue 1 DRAFT 14 MAREX NA MANUAL REPEATER SETTINGS io Slide Show disk path Use DISK icon Slide Show OFF F i 55 I MNSS SCANIDEFAULTI GH Enable video Auto RECEIVE A ne p Refresh Preview Grids MANUAL SETTINGS TEXT Repeater Mode Save repeated images Security Options Security OFF C SSID Required Issue 1 SpaceCam User s Manual MANUAL TAB The MANUAL Tab panel provides controls for the basic transmit receive operating modes of SpaceCam In particular the Slide Show Mode can be selected as well as its image source camera or file directory Alternatively SpaceCam can be manually commanded to transmit a single image again choosing between a frame grabbed from the camera or an
14. 2 8 1 5 Disk directory text area The text area below the previous buttons shows the directory correspondent to the selected image collection 4 2 2 8 1 6 Transmit button This button suspends any current operation and starts transmitting the image shown in the Left Hand Window Manual Transmit Mode using the selected SSTV mode central controls 4 2 2 8 1 7 Receive button This button suspends any current operation and starts receiving an image Manual Receive Mode showing the results in the Left Hand Window If the mode is not recognised from the incoming audio signal then the selected SSTV mode central controls is used for the SSTV receiver process 4 2 2 8 1 8 Auto Receive button This button activate the Auto Receive Mode 4 2 2 8 1 9 Re Sync button This button permits to force a re synchronisation of the SSTV receiver with the incoming signal It is always active but is effective only while a reception is in progress 4 2 2 8 1 10 Enable video checkbox This checkbox is to enable a video source once it has been connected with the PC on which SpaceCam is running If the video source is correctly recognised images appear in the Right Hand Window otherwise an errore message is logged in the Operations Log Text Area 4 2 2 8 1 11 Camera grab button This button takes a snapshot of a video frame as shown from the enabled video source in the Right Hand Window and copies it on the Left Hand Window This action is taken
15. 5 1 embedded in the video signal if this information is corrupted or missing then the CALLSIGN will be omitted and TIMETAG is a string providing date and time of the begin of the reception specified in the format YYYYMMDDTHHMM2 Example with Callsign extracted from SSID Received Image WF1F 20020615T1523Z Example without Callsign Received Image 20020615T1523Z Issue 1 DRAFT 36 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 5 3 3 2 Normal Transmission of Images At the bottom left of each transmitted image SpaceCam will superimpose before transmitting the following information whose text is arranged in a single line CALLSIGN TIMETAG where the CALLSIGN is that of the local station as programmed in the registration of SpaceCam without registration the callsign is TEST and TIMETAG is a string providing date and time of the begin of the transmission specified in the format YYYYMMDDTHHMMZ Example Transmitted Image NA1ISS 20020615T1523Z Please note that if the image selected for transmission were received previously from ground then its receive text overlay will be hidden from the transmission text overlay This text overlay applies to all transmitted images including those managed by Slide Show Mode and repeater Mode 5 3 3 3 Transmission of Repeated Images At the bottom left of each repeated image SpaceCam will superimpose before transmitting the following information whose text is arranged in a s
16. IBILITY eeeeeseeee n nennen 39 6 TECHNICAL yup vM 40 Gil PERFORMANCE DATA ee erer 40 61 1 E ME 40 6 1 2 ee ii a dia 40 6 14 21 Hardwar 0 40 IS TEE 40 6 13 size of SSTV JPG Images nn cnn cnn nana innen sss n nna 40 6 1 4 SpaceCam technology cccccoccccoccccnncccinnconancnnnnnoconnnonrnnnnnnn cnn nana nn nn nn nn cnn anar n nen nns 41 GAAT E ue elle CEET 41 6 1 42 User Interface perterriti nte uet a etg verte puse tem dea 41 0 2 SAEETY GONSIDERATIONS EE 42 GiB ESTOWAGE US Tous sete teet mr Uma ce mu Cm eum LE 42 6 4 SOFTWARE INS TAEA TION eese nennen nennen nennen S 42 6 4 1 Installation from SCIalchi uis a LEERE RE KARRAR KEREKE e edd dn 42 6 4 2 Removing a precedent installation of SpaceCam essen 42 6 4 8 Verifying the installation of SpaceCam sss eee 43 6 5 HARDWARE INSTALLATION ccs s seres on nee eere a dE 43 6 5 1 Connections Checklist iiie deti e e ne n d d d dnd e 43 6 6 SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION nenne nnn nnn nn nnns nnns a a nsns sss se sess sensns sees 44 6 6 1 Files and directOrles uiii eseiefvi esce tt 44 6 6 2 Configuration files tire ein der ed eee e en a E ede xv YR Fade 45 6 6 2 1 ISS SCAN INI configuration files asisas riaan ennt nnne nnns 45 6 6 2 2 OVERLAY TXT configuration file A 46 6 7 ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION 46 6 7 1 TransmilterGODTAOl iu ie cies NN 46 6 2 VOXODeralions AA ii a 47 6 7 3 Serial port operations
17. MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual MAREX NA MAREX NA International Space Station Amateur Radio SSTV System SpaceCam All Expedition Flights User s Manual Warning This manual relates to a stable software release which is however not yet approved for flight Author MAREX Team Document Issue 1 Software Issue RC1 Build 19 Issue 1 DRAFT 1 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual Document Change Log Software Pages Sections Issue Affected Reason for changes Draft April 01 Beta All First draft issue First formal issue From next issue changes will be highlighted 1 March 02 RC1 B19 All To be added before final version e considerations on SSC security e access to network drives USER Tab only e hardware connections details e limit on maximum number of stored files Issue 1 DRAFT 2 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1 Overview SpaceCam is an advanced multimedia application software which enables transmission and reception via ordinary radio equipment of drawings pictures and still video images Other than an interface box and the radio equipment no other external device is required to perform SpaceCam operations The PC where SpaceCam is installed handles all data formatting and modulating tasks thanks to the audio interfaces embedded in a PC i e audio board 1 2 Scope of the document This document constitutes the User Operating Manual for the S
18. No Vertical Center Selection from the text vertical position radio No buttons Justification Center Selection from the text horizontal position No radio buttons 6 6 2 2 OVERLAY TXT configuration file This file contains the text of the additional optional multi line message to be superimposed on transmitted images 6 7 Additional technical information 6 7 1 Transmitter Control The SpaceCam1 supports both PC Serial Port transmitter control and Voice Audio switching VOX The Configuration File of SpaceCam allows the user to select between the two modes of operation Only one mode can be selected at a time If the Serial TX control is selected the user can switch between different serial ports and choose between DTR and RTS signal leads only one of the two to act as PTT lines for the transceiver If the VOX option is selected an external device the SSTV VOX Module attached to the audio cables of the PC will perform the transmit receive switching The VOX circuit relies on hearing audio from the PC to control when the transmitter will be activated Because there are inherent delays in activating the VOX circuit and then the transceiver and the waiting for the transceiver to reach full power SoaceCam sends a wake up tone in the transmission Issue 1 DRAFT 46 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual preamble before the CW ID to the VOX device Without the wake up tone it may be possible that part of data being sent by SpaceCa
19. S A SPACECAM SYSTEM 8 2 8 1 Laptop to Audio Adapter connections ssessssieeseeeeeeeeennneneeeerrrnrnnreeeerrrrnnnnnerererennnnne 8 2 8 2 Radio equipments connection eese nennen nsns nnns nnn 9 2 8 8 SpaceCam video and images soures nnne 9 2 4 WHAT TO DO WITH DPACECAM 10 2 5 OVERVIEW OF SPACECAM OPERATING MODES esses enne nennnnnan nnns nensis nasi a sess nis 11 2 6 REMOTE OPERATIONS cccccccccccooonncnnnnncononononnnnnnnononononnnnnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnannnnnnnnnnronanananinnnnnns 11 3 USERINTERFACE anta 12 eelst el 19 4 1 INTRODUCTION rH 19 4 2 DESCRIPTION E 19 4 2 1 Application s window fame 19 SC E ME e rt LEE 19 AE Ee lte 20 4 22 SpaceCam controls dooooocococcccconcnoooccncnnnnnnrnnnnnnnn nn cnn cnn nnnnrr cnn nn nadar rn snas sinn nn cnn 20 4 2 2 1 Left hand image WINdO We ruta A e ricus 20 4 22 2 2 Right hand image WINdOW noiesa ia A ei 20 4 2 2 3 A ee ee OOO OTE 20 4 22 34 KE Ela e e 20 4 22 32 Rx signal strength indicator ceu RAE 20 4 2 2 4 Central controls oca E e Getae E e e C e 20 4 2 2 4 1 SSTV Mode selection list cene iet ei ahd SEVEN e e 20 4 2 2 4 2 Receiver spectral JIS play icri dere rtt eite eret dee erede eod 20 4 2 2 4 3 CPU usage indicator bar 21 4 2 2 4 4 Auto Save checkbox sisse esee enenatis tns tn annee insistentes nna 21 4 2 2 4 5 Lock Mode checkbox e eee I eden dence ra dendo a Yee aene 21 4 2 2 4 6 Slid
20. S2 Martin M1 Martin M2 AVT 90 AVT 94 Additional Receive only modes may be supported The SpaceCam program receives all of the most common SSTV modes When SpaceCam is placed in Auto Receive mode it will automatically detect and select the proper image mode 5 1 3 Image Formats SpaceCam will read most of the common image storage formats including Raster formats JPG GIF TIF BMP PCX FPX DIC PNG TGA RAS WPG PCT CMP Vector formats WMF PSD EPS Issue 1 DRAFT 27 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 5 2 SpaceCam Operating Modes SpaceCam operating modes are summarised in the following table Transmission Reception Single image Manual Mode Manual Mode Slide Show Auto Receive Multiple images i Lii Repeater Mode Every time the SpaceCam software program is started it is configured as follows Robot 36 SSTV standard with Lock Mode disabled Auto Receive Mode ON with Auto Save enabled Slide Show Mode OFF Repeater Mode OFF DEFAULT image collection selected DSP and other SETTINGS as used last time TEXT setting as used last time VIDEO source as used last time These settings correspond to manual TX operations user can select an image and command its one shot transmission and automatic RX operations Note To terminate at any time any operating mode it is sufficient to act on the STANDBY ABORT button and bring the application in the Stand by state 5 2 1 Radio station Callsign
21. Slide Show Mode at the same time Issue 1 DRAFT 32 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 5 2 8 Repeater Mode operations Repeater Mode is an operational modification of the Auto Receive Mode lt applies even if Auto Receive is selected while Slide Show Mode is also selected By activating the Repeater Mode automatically received images are sent immediately broadcast providing ground station a mean to share images at great distances within the current ISS coverage area An option exists to store repeated images on board 5 2 8 1 Repeater access control To gain access to the repeater ground stations shall send a fixed tone for at least 2 seconds in order to activate the image receive store and re transmit process Access to the repeater can also be restricted by means of security controls By enabling the SSID Required Security Option as opposed to the Security Off option ground stations shall encode their callsign as SSID in the image to be sent 5 2 8 2 Basic Repeater Mode Operation The program is operating in Auto Receive Mode and Slide Show transmit Mode is Off 1 Whenever a signal is present at the audio input of the SpaceCam SSC the software will attempt to determine which SSTV Mode is being used by the sender If the signal is recognised and stable the SSTV receiver will be activated to start decoding the image 2 During reception the result of the SSTV receiver process will be shown in the LH window as an image which is
22. al disk storage for images Variable The amount of disk space required store each SSTV image will vary depending on the amount of detail contained in the image There is a Disk Save feature in SpaceCam software which will limit the amount of disk space used by the SSTV images 6 1 3 size of SSTV JPG images Typical SSTV image sizes are as follows Issue 1 DRAFT 40 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual Maximum 100 kbytes Average 50 kbytes Minimum 18 kbytes Received images will have a resolution dependant from the SSTV mode used by the transmitting station see Section 5 1 1 and will correspond pixel to pixel to the images shown in the Left Hand Window Transmitted images will likewise have the resolution chosen by the SSTV Mode selected by the user When an image file is chosen for transmission its resolution will be adapted to fit in the Left Hand Window In other words transmitting a large image file will produce the transmission of a smaller low resolution copy of it and not that of the original file 6 1 4 SpaceCam technology The SpaceCam program is a full 32 bit Windows95 6 Windows98 or WindowsNT 4 application that couples the front panel GUI to a virtual SSTV engine which is based on state of the art DSP Digital Signal Processing technology The DSP engine can process SSTV images at near the theoretical limits of the SSTV signal specifications 6 1 4 1 System Highlights DSP VM Virtual Machine Analog signal d
23. arameter Malas Notes Modif GENERAL section RxSampleRate 11025 00 SSTV Receiver sampling rate No TxSampleRate 11025 00 SSTV Transmitter sampling rate No COM port used for transmitter keying while not ELERON el in VOX Tx control 0 is for VOX Tx control mes If PTTPort gt O selects the RTS signal to SSES False control PTT keying alternative to PTTDTR E PTTDTR False If PTTPort gt O selects the DTR signal to Yes control PTT keying alternative to PTTRTS PREFERENCES section AutoSave Trie State of the Auto Save check box at program No startup ModeLock False State of Mode Lock check box at program No startup State of Video Enable checkbox at program Video False startup Yes DSPFilter 3 DSP Filter option selection 0 to 3 No Sensitivity 3 SSTV Receiver sensitivity setting No Issue 1 DRAFT 45 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual Default Man Parameter Value Notes Modif Sharpness 4 DSP sharpness setting No FrameRate 15 Video source acquisition frame rate Yes us e Full pathname to user selected directory for SES Bk the USER image collection no SlideShowDelay 1 Delay between subsequent Slide Show Mode No transmissions Dedicated setting for ground based HF HFMode False operations Yes VideoDevice 0 ID of the video capture device Yes TEXT section GuestCallsign Additional guest operator callsign No Overlay False State of the text Overlay Enable checkbox
24. ayed in the RH window 1 Acting on the Camera Grab icon button the video image will be frozen and the snapshot transferred to the LH window It is not possible to grab an image if a transmission or a reception is underway 2 Acting on the TRANSMIT button the program will begin transmitting the image in the LH window 3 When the transmission of the image has completed SpaceCam will always return to the Auto Receive Mode A transmission can be terminated at any time by acting on the STANDBY ABORT button Upon commanding a manual transmission any other active mode Slide Show or Repeater is terminated 5 2 3 2 Transmit a Single Image from Disk The image source will be any of the images stored in the five collections showed in the thumbnails tray The first four collections have associated a fixed directory and purpose the fifth collection USER can be associated to any system disk directory by double clicking on the User Tab 1 By double clicking on any of the images shown in the thumbnails tray the selected image file is read from disk and a copy of the image will appear in the LH window Until the transmission is not started It is possible to change image at any time It is not possible to grab an image if a transmission or a reception is underway 2 Acting on the TRANSMIT button the program will begin transmitting the image in the LH window 3 When the transmission of the image has completed SpaceCam will alway
25. cause of the limited amount of Doppler effect on this band SAREX operations foresee a fixed operating frequency for ISS operators Therefore ground operators shall compensate for Doppler shift in the received frequency as the ISS move in relation to them Limiting the amount of Doppler shift will ease SSTV reception to kids students and other less skilled ground operators maximising the reach of the system The audio interface box can therefore be connected to any of the two transceivers available in the ISS HAM SAREX radio equipment the VHF one or the UHF one The chosen radio will need to be connected to one of the Amateur Radio external antenna ports on ISS ISS HAM Transceiver set up for details see SAREX Computer running documentation lt E we ssc Cable carrying SSTV VOX Module power from XCVR Receiver audio from XCVR Transmitter audio to XCVR PTT Control line to XCVR y a SSTV VOX Module ul olpne 2 3 3 SpaceCam video and images sources The SpaceCam software is designed to accept a live video input into the video port of the IBM 760 SSC computer The live video will be displayed on the right hand preview window of SpaceCam see chapter 3 Single screen shots are sampled from the live video stream and transmitted Issue 1 DRAFT 9 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual
26. ck operations All controls can be rapidly accessed using powerful multi tab function panels or single keyboard key strokes fast keys Disk storage of images is handled by means of a thumbnail tray which provides small preview images of image files available on the hard disk as well as instant drag and drop access to user s favourite directories 12 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual SpaceCam application window Center controls and inicators 1il MAREX NA SpaceCam 1 RC1 Build 019 12 August 2001 Left Hand LH A OC Offline Right Hand RH image window MA scottie 1 image window Scottie 2 llartin M1 md Receiver signal strength and transmission status indicator al TEST 20020316T118347Z cel E Operating modes Images directories k and parameters Slide EE disk path Use DISK icon setting controls We gt B AAN VARCHIVIOWAERENMB339 Enable video e Operations lo 18 31 15 Slide Show ON disk p 9 18 31 16 Slide Show OFF 8 31 16 TX Complete O lines 31 17 Slide Show ON disk 32 20 SS TX from disk Robot 36 9 34 04 SS TX from p lobot 36 Refresh Preview Grias Issue 1 DRAFT 13 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual aaa tor LEFT HAND IMAGE WINDOW This window shows the image selected for transmission or the image being received Full duplex operations simultaneous transmit and receive are not permitted During transmission a horizontal bar highlights the software scanning process of
27. cy and the other for TX sampling frequency The purpose of this adjustment is TBD Sensitivity This parameters adjusts TBD A single slider control permits varying values between 0 and 9 Issue 1 DRAFT 35 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 5 3 2 Other settings In the same tab panel it is possible to control the delay which the program will interpose between two subsequent Slide Show Mode transmissions Slide Show Delay This slider control permits to specify a delay ranging from 1 to 30 minutes 5 3 3 Text overlays Each operating mode will superimpose at least one text message on each processed SSTV image This applies both to images transmitted and received Additional multi line text overlays may be edited by the user by means of the TEXT Tab panel and superimposed to transmitted images All kind of text overlays are always shown in the Left Hand Window as soon as they are generated that is at the beginning of a transmission or reception The text overlay modify only the content of the Left_Hand Window and does not modify the content of the original image file Note Text overlays applies to all transmitted images as long as the option is enabled 5 3 3 1 Normal Reception of Images At the bottom left of each received image SpaceCam will superimpose the following information whose text is arranged in a single line CALLSIGN TIMETAG where the CALLSIGN of the sender station is extracted from the SSID see section
28. e comprises Software CD ROM includes manuals VOX SSTV Adapter Module VOX SSTV Adapter Module Cable audio cable Optional RS 232 PTT Switching and Audio Cable 6 4 Software installation 6 4 1 Installation from scratch The installation process is performed following these steps 1 Close any active application on the target computer 2 Insert the SpaceCam CD ROM and open it 3 Double click on Setup exe 4 Following the instructions on the screen it may be necessary to specify a different base directory from the one suggested for the installation of SpaceCam program files 5 At the end of the installation remove the CD ROM and proceed to verify the installation see 6 4 3 6 4 2 Removing a precedent installation of SpaceCam If SpaceCam is already present on a computer it is better to remove it before performing a new installation e for a software update In this case follow these steps 1 Select the Control Panel from Start gt Settings 2 Double click on the Install Remove Applications icon A window will appear 3 Scroll the list to find the SpaceCam entry Select it 4 Click on the Add Remove button and confirm Yes at the following prompt Issue 1 DRAFT 42 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 5 The program will be removed a few program directories containing images may be left in the file system and will require manual deletion 6 Close the Install Remove Applications window 6 4 3 Verifying t
29. e line text area shows the selected USER Tab directory from the above thumbnail tray or the filename of a selected image The relevant image filename is also shown if the mouse cursor is passed in front of each image in the thumbnails tray 4 2 2 7 Operations log text area This multi line text area is used a a scrolling log of events Internal events events caused by user actions autonomous operations and errors are all diplsyed in this area as one line time tagged comments The content of this log is reset each time that SpaceCam is executed When the number of log lines exceed the vertical dimension of the text area a vertical scrollbar is shown on the left side of the area 4 2 2 8 Multi tab panels control SpaceCam operations This multiple tab panel selector is for controlling SpaceCam SSTV operations and settings 4 2 2 8 1 MANUAL Tab 4 2 2 8 1 1 Slide Show On button This button activates the Slide Show Mode 4 2 2 8 1 2 Slide Show Off button This button deactivates the Slide Show Mode 4 2 2 8 1 3 Camera select button This button selects the video source as image source during Slide Show Mode The button is enabled only when a valid video source has been recognised and enabled Issue 1 DRAFT 22 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 4 2 2 6 1 4 Disk image select button This button selects the currently selected image collection shown in the thumbnails tray as image source during Slide Show Mode 4 2
30. e show delay indicator essent 21 4 2 25 Multi tab panels control image directory thumbnails selector sess 21 ED DEFAULT Ke WEE 21 42 252 LIBRARY Tati 21 4 2 2 5 3 REPEATED Tab irent tereti egt ENEE 21 42 22 54 CREW Tab idt ton EH e EE E P b E n 22 42 2 5 5 USER Tb ottenere ette edente ene eet eene tenete eet ette eden 22 4 2 2 5 6 Thumbnails tray xxi tor otn nter rte hen er tercie ee eet 22 4 2 2 0 Image directory pathname Imdicator nennen 22 4 2 2 7 Operations log leXEare9 cocotte eter dere ede eee ede eed tuens 22 4 2 2 8 Multi tab panels control SpaceCam operations sees 22 4 22 81 MANUAL Tab aL La 22 42 2 82 REPEATER Lab 24 4 2 2 8 3 SETTINGS Tab 4 a i E EE REN EET T a HER ERI RENI I EO TU dette 24 4 2 2 8 4 TEX T b EE 24 5 OPERATING delt 26 5 1 GENERALITIES EE A AR EE A ANE E OE ttu e E 26 Issue 1 DRAFT 51 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 5 1 1 SSTV Transmit NOES iuen viet 26 E SSTV Heceive MODES cidade lali nuit n ed till 27 5 1 3 Image MaS aia 27 5 2 SPACECAM OPERATING MOES 28 5 2 1 Radio station Callsign esses sessi enne eniin senes nr nnne nnne 28 5 22 Manual Stand by Vitis eee oet Ho eL oe eL eee 28 5 23 Manual transmission of single Images 29 5 2 3 1 Transmit a Single Image from Camera 29 5 2 3 2 Transmit a Single Image from Disk 29 5 2 3 3 Man altransmission timelile
31. eCam to the next 4 2 2 6 4 2 Message text area This multi line text area is to enter a text message to be superimposed to transmitted images in addition to the basic callsign time tag message normally displayed The content of this text area is preserved from one activation of SpaceCam to the next 4 2 2 8 4 3 Enable text overlay checkbox This check box is to enable the automatic addition of the Guest callsign and the Text Overlay in future image transmissions 4 2 2 8 4 4 Vertical Positioning radio buttons These radio buttons Upper Center Lower mutually exclusive with each other selects the vertical position of the additional text overlay 4 2 2 8 4 5 Horizontal Positioning radio buttons These radio buttons Left Justified Center Right Justified mutually exclusive with each other selects the horizontal position and layout of the additional text overlay Issue 1 DRAFT 25 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 5 OPERATING MODES 5 1 Generalities The SpaceCam SSTV system can be used basically for sending and receiving low resolution colour images The processes of sending and receiving are performed line by line each line content being modulated as audio tones During transmission the image to be sent is shown in the LH Image Window and a horizontal line scrolling over it will highlight the scanning process During reception the image being received is shown composed line by line in the LH Image Window Before transm
32. end of a manual reception and at the end of a manual transmission 2 Whenever a signal is present at the audio input of the SpaceCam SSC the software will attempt to determine which SSTV Mode is being used by the sender If the signal is recognised and stable the SSTV receiver will be activated to start decoding the image 3 During reception the result of the SSTV receiver process will be shown in the LH window as an image which is composed line by line 4 Image reception ends when the expected number of lines for the selected mode is reached 5 The received image is automatically stored in the DEFAULT collection and its filename will be composed with the current system date and time i e 2002 03 19 221532 JPG 6 When the transmission of the image has completed SpaceCam will return to the Auto Receive Mode Image reception and Auto Receive Mode can be terminated at any time by acting on the STANDBY ABORT button or by initiating a Manual Transmission The partially received image will not be saved to disk 5 2 6 2 Manual Re Sync The RE SYNC button is used during image reception to manually attempt to stabilise a poorly aligned image Each image line has a coded tone which marks its beginning Re sync ing the reception will force the SSTV receiver to re evaluate the receive signal for a better lock on these tones 5 2 7 Auto Receive and Slide Show combined operations It is possible to select both Auto Receive Mode and
33. etection provides superior performance over hard limited FM detectors by permitting sub cycle frequency recovery DSP VM runs at all times to provide detector spectral display tuning meter display and receive autostart based on VIS or sync recovery 6 1 4 2 User Interface Simple user interface one panel to receive or transmit images Most image operations are based on fast drag and drop or single click operations All controls can be rapidly accessed using powerful tab function panels or single keyboard key stokes fast keys Image processing functions include AF band pass filters to assist in removing out of band noise from received images Disk storage of images is handled by a thumbnail tray which provides small preview images of files on your disk as well as instant drag and drop access to user s favourite directories The SpaceCam system will capture video frames for transmission from Video For Windows compliant cameras and frame grabbing devices These can include internal frame grabbers USB connected cameras and video capture cards The only capture devices that should be avoided if possible are those that attach to the parallel printer port Generally speaking those devices are very inefficient of CPU bandwidth give poor video quality and can cause operational problems with SpaceCam If the use of a parallel port camera or capture device can t be avoided reduce the Frame Rate parameter desc
34. features are Caution SpaceCam is designed to work on 800 x 600 or larger screen sizes It is strongly suggested that you run Windows with your display settings set to use small fonts If you have trouble reading small fonts the proper solution is to set your screen to a lower resolution i e instead of 1024 x 768 on a 15 monitor you might try 800 x 600 If you use large fonts Windows will scale up all of the screen elements including all controls and image boxes on the screen to accommodate the larger fonts Unfortunately fixed elements such as actual bitmaps SSTV pictures will not be scaled up as it is important to maintain their original actual pixel sizes The effect of this is that you will end up with large forms on your screen which will waste precious screen area By using small fonts controls become more compact and more screen area is available for real work Caution Selection of operating parameters and in certain instances of operating times and modes shall follow ground established rules which are also propagated to a vast community of ground users Only in certain instances the crew may act on their own on available parameters to improve the reception of ground transmitted images Issue 1 DRAFT Simple user interface one single window panel used both to receive manage and transmit images Most image operations are based on fast drag and drop or single cli
35. ge Time Sequence of events 0 sec A fixed delay of N minutes is applied N 60 sec Preamble transmission start with generation of a fixed tone to key the transceiver into transmit by means of VOX N 60 2 sec Station ID transmission begins sent as CW tone 12 wpm N 60 4 sec After ID completed picture Transmission starts immediately using SSTV Robot 36 mode N 60 36 sec The transmission ends nominally N 60 42 sec Total timeline time The number of minutes used for the intra images delay ranges from 1 to 30 The transmission time of an image depends on the selected SSTV mode See 5 1 1 for details The total timeline time shall therefore revised accordingly to the selection made Note Slide Show Mode can be used to transmit a single beacon like image In order to perform such an operation store the image in a single separate directory and select the directory as USER collection Given the presence of a single image in the directory Slide Show Mode will continuously transmit the same image 5 2 5 Manual reception of single images 5 2 5 1 Manual Receive Mode This mode is used to force SpaceCam to start decoding an SSTV image which is being received too weakly to activate the Auto Receive mode 1 Acting on the RECEIVE button will immediately activate the reception process and the SSTV receiver will try to compose an image The SSTV
36. ges that is preferable to keep separate from the others USER Collection of images found in a user selected directory In Manual Mode the user will double click on a thumbnail to select an image for transmission In Slide Show Mode all the images in the selected collection will be transmitted in turn OPERATIONS LOG The Operations Log is a scrollable text area which provides a continuously updated listing of SpaceCam operations events and user actions All logged items are time stamped DRAFT 18 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 4 CONTROLS DESCRIPTION 4 1 Introduction In this section a detailed description is given of every element of the user interface The description follows a hierarchical listing of available controls The SpaceCam application is started by accessing the relevant shortcut in the Windows Start Menu under the Programs item Upon start up an initialisation screen is displayed for a limited time before being substituted by the main application window MAREX NA ISS SpaceCam 1 Des T a wm S e EX Xm D 3 gt Portions 1997 2001 Silicon Pixels USA TT Initializing Video m 4 2 Description 4 2 1 Application s window frame Speaking at application level SpaceCam is implemented in single fixed size movable window The window has no menu bar for every actions is performed by means of other kind of controls mainly buttons The window frame hosts two standard buttons 4 2 1 1
37. he installation of SpaceCam If it is desired to operate SpaceCam with an external video source video camera or webcam please connect it to the computer before starting the program Start SpaceCam by selecting the item ISS SCAN in the Programs list of the Start Menu ech 2 An initialisation screen will appear to be substituted by the main and only SpaceCam window The program is successfully running 3 Enable the video source by selecting the relevant checkbox in the MANUAL Tab 4 Verify that images are available in the Right Hand window 5 Click on the Camera Grab button of the MANUAL Tab A snapshot of the streaming video will be transferred to the Left Hand window 6 Clock on the TRANSMIT button of the MANUAL Tab Transmission of the image will start and an audio tone will be heard from the computer speaker 7 The system is ready to operate and to be connected to the radio system Warning Always install and test the drivers for the video source camera or webcam before running SpaceCam with Enable Video selected 6 5 Hardware installation The SSC IBM 760 computer running SpaceCam will be connected to one of the two SAREX 2 meter or 70cm transceivers via the SSTV VOX Adapter Module see also 6 7 1 6 5 1 Connections checklist 1 Un stowing the necessary items Issue 1 DRAFT 4 o MAREX NA oP nodi puer Connecting the various parts Powering the various parts Firing it up Detaching the
38. he video source and transmit them 2 Acting on the Slide Show On button the Slide Show Mode is activated and a delay counter will be displayed at the centre of the window at the bottom of the central controls panel Slide Show Mode can be selected even if a transmission reception is underway but its operations will start only when the current process reaches an end 3 When the delay counter reaches zero a frame is grabbed from the video source transferred to the LH window and the transmission begun 4 When the transmission of the current image has completed the delay counter will be reset to its initial value and the process will repeat with a new grabbed image Slide Show Mode can be terminated at any time by acting on the STANDBY ABORT button or by initiating a Manual Transmission or Manual Reception 5 2 4 2 Slide Show Mode from disk The image source will be any of the images stored in the five collections showed in the thumbnails tray The first four collections have associated a fixed directory and purpose the fifth collection USER can be associated to any system disk directory by double clicking on the User Tab Slide Show Mode iterates through the image collection by filename following the alphabetic order 1 By selecting the Disk source with the dedicated icon button within the Slide Show frame Slide Show Mode will cycle through the images present in the collection and transmit them By double clicking on any
39. hem store them on disk and have them replayed autonomously and continuously enabling ground stations to collect them in a few passages Issue 1 DRAFT 10 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual Another scenario foresee ground station taking the active part in the radio link and sending images to the crew aboard the ISS or even having the SpaceCam software acting as a space borne repeater for ground operators As an additional feature a ground station can remotely control SpaceCam operations when the program is running and the laptop is connected to a transceiver The remote control is performed by means of DTMF audible tones sent over the radio link In conclusion it is evident that SpaceCam SSTV operations will permit full exploitation of the SAREX radio equipment even when the crew is too busy to perform ordinary voice contacts with ground stations The ability to receive real time images or collect special images edited by the crew will offer great public outreach opportunities 2 5 Overview of SpaceCam operating modes Different operating modes have been defined for SpaceCam The following table provides a summary of available modes Transmission Reception Single image Manual Mode Manual Mode Slide Show Auto Receive Multiple images Mode Mode Repeater Mode Transmission Manual Mode The user can select a single image for transmission The image source can be an image file or a frame grabbed from a video source
40. ines for the selected mode is reached Issue 1 DRAFT 33 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 4 lf the Save Repeated Images option is set checkbox then the received image is automatically stored in the REPEATED collection and its filename will be composed with the current system date and time i e 2002 03 19 221532 JPG 5 After reception the transmission process begins and the received image still in the LH window is re transmitted 6 When the transmission of the image has completed SpaceCam will return to the Auto Receive Mode and the Slide Show Mode will be resumed Repeater Mode operations can be terminated at any time by acting on the STANDBY ABORT button or by initiating a Manual Transmission or a Manual Reception With reference to the Repeater Mode Timeline see next paragraph it shall be noted that images transmitted as part of the Slide Show Mode cycle will include the RRR message before the Station ID sent as CW in order to notify ground stations of the availability of the repeater This should avoid interfering tentatives by ground stations to try and activate the SSTV repeater 5 2 8 4 Repeater Mode timeline This timeline applies to all transmission modes for each image transmission Time Sequence of events First phase 0 Repeater tone meeting requirements is received If Slide Show is On the its operation is suspended SpaceCam waits for ground station to resume receive mode
41. ingle line CALLSIGN TIMETAG where the CALLSIGN is that of the local station as programmed in the registration of SpaceCam without registration the callsign is TEST and TIMETAG is a string providing date and time of the begin of the transmission specified in the format YYYYMMDDTHHMM 2 where NNN is a counter ranging from 001 to 999 the counter is incremented for each repeated image and is reset to 000 whenever the program is taken out of Repeater Mode Example REPEATER 015 Repeated Image NA1ISS 20020615T1523Z Issue 1 DRAFT 37 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 5 3 3 4 Additional text overlays It is possible to add additional text overlays to transmitted images By means of the TEXT Tab panel it is possible to specify a new guest callsign to substitute the default one and or a multi line text message to be superimposed in addition to the default text overlay By checking the Enable checkbox in the TEXT Tab The guest callsign if specified will substitute the default callsign register with SpaceCam in the bottom left corner of the image along with the time tag Example of guest callsign only Transmitted Image GUEST 20020615T1523Z The multi line text message is instead positioned over the image to be sent accordingly to user settings which specify the vertical and horizontal position of the overlay If the lower left corner is selected then the additional text will be overlaid jus
42. itting an image a station identifier typically the callsign of the ISS Amateur Radio Station is transmitted in CW modulated as an audio tone Ground stations sending images will typically embed their callsign inside a data packet SSID modulated in the first line of the SSTV signal SpaceCam has the option to automatically store received SSTV images The images will be saved on the SSC disk drive in a specific directory The crew can disable this AutoSave option at any time The amount of disk space required to store each SSTV image varies depending on the amount of detail contained in the image There is a Disk Save feature in SpaceCam software which will limit the amount of disk space used by the SSTV images Images received are saved as JPG or JPEG file formats Image to be transmitted can be selected between a number of multiple formats practically all the known ones Images can have text superimposed Received images will have superimposed a line of text containing the time stamp with the reception time and the callsign extracted from the embedded SSID Transmitted images will have superimposed the ISS amateur radio station callsign and the time stamp with the transmission time Users can additionally specify one or more lines of text to be superimposed as well to transmitted images Different standards exist for transmission of images through radio links The amateur community utilises a number of them and SpaceCam is able to operate wi
43. lay settings will default to values chosen during final hardware software test integration In case of need the user can adjust the values New values will be saved until changed again or reset to default values 6 7 4 Repeater access control Ln ud Tone requirements are Frequency 1750hz 100hz for 2 seconds or longer Distortion Less than 10 Signal to Noise ratio gt 18db S N S N ABOVE internal noise 6 7 5 Dedicated settings This paragraph describe how to set the different controls related to audio levels DSP filter characteristics and the like Issue 1 DRAFT 48 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 7 CREDITS SpaceCam contains portions of software copyrighted by Silicon Pixels All other brand names and trademarks which appear in this document belongs to their respective owners Gregory Miles Mann WF1F Chelmsford Massachusetts MAREX NA Director of Engineering SpaceCam Designer and project Manager Coordinated the Design efforts of the Mir SSTV project including funding hardware acquisition and Mir crew training in Star City Russia Also designed and delivered two other projects to the Russian Space Station Mir the Kantronics KPC 9612 Modem upgrade and the DCI Filter projects Henry Cantrell W4HTB Bowling Green Kentucky MIR SSTV Project Designer of the Auto Controller Boris Garber Bowling Green Kentucky Provided translation into Russian of technical documentation Don C Miller W9NTP Waldr
44. m is lost 6 7 2 VOX Operations The VOX device will be activated by the DTMF character symbol The tone will be generated for approximate 1000 milliseconds This should allow enough time for the VOX sensors to detect the tone and send the commands to cause the transceiver to begin transmitting Most transceivers require 300 500 milliseconds to switch from the receive mode to transmit mode and establish full power In theory the transceiver should be at full power transmit mode before the first letter of the CW ld is sent from SpaceCam The VOX circuit will continue to maintain the transmit mode as long as there is an audio stream present Note A time out circuit built into the VOX hardware will cause the VOX to shutdown TX commanding of the transmitter if this is already active since more than 5 minutes of continuos operation The VOX circuit will stop commanding a transmission after a loss of audio lasting between 2 3 seconds The following table summarises the timings for VOX operations Start Tone DTMF 1000 msec Adjustable 500 2000 ms Delay before CW ID 1000 msec Adjustable 500 2000 ms CW ID Fixed Delay after CW ID 1000 msec Adjustable 500 2000 ms SSTV Sync pulse Depends on SSTV mode SSTV data 35 90sec SSTV mode dependant Delay after image no Audio 2000 msec Fixed The delay settings will default to values chosen during final hardware software test integ
45. o band from short waves to millimetre waves The image to be sent is scanned mechanically or electronically and transmitted as a continuously modulated audio signal Synchronisation signals typically audio tones are embedded in the modulation in order to permit the reconstruction of the image at the other end of the link The modulation speed is always kept to a minimum in order to operate on narrow band channels These limitations reduce the number of line sent each second and therefore the transmission time of the related image Typically a few tens of seconds are needed to transmit a full image Given the inherent characteristics of the transmission method broadcast type there is no error checking at the receiver side Received images are therefore subjected to interference noise and other disturbances which may appear as dots or missing lines MIR experience with the previous SpaceCam equipment and Shuttle experience with the SAREX equipment showed however that even basically equipped ground stations can receive good quality images despite the relatively low output power of amateur radio equipment aboard crewed missions The difference in the number of scan lines in the modulation method and in other parameters gave birth to different SSTV modes The SpaceCam software operated and recognises the most widely used of these SSTV modes Like other amateur radio equipment operational rules the operating mode of SpaceCam shall be coordina
46. of the images shown in the thumbnails tray the selected image file is read from disk and a copy of the image will appear in the LH window but this has no effect on Slide Show operations 2 Acting on the Slide Show On button the Slide Show Mode is activated and a delay counter will be displayed at the centre of the window at the bottom of the central controls panel Slide Show Mode can be selected even if a transmission reception is underway but its operations will start only when the current process reaches an end Until an image transmission is not started It is possible to change the selected image collection at will Changing collection will reset the image index to the first image in the collection Issue 1 DRAFT 30 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 3 When the delay counter reaches zero a frame is grabbed from the video source transferred to the LH window and the transmission begun 4 When the transmission of the current image has completed the delay counter will be reset to its initial value and the process will repeat with the next image in the collection At the end of the collection the process will repeat again from the first image Slide Show Mode can be terminated at any time by acting on the STANDBY ABORT button or by initiating a Manual Transmission or Manual Reception 5 2 4 3 Slide Show Mode Timeline This timeline applies for a single image transmission in the Slide Show Mode and it is repeated for each new ima
47. on IN Integration of all the different pieces equipment into a working module and participation in all tests such as terrestrial airborne and satellite relays through several amateur satellites Chris Scott WB9NEQ Bowling Green Ky Assisted Hank Cantrell in testing the Slow scan unit in an aeronautical environment In particular he flew the airplane while ground stations recorded transmission quality Transmission simulations have determined that stations with a zero gain antenna system should be able to decode several images a day Farrell Winder W8ZCF Cincinnati Ohio Project originator and design integrator Issue 1 DRAFT 49 MAREX NA SpaceCam John Langner W2OSZ Chelmsford Mass Testing and evaluation Jim Barber N7CXI Selah Washington Software design imaging hardware integration Lou McFadin W5DID Orlando Florida Audio adapter design and implementation Fabrizio Bernardini Rome Italy User manual Issue 1 DRAFT User s Manual 50 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 8 INDEX D INTRODUCTION aria a ER 3 1 1 OVERVIEW tace aaa ae 3 1 2 SCORE OF THE DOCUMENT tacto DIL ee es 3 St Documentstiructure ere e EEN EE Ee den 3 1 3 ACRONYMS LEIST cect oi WEBB he 4 1 4 APP ICABLE DOCUMENTS nitatoa bd EIE EE 6 2 OVERVIEW ee TA 7 2 1 WHAT IS DGPACEC AM 7 2 2 WHAT ARE SSTV OPERATIONS ccccccccsssssecccceeeceaesesecccceeeeseaeeeecceeeeeeeaaeeeseseeeeeeessaaeeseseeeeeeeaaa 7 2 3 WHAT COMPOSE
48. onfiguration in order to maintain application performances 4 2 2 4 4 Auto Save checkbox Selecting this checkbox enables the automatic storage in the DEFAULT collection of received images Storage of repeated images is handled by another dedicated checkbox 4 2 2 4 5 Lock Mode checkbox wm 4 2 2 4 6 Slide show delay indicator This small text indicator appears at the bottom of the central controls in correspondence with the centre of the application window only when Slide Show Mode is selected On When visible it indicates the number of seconds before the next Slide Show image transmission 4 2 2 5 Multi tab panels control image directory thumbnails selector This multiple tab panel selector is for selecting images available on the PC s disk Four collections are stored in fixed directories A fifth is associated to images found in a user selected directory 4 2 2 5 1 DEFAULT Tab This tab shows images contained in the DEFAULT directory created during the installation of SpaceCam in the application base directory usually C Program Files ISS SCAN This directory is used to store images received by SpaceCam when the Auto Save option is checked Images stored can be used for further re transmissions 4 2 2 5 2 LIBRARY Tab This tab shows images contained in the LIBRARY directory created during the installation of SpaceCam in the application base directory usually C Program Files ISS SCAN This directory i
49. ore revised accordingly to the mode used by the ground station and by the SSTV mode chosen by the user 5 3 SpaceCam operation settings 5 3 1 DSP and SSTV settings SSTV receive and transmit operations are DSP algorithms based Receive algorithms in particular are sensitive to certain parameters that could require adjustment while in operating conditions Dedicated controls are therefore provided to enable crew adjustment of these parameters Note It shall be remarked that varying parameters values shall be performed only with a clear understanding of their purposes Default values are already optimised for the majority of operating condition as they can be foreseen in ground simulations The parameters concerning SSTV operations are the following Sharpness This parameters adjusts TBD A single slider control permits varying values between 0 and 9 Filter selection This combination of radio buttons permits to choose between different filtering options to be applied before reception sampling is performed TBC Available settings are No filter no filter is applied High Pass high frequency components are removed Band Pass the receiver pass band is restricted Narrow Band Pass the receiver pass band is restricted even more The first two options are suggested for Robot 36 SSTV mode operations Slant adjust This button opens window which presents two sliders one for adjusting the RX sampling frequen
50. paceCam application software and related hardware interfaces 1 2 1 Document structure This document is divided in 8 sections Section 1 is this section it provides references to material for a better understanding of this manual Section 2 provides an overview of the SpaceCam system that is the software environment and the hardware interfaces Section 3 provides a walk around of the user interface highlighting the major topics related to operating SpaceCam Section 4 provides a detailed description of the different user interface controls available Section 5 describes the basic operating modes of SpaceCam and the procedures for combined modes Section 6 collects all technical details and provides the procedure to follow in order to install SpaceCam and prepare the related hardware for SSTV operations Section 7 collects the credits acknowledgements and copyright information Section 8 provides a reference index Issue 1 DRAFT 3 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 1 3 Acronyms list AAA ARISS Audio Adapter AMSAT Amateur Radio Corporation ARISS Amateur Radio on International Space Station BMP Bitmap image file format CMP CW Continuous Wave or Morse Code transmission DIC DSP Digital Signal Processor or Processing DTMF DSR Data Set Ready interface signal DTR Data Terminal Ready interface signal EMF Enhanced Me
51. ration In case of need the user can adjust the values New values will be saved until changed again or reset to default values 6 7 3 Serial port operations The serial port DTR n ME signal will be set High Active during all SSTV transmission sessions and set during SSTV receive modes and during stand by The transceiver interface will be expected to track the status of the DTR or RTS signal to control the transceiver mode The delay before CW ID should be long enough for the transmitter to reach full power Most transceivers require 300 500 milliseconds to switch from the receive mode to transmit mode and establish full power In theory the transceiver should be at full power transmit mode before the first letter of the CW id is sent from SpaceCam The DTR signal will continue to indicate the transmit mode as long as it is Issue 1 DRAFT 47 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual required by SpaceCam The DTR signal will be set low to signal the transceiver interface to switch back to receive mode The following table summarises the timing for serial port operations DTR selected as source of the PTT signal DTR signal goes High Delay before CW ID 500 ms Adjustable 500 2000 ms CW ID Fixed Delay after CW ID 1000 ms Adjustable 500 2000 ms SSTV Sync pulse Depends on SSTV mode SSTV data 35 90 sec SSTV mode dependant Delay after image 2979 Adjustable 1000 2000 ms DTR signal goes Low The de
52. ribed below to as low a value as possible Issue 1 DRAFT 41 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 6 2 Safety considerations Every precaution has been taken to ensure that SpaceCam will not be the source of malfunctions in the SCC In particular SpaceCam will not modify or delete any file present in the file system of the computer on which it is installed Received images are stored only in predefined directories themselves allocated within the SpaceCam application sub tree The only directory accessible outside the SpaceCam sub tree is that selected as USER collection of images Even in this case files in the selected directory will be accessed only read only and the access will be limited to files which are recognised to be of a standard graphical format This guarantee that using SpaceCam or any other feature included in SpaceCam will not modify sensitive portions of the file system and that the transmission of non graphical information will not be permitted In addition there is no known chance that a virus may be injected into the SSC by means of uploaded video images SpaceCam is designed to save only image files and save them as JPG or JPEG files Received signals are analogue ones sampled and converted to a digital stream which in turn is formatted as a JPEG file which cannot be an executable one SpaceCam does not perform a computer to computer digital file transfer in any direction 6 3 Stowage list The SpaceCam softwar
53. s provided to collect reference images gathered from different sources for use during SSTV operations 4 2 2 5 3 REPEATED Tab This tab shows images contained in the REPEATED directory created during the installation of SpaceCam in the application base directory usually C Program Files ISS SCAN This directory is used to store images received by SpaceCam and subsequently repeated when the Repeater Mode is On and the checkbox relvant to repeated images saving is selected Issue 1 DRAFT 21 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 4 2 2 5 4 CREW Tab This tab shows images contained in the CREW directory created during the installation of SpaceCam in the application base directory usually C Program Files ISS SCAN This directory is provided as an additional storage area for personal images which are preferably kept separate from others 4 2 2 5 5 USER Tab This tab shows images contained in the directory selected by the user by double clicking on this tab label Any recognised image found in the selected directory will be shown in the thumbnails 4 2 2 5 6 Thumbnails tray By selecting one of the Tabs the thumbnails tray shows a small preview of the images contained in the corresponding directory Double clicking on any image shown in the thumbnails tray a copy of the image is transferred to the Left Hand Window in view of a possible transmission 4 2 2 6 Image directory pathname indicator This singl
54. s return to the Auto Receive Mode A transmission can be terminated at any time by acting on the STANDBY ABORT button Upon commanding a manual transmission any other active mode Slide Show or Repeater is terminated 5 2 3 3 Manual transmission timeline This timeline applies to all transmission modes for each image transmission Time Sequence of events 0 sec Preamble transmission starts with generation of a fixed tone to key the transceiver into transmit by means of VOX 2 sec Station ID transmission begins sent as CW tone 12 wpm Issue 1 DRAFT 29 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 4 sec After ID completed picture Transmission starts immediately using SSTV Robot 36 mode 36 sec The transmission ends nominally 42 sec Total timeline time The transmission time of an image depends on the selected SSTV mode See 5 1 1 for details The total timeline time shall therefore revised accordingly to the selection made 5 2 4 Automatic transmission of multiple images Slide Show Mode operating settings are discussed in section 5 3 Slide Show Mode can operate in conjunction with Repeater Mode and Auto Receive Mode 5 2 4 1 Slide Show Mode from camera With the Video source enabled checkbox the camera output is replayed in the RH window 1 By selecting the Camera source with the dedicated icon button within the Slide Show frame Slide Show Mode will periodically grab images from t
55. sign of a guest radio operator which is using the ISS radio station whose callsign always appear in the lower left corner of the transmitted image It is to be noted that images repeated via SpaceCam while in Repeater Mode will not have the text overlaid Upper Left Justified C Center Centered C Lower Right Justified Issue 1 DRAFT 16 MAREX NA Robot 72 Scottie 1 Scottie 2 Martin M1 iv Auto Save I Lock Mode 59 MAN Transmitting 48 l 0020319700007 ENE Issue 1 SpaceCam User s Manual CENTRAL CONTROLS This area collects different controls The uppermost selection list is used to select the desired SSTV signal standard for transmission and to display the SSTV mode automatically recognised by SpaceCam during reception of an image Below is the Spectral Display which provides additional information about the quality of received signals The CPU usage bar provides indication of system resources utilisation Two checkbox controls enable the Auto Save feature for received images and permits locking the SSTV standard selection control on the panel to avoid its inadvertent activation Below the above mentioned controls and when the Slide Show Mode is selected a text box provides indication of how many seconds are due before start the transmission of the next image STATUS INDICATOR These controls are situated below the Left Hand window and perform two roles depending whe
56. t above the standard text information Example multi line text in the upper centred position no guest callsign HELLO EVERYBODY FROM THE ISS Transmitted Image Example multi line text in the lower left position and guest callsign Transmitted Image HELLO EVERYBODY FROM THE ISS GUEST 20020615T1523Z Issue 1 DRAFT 38 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 5 4 Operating modes transitions and eligibility TBD Issue 1 DRAFT 39 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 6 TECHNICAL DATA 6 1 Performance data 6 1 1 Requirements The SpaceCam software has been designed for installation on ISS Station Support Computers IBM Thinkpads running Microsoft s Windows The SpaceCam software can also be used on similar PCs equipped with SoundBlaster compatible audio cards required and with video frame grabber hardware optional The PC shall run Microsoft s operating systems Windows 95 Windows 98 and NT 4 0 Laptop CPU and Memory minimum requirements Operating System E RAM Mbytes Kate Windows 95 166 48 2 Windows 98 250 96 2 Windows ME 300 128 4 Windows NT 300 128 2 Windows 2000 500 256 4 6 1 2 Other requirements 6 1 2 1 Hardware TrueColor video card 16 24 or 32 bit display 16 bit crystal controlled Soundcard with appropriate drivers software 6 1 2 2 Software Memory requirements during operation TBD Disk requirements for full installation TBD Addition
57. t provides a continuous relative indication of the strength level of the received signal 4 2 2 4 Central controls The central controls are mainly dedicated to SSTV mode selection and additional status information 4 2 2 4 1 SSTV Mode selection list This list provides a mean to select a different SSTV mode other than the default one which is Robot 36 The selected mode applies to image transmission for during reception the SSTV receiver selects automatically a mode compatible with the standard used by a ground station 4 2 2 4 2 Receiver spectral display This dedicated control present a continuous sampling of the spectral content of the signal receied at the audio input The overall span of the control is about 2500 Hz and the vertical lines correspond to the following audio frequencies e 1200 Hz which is the Sync frequency start of each image scan line e 1500 Hz which corresponds to the black colour Issue 1 DRAFT 20 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual e 1900 Hz which corresponds to the 50 gray colour e 2300 Hz which corresponds to the white colour 4 2 2 4 3 CPU usage indicator bar This provides a percentage and progress bar like indication of CPU resource usage The progress bar changes colour from green to yellow to red to highlight situation when available resources are scarce Since CPU resources are shared by SpaceCam the operating system and possibly other application the user has the option to alter the system c
58. taFile image file format EPS Enhanced PostScript FPX GIF Graphical Image Format image file format ISS International Space Station JPG Joint Photographic Group image file format MAREX NA Manned Amateur Radio Experiment North America NTSC PCT Image file format PCX Image file format PNG Image file format PSD Image file format PTT Push To Talk interface signal to bring a transmitter on the air RAS RTS Request To Send internface signal RX Receiver Issue 1 DRAFT 4 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual SAREX Space Amateur Radio Experiment SSC Station Support Computer SSID Secondary Station Identifier SSTV Slow Scan TeleVision Sysop System Operator TGA TARGA Image file format TIF TIFF Image file format TX Transmitter UHF Ultra High Frequency for ARISS ops this is the 440 MHz or 70cm band VHF Very High Frequency for ARISS ops this is the 145 MHz or 2m band VOX Voice Operated Switch WMF Windows Meta File image file format WPG Wpm Words Per Minute symbol speed for CW operations XCVR Transceiver Issue 1 DRAFT 5 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 1 4 Applicable documents To be completed JSC 48529 International Space Station Command and Data Group Portable Onboard Computers JSC XXXXX ISS HAM SAREX Equipment L ISS HAM SAREX operations plan L ISS Crew Equipment and or Camcorder workbook
59. ted by selected ground stations It shall be remarked that SSTV is an analogue communication mode i e there is no digital transfer of information like in MPEG Being of analogue nature the SSTV transmission is subject to degradation due to noise and interference on the communication channel This Issue 1 DRAFT 7 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual factors can degrade the quality of images at the receiving end of the link On the positive side a full image can usually be completely received even if heavily degraded 2 3 What composes a SpaceCam system The basic components of the SpaceCam project consist of a software application which will run on any Station Support Computer SSC supporting Windows 95 98 NT and an audio interface cable and adapter the ARISS Audio Adapter to be connected to the SSC The AAA will also interface to one of the two hand held transceivers which are part of the SAREX Amateur Radio Station equipment aboard the ISS The SpaceCam project is plug compatible with the SAREX equipment and will add two way SSTV support to the other available operating modes which are Voice and Packet 1 4 wave whip Russian Female RF connector RF Cable Pa FGB RF Cable ENC Male Internal Coupler Orbiter D C Adapter Power cable Module 1 4 wave whip Packet Module Transceiver Transceiver Cable Bold JSC ARC Furnished NSTS Furnished Fig 2 1 ISS HAM
60. th the most widely used ones Caution Selection of operating parameters and in certain instances of operating times and modes shall follow ground established rules which are also propagated to a vast community of ground users Only in certain instances the crew may act on their own on available parameters to improve the reception of ground transmitted images 5 1 1 SSTV Transmit modes SpaceCam supports the following SSTV transmit modes Mode name Transmission time sec No of lines Robot 36 36 240 Robot 72 72 240 Issue 1 DRAFT 26 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual Scottie S1 90 256 Scottie S2 94 256 Martin M1 90 256 Please note that the transmission time is not linked to the number of lines After SpaceCam program initialisation the video mode Robot 36 becomes the default mode used for transmission This mode is chosen as default because it requires the shortest amount of image transmission time 36 seconds The crew can manually override the Robot 36 mode selection and select any one of the other supported transmit modes It is not necessary for SpaceCam to support all other SSTV transmit modes currently available The additional transmit modes would only increase the complexity of the user interface and would not add any value to space borne applications 5 1 2 SSTV Receive modes SpaceCam supports the following SSTV receive modes Supported Receive SSTV modes Robot 36 Robot 72 Scottie S1 Scottie
61. then 5 sec Transmission of letter K as a CW tone 10 wpm Ground station has 10 seconds after K is transmitted to begin an SSTV transmission 10 sec max If the delay is longer than 10 sec or no transmission is made nothing is repeated and normal operations Auto Receive and Slide Show if it was On resume Second phase 0 SpaceCam begins to receive the SSTV signal Basing on security option it determines whether the signal qualifies to be repeated 36 sec End of reception Robot 36 mode assumption If the image didn t qualify then the received image will not be repeated and normal operations Auto Receive and Slide Show if it was On resume If the image qualify a separation delay is applied 1 sec Preamble transmission starts with generation of a fixed tone to key the transceiver into transmit by means of VOX 2 sec Transmission of RRR Station ID begins sent as CW tone 12 wpm 4 sec After ID transmission has completed picture Transmission starts immediately using SSTV Robot 36 mode Issue 1 DRAFT 34 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 36 sec The transmission ends nominally The program returns to Auto Receive Mode ana if it was On Slide Show Mode is resumed 79 sec Total second phase timeline time The transmission time of an image depends on the selected SSTV mode See 5 1 1 for details The total timeline time shall theref
62. ther SpaceCam is transmitting or receiving an image While transmitting the controls provide indication of the status as percentage of the full image scan of the transmission process While receiving the controls provide the time tag generated at the beginning of reception and an indication of the audio signal level at SpaceCam input DRAFT 17 MAREX NA Archivio Aerei mb339 00 00 24 Slide Show OFF 00 03 07 RX Start Robot 36 00 03 42 RX complete 240 lines 00 03 43 Auto ave completed 00 04 00 RX Start Robot 36 00 04 36 RX complete 240 lines 00 04 37 AutoS ave completed Issue 1 SpaceCam User s Manual IMAGE DIRECTORIES The Image Directories multiple tabbed control enables the user to select different collections of images Upon selection of a collection its content is shows as a scrollable thumbnail preview of the available images Five collections type are available for selection The first four corresponds to fixed hard disk directories The last collection offers the option to select any accessible directory by double clicking on the User Tab itself DEFAULT Collection of JPG images auto saved during reception These images can in turn be used for transmission LIBRARY Collection of working images gathered from different sources REPEATED Collection of auto saved images received during Repeater Mode operations CREW Collection of personal ima
63. to manually sample and transmit the camera output This button is enabled only if a valid video source is enabled and recognised 4 2 2 8 1 12 Stand by Abort button This button stop unconditionally any ongoing operating mode 4 2 2 8 1 13 Refresh previews button This button is to force an update of the content shown in the thumbnails trays 4 2 2 8 1 14 Musical note icon button This button is used to force the transmission of an audio tone to access ground based repeaters THIS BUTTON IS FOR TEST PURPOSES ONLY AND WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE IN THE FLIGHT VERSION Issue 1 DRAFT 23 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual 4 2 2 8 2 REPEATER Tab 4 2 2 8 2 1 Repeater Mode checkbox This checkbox is to select and enable Repeater Mode Repeater Mode can be engaged in Auto Receive Mode or in Slide Show Mode or both 4 2 2 8 2 2 Save Repeated Images checkbox This checkbox enables the option of saving repeated images in the REPEATED collection 4 2 2 8 2 3 Security radio buttons These radio buttons Security OFF SSID Required mutually exclusive with each other enables or disables the security option for Repeater Mode If enabled the image to be repeated shall have a valid SSID encoded in its leader 4 2 2 8 3 SETTINGS Tab 4 2 2 8 3 1 DSP Sharpness slider This slider control permits the adjustment of the sharpness of teh SSTV receiver 4 2 2 8 3 2 DSP Filter radio buttons These radio buttons No Filter High Pass Band
64. various parts Stowing everything SpaceCam User s Manual Figura 6 1 SSTV VOX Module prototype 6 6 Software configuration 6 6 1 Files and directories After installation in the SpaceCam base directory from thence assumed to be C Program Files ISS SCAN the following files directories will be part of the application C Program Files ISS SCAN Installation directory CREW DEFAULT LIBRARY REPEATED ISS SCAN exe Issue 1 CREW Image collection DEFAULT Image collection LIBRARY Image collection REPEATED Image collection SpaceCam application program DRAFT 44 MAREX NA SpaceCam User s Manual ISS SCAN INI SpaceCam configuration file OVERLAY TXT SpaceCam configuration file The 4 directories are associated to the relevant image collections and will be used to contain images User can manually edit the content of these directories For each image in the directories corresponding to the five collections SpaceCam will generate a preview image file extension is PRE corresponding to the small thumbnail image shown in the relevant tray This images are ver small typically 10 Kbytes in size The last two files are discussed in the next paragraph 6 6 2 Configuration files 6 6 2 1 ISS SCAN INI configuration file This file contains various parameters Most of them are managed by the program itself and shall not be modified The file is dived in sections Default Man P

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