NOAA Image Data Acquisition to Determine Soil Moisture in Arequipa-Per\'u

TL;DR

This paper presents a satellite data acquisition system using NOAA satellites, RTL SDR hardware, and custom antennas to obtain clear, descriptive images for soil moisture analysis in Arequipa, Peru.

Contribution

It introduces a low-cost satellite image reception setup with custom antennas and software for environmental monitoring in dry regions.

Findings

Successfully received clear NOAA satellite images

Designed antennas show good correspondence with simulations

System enables real-time soil moisture analysis

Abstract

In recent years, irrigations have been built on dry areas in Majes-Arequipa. Over time, the irrigations water forms moist areas in lower areas, which can have positive or negative consequences. Therefore, it is important to know in advance where the water from the new irrigation will appear. The limited availability of real-time satellite image data is still a hindrance to some applications. Data from NOAA's environmental satellites are available fee and license free. In order to receive data, users must obtain necessary equipment. In this work we present a satellite data acquisition system with an RTL SDR receiver, two 137-138 Mhz designed antennas, Orbitron, SDRSharp, WXTolmag and MatLab software. We have designed two antennas, a Turnstile Crossed dipole antenna with Balun and a quadrifilar helicoidal antenna. The antennas parameter measurements show very good correspondence with those obtained by simulation. The RTL SDR RTL2832U receiver, combined with our antennas and software, forms the system for recording, decoding, editing and displaying Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) signals. The results show that the satellite image receptions are sufficiently clear and descriptive for further analysis.