[Feature Request] Show tracked object and rotator positions on polar/az-el plot in satellite and star tracker feature plugins

[lrowen]

The current star tracker and satellite tracker plugins are great, but the az-el and polar displays are less useful than they could be. I would like to be able to see the following three things in addition to the current track: 1.) The object's current (Now) or Custom position (or even both) along the track; 2.) The rotator control's commanded position; 3.) The rotator control's actual rotator returned position.

This would provide a more interactive display especially in the polar plot. An example of what such could look like would be the GPredict rotator control screen's polar plot.

[srcejon]

1.) The object's current (Now) or Custom position (or even both) along the track;

The satellite tracker should currently display the Now position or position at a custom time (by changing Time from now to custom).

[lrowen]

Ah, ok, I never noticed the text label moving with the track.... Could a larger-than-the-track-width dot be added at the current position, perhaps?

EDIT: I am mostly doing pattern-determination drift scans right now, and the Custom time feature is for me the killer feature. Using the radio astronomy channelrx and its radiometer allows the use of satellite signals to show the antenna pattern; positioning the antenna to the Custom time position and letting the satellite drift through, recording the radiometer trace, is really nice. So seeing where the bird is versus the antenna position is very useful. As an example, here is a screenshot of my SDRangel setup during a drift scan of GPS Block IIF-4 this morning (it shows my Y-axis pointing is a bit off, too):

We're a US not-for-profit educational site, and SDRangel has been absolutely wonderful for our use!

[srcejon]

We're a US not-for-profit educational site, and SDRangel has been absolutely wonderful for our use!

Care to share a link? Might be able to add some other stuff for you.

[lrowen]

Sure; www.pari.edu

[srcejon]

Sure; www.pari.edu

Thanks. Very interesting. The HPBW figure in your screenshot suggests you might be using the 26m dish. That would be very cool!

[lrowen]

Yes, and it is really cool.

[srcejon]

1.) The object's current (Now) or Custom position (or even both) along the track; 2.) The rotator control's commanded position; 3.) The rotator control's actual rotator returned position.

How about this? Red shows the target, yellow the current position while off target and then green when on target (To match the button in the controller GUI).

[srcejon]

You mentioned on the other issue that you were looking at pointing error and active scans.

Currently a 2D map can be generated around a target from the Star Tracker (using an offset sweep):

I had planned to use this to calculate the pointing error - but never quite got around to it.

I hadn't thought of doing this using satellites, but it would be fairly straight forward to add the ability to target satellites as well.

[lrowen]

Oh, I like this idea. Using the 2D radiometer plot for pointing checks.

-- Lamar Owen

On Thu, Mar 30, 2023, 13:44 srcejon @.***> wrote:

You mentioned on the other issue that you were looking at pointing error and active scans.

Currently a 2D map can be generated around a target from the Star Tracker (using an offset sweep):

[image: image] https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/57259258/228918913-25c24670-93e2-4581-805a-ac292a16deb5.png

I had planned to use this to calculate the pointing error - but never quite got around to it.

I hadn't thought of doing this using satellites, but it would be fairly straight forward to add the ability to target satellites as well.

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