Satellite Tool Kit Tutorial

1
Satellite Tool Kit Tutorial

• Shaun Gorman
• Iowa State University
• Ames, Iowa

2
Introduction

• This tutorial was created by Shaun Gorman during
  2002-2003 to instruct people how to use Satellite
  Tool Kit (STK).
• A free version of STK is available from the AGI
  website (www.stk.com).

3
Notice

• In order to use this tutorial properly you should
  already know how to long on to Voyager. If you
  dont you should go back and review that tutorial
  first.
• This tutorial will take you step by step in the
  creation of a satellite and ground station for
  use in calculating access time.

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Topics Covered

• Creating a Scenario
• Creating a new LEO Satellite
• Using the Satellite Database
• Creating a Ground station
• Access times between satellites
• Ground station access times

5
Creating a Scenario

• In the Browser window, click the Scenario icon to
  create a new scenario and name it ISU. Once you
  create a scenario, the Map window displays.
• Make sure the new scenario is highlighted in the
  Browser window, and then select Basic from the
  Properties menu.
• The start time is the time at which the scenario
  begins.
• In the Time Period tab of the Basic Properties
  window, set the following options

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Creating a Scenario

• Select the Animation tab
• The start time is the time when the map windows
  will animate the scenario
• It is possible to not specify the end time, if
  this is done the scenario will continue until it
  is stopped manually
• The time step is how many steps you want between
  animation points.
• For this scenario the following values were set

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Creating a Scenario

• Click the Units tab and select the following unit
  types
• When you finish, click OK.

8
Creating a New LEO Satellite

• In the Browser window, click the
  Satellite icon.
• When the Orbit Wizard appears, click Cancel, and
  then name the satellite.
• For this exercise the satellite was named CY.
• Make sure the satellite is highlighted in the
  Browser and right click on it.
• Select basic from the properties menu.

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Creating a New LEO Satellite

• At this point you can select the type of
  propagator that STK will use to determine the
  orbit.
• For this particular satellite the J4 propagator
  was used.
• STK comes equipped with several different
  propagators with varying accuracy.

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Creating a New LEO Satellite

• In the Orbit tab, set the following values and
  click apply to save the changes
• The start and end times are the times when this
  particular satellite appears in the scenario.
• They are automatically set to the same values as
  the scenario start and stop times.
• These orbit values were chosen for a fake LEO
  satellite
• Any satellite parameters can be used for this
  tutorial

11
Using the Satellite Database

• In the Browser window highlight the ISU scenario,
  click the Tools menu and Select the Satellite
  Database Option.

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Using the Satellite Database

• The satellite database can be used to add any
  satellite that is in the NORAD database
• For this scenario NASAs Hubble Space Telescope
  (HST) was chosen.
• When the window opens click on the Common Name
  box, input the name of the satellite you have
  chosen into the blank and click on Perform
  Search.

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Using the Satellite Database

• When the search results pop up select the
  satellite that you have chosen and click ok.
• Some satellites may appear more than once, if
  this occurs chose the most recent entry.
• This will automatically insert your chosen
  satellite into the scenario.  

14
Creating a Ground Station

• In the Browser window, click the facility icon
• Name the new facility what ever you choose, for
  this tutorial Ames Iowa was chosen.

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• Make sure the facility is highlighted, right
  mouse click and select Basic from the menu that
  appears.
• In the Position tab of the Basic Properties
  window, set properties for the facility that you
  have chosen.
• The details for the Ames Iowa facility are shown
  to the right.
• Click OK to accept the inputs.

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Access Time Between Satellites

• In the Browser window, click the satellite icon
  of the first satellite that was input.
• Right mouse click and select Access from the menu
  that appears.

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Access Time Between Satellites

• Highlight the second satellite that was created
  and click on the compute button.

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Access Time Between Satellites

• When the second satellite turns bold click on the
  Access button in the reports box to display the
  time that the two satellites are able to access
  each other.
• After you have finished reviewing the access
  times close the window.
• Now click Remove All to clear the computed access
  times and click cancel to dismiss the access
  window.

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Ground Station Access Times

• In the Browser window highlight the facility icon
• Right mouse click and select Access from the menu
  that appears.

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Ground Station Access Times

• Highlight the satellites and click on the compute
  button.

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Ground Station Access Times

• When the satellite names turn bold click on the
  Access button in the reports box to display the
  time that the two satellites are able to access
  the ground station.

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Ground Station Access Times

• After you have finished reviewing the access
  times close the window.
• Now click remove all to clear the computed access
  times and click cancel to dismiss the access
  window.

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Conclusion

• This tutorial has only touched on some of the
  capabilities of STK.
• AGI offers classes to instruct users on more of
  the capabilities of STK.
• Information on these classes can be found by
  going to the STK training site at
  http//www.stk.com/resources/training/index.cfm