Processing and Visualizing the Low Earth Orbit Radio Frequency Spectrum Measurement Results From the SMOG Satellite Project

Abstract

December 6, 2019, the second and third Hungarian satellites, SMOG-P and ATL-1 (both having been developed at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics) were launched. They both had a radio frequency spectrum analyzer on board, which was used to measure for the first time the strength of radio frequency signals radiated into space by terrestrial digital TV transmitters – that can be detected in orbit around the Earth. In this paper, we present how two- and three-dimensional radiosmog maps were created from raw data received from space. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the process of creating these maps from the raw data collected; the analysis of the results visible in these maps is beyond the scope of the present discussion.