feat(sat): the sky engine — elements, look angles, passes, Doppler

The foundation of the satellite branch, and nothing above it yet: where a
satellite is (SGP4 from akhenakh/sgp4, Apache-2.0 and pure Go, so the
no-cgo rule holds), where it will be (passes with an elevation floor,
because a three-degree scrape is a line in a table that will never be a
QSO), and what its motion does to a frequency.

The Doppler pair is the part worth being careful about: the two
corrections go in OPPOSITE directions. The downlink arrives shifted and
we tune to meet it; the uplink must LEAVE shifted the other way to land
on the transponder's nominal input. A test pins the signs and the size —
7 km/s on 2 m is about 3.4 kHz.

Elements keep their raw lines beside the parsed form: that is what the
cache stores and what an operator pastes by hand for a bird no feed
carries yet, which is exactly when everyone wants to hear it.
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// Package sat is where a satellite is, where it will be, and what that does to
// a frequency.
//
// Three things live here and nothing else: the orbital elements a station keeps
// (Store), the sky as seen from that station (Track, Passes), and the Doppler
// shift the motion imposes (Shift). The radio, the rotator and the screen are
// all somebody else's business — they are handed numbers by the app layer.
//
// The propagation itself is SGP4 from github.com/akhenakh/sgp4 (Apache-2.0,
// pure Go): the model everyone in this hobby uses, and the one the TLEs are
// built for. Writing it again would be writing it worse.
package sat
import (
"fmt"
"math"
"sort"
"strings"
"sync"
"time"
"github.com/akhenakh/sgp4"
)
// speedOfLightKmS is the constant every Doppler correction here is built on.
const speedOfLightKmS = 299792.458
// Observer is the ground station: where the antenna is, in degrees and metres.
type Observer struct {
Lat, Lon float64
AltM float64
}
// Position is a satellite seen from the ground at one instant.
//
// The two halves answer different questions and both are wanted: where the
// thing IS (for the map) and where to POINT (for the rotator and the Doppler).
type Position struct {
Name string `json:"name"`
At time.Time `json:"at"`
// Sub-satellite point and height — the map's half.
Lat float64 `json:"lat"`
Lon float64 `json:"lon"`
AltKm float64 `json:"alt_km"`
Footprint float64 `json:"footprint_km"` // radius of the visibility circle
// Look angles — the station's half.
Az float64 `json:"az"`
El float64 `json:"el"`
RangeKm float64 `json:"range_km"`
RangeRate float64 `json:"range_rate"` // km/s, positive = receding
}
// Visible reports whether the satellite is above the horizon.
//
// Zero degrees, not a courtesy margin: an operator with a clear take-off works
// a pass from the moment it rises, and a station in a valley knows its own
// horizon better than this package ever will.
func (p Position) Visible() bool { return p.El > 0 }
// Pass is one crossing of the sky, from rise to set.
type Pass struct {
Name string `json:"name"`
AOS time.Time `json:"aos"`
LOS time.Time `json:"los"`
AOSAz float64 `json:"aos_az"`
LOSAz float64 `json:"los_az"`
MaxEl float64 `json:"max_el"`
MaxElAz float64 `json:"max_el_az"`
MaxElAt time.Time `json:"max_el_at"`
Duration float64 `json:"duration_s"`
}
// Element is one satellite's orbital elements, as they were published.
//
// The raw lines are kept beside the parsed form because they are what gets
// written to the cache and what an operator pastes in by hand for a bird that
// is not in any feed yet — a freshly launched one, above all, which is exactly
// when everybody wants to hear it.
type Element struct {
Name string `json:"name"`
NORAD int `json:"norad"`
Line1 string `json:"line1"`
Line2 string `json:"line2"`
// Epoch is when these elements were computed. Their accuracy falls away
// from it, which is why the store knows how old they are.
Epoch time.Time `json:"epoch"`
tle *sgp4.TLE
}
// Age is how long ago these elements were computed.
func (e Element) Age() time.Duration {
if e.Epoch.IsZero() {
return 0
}
return time.Since(e.Epoch)
}
// ParseElement reads one satellite from its two or three TLE lines.
func ParseElement(name, line1, line2 string) (Element, error) {
name = strings.TrimSpace(name)
line1 = strings.TrimSpace(line1)
line2 = strings.TrimSpace(line2)
if line1 == "" || line2 == "" {
return Element{}, fmt.Errorf("sat: %q has no orbital elements", name)
}
raw := line1 + "\n" + line2
if name != "" {
raw = name + "\n" + raw
}
t, err := sgp4.ParseTLE(raw)
if err != nil {
return Element{}, fmt.Errorf("sat: %q: %w", name, err)
}
if name == "" {
name = strings.TrimSpace(t.Name)
}
return Element{
Name: name,
NORAD: t.SatelliteNumber,
Line1: line1,
Line2: line2,
Epoch: tleEpoch(t),
tle: t,
}, nil
}
// tleEpoch turns the two-digit year and fractional day of a TLE into a time.
//
// The pivot is the one the format itself defines: 57 and above is the twentieth
// century, below it the twenty-first. It matters for the AGE of the elements,
// which is how an operator knows whether to trust a prediction.
func tleEpoch(t *sgp4.TLE) time.Time {
if t == nil || t.EpochDay <= 0 {
return time.Time{}
}
year := t.EpochYear
switch {
case year >= 57 && year <= 99:
year += 1900
case year < 57:
year += 2000
}
start := time.Date(year, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
return start.Add(time.Duration((t.EpochDay - 1) * float64(24*time.Hour)))
}
// Store holds the elements a station tracks. Safe for concurrent use: the app
// refreshes it from a feed while the tracking loop reads it several times a
// second.
type Store struct {
mu sync.RWMutex
byKey map[string]Element
order []string // insertion order, so a listing reads like the feed
fetch time.Time
}
func NewStore() *Store { return &Store{byKey: map[string]Element{}} }
// key is how a satellite is addressed. Case and spacing vary between feeds and
// between the operator's typing; the NORAD number would be exact but is not
// what anybody says out loud.
func key(name string) string { return strings.ToUpper(strings.TrimSpace(name)) }
// Put adds or replaces one satellite's elements.
func (s *Store) Put(e Element) {
if e.tle == nil || e.Name == "" {
return
}
k := key(e.Name)
s.mu.Lock()
defer s.mu.Unlock()
if _, had := s.byKey[k]; !had {
s.order = append(s.order, k)
}
s.byKey[k] = e
}
// Get returns one satellite's elements.
func (s *Store) Get(name string) (Element, bool) {
s.mu.RLock()
defer s.mu.RUnlock()
e, ok := s.byKey[key(name)]
return e, ok
}
// Names lists what the store holds, in the order it arrived.
func (s *Store) Names() []string {
s.mu.RLock()
defer s.mu.RUnlock()
out := make([]string, 0, len(s.order))
for _, k := range s.order {
out = append(out, s.byKey[k].Name)
}
return out
}
// Len is how many satellites are known.
func (s *Store) Len() int {
s.mu.RLock()
defer s.mu.RUnlock()
return len(s.byKey)
}
// FetchedAt is when the elements were last loaded from a feed, zero if never.
func (s *Store) FetchedAt() time.Time {
s.mu.RLock()
defer s.mu.RUnlock()
return s.fetch
}
// Replace swaps the whole set — what a feed refresh does. The order of the new
// set is kept, and the fetch time is stamped.
func (s *Store) Replace(els []Element, at time.Time) {
byKey := make(map[string]Element, len(els))
order := make([]string, 0, len(els))
for _, e := range els {
if e.tle == nil || e.Name == "" {
continue
}
k := key(e.Name)
if _, had := byKey[k]; !had {
order = append(order, k)
}
byKey[k] = e
}
s.mu.Lock()
defer s.mu.Unlock()
s.byKey, s.order, s.fetch = byKey, order, at
}
// Track is where one satellite is, seen from one station, at one instant.
func (s *Store) Track(name string, obs Observer, at time.Time) (Position, error) {
e, ok := s.Get(name)
if !ok {
return Position{}, fmt.Errorf("sat: %q is not in the element set", name)
}
return e.Track(obs, at)
}
// Track is the same for elements already in hand.
func (e Element) Track(obs Observer, at time.Time) (Position, error) {
if e.tle == nil {
return Position{}, fmt.Errorf("sat: %q has no usable elements", e.Name)
}
loc := &sgp4.Location{Latitude: obs.Lat, Longitude: obs.Lon, Altitude: obs.AltM}
eci, err := e.tle.FindPositionAtTime(at.UTC())
if err != nil {
return Position{}, fmt.Errorf("sat: %q: %w", e.Name, err)
}
// The state vector carries the position AND the velocity, which is what the
// look angle needs for the range rate — and the range rate is the whole of
// the Doppler shift.
sv := &sgp4.StateVector{
X: eci.Position.X, Y: eci.Position.Y, Z: eci.Position.Z,
VX: eci.Velocity.X, VY: eci.Velocity.Y, VZ: eci.Velocity.Z,
}
o, err := sv.GetLookAngle(loc, at.UTC())
if err != nil {
return Position{}, fmt.Errorf("sat: %q look angle: %w", e.Name, err)
}
return Position{
Name: e.Name,
At: at.UTC(),
Lat: o.SatellitePos.Latitude,
Lon: o.SatellitePos.Longitude,
AltKm: o.SatellitePos.Altitude,
Footprint: footprintKm(o.SatellitePos.Altitude),
Az: o.LookAngles.Azimuth,
El: o.LookAngles.Elevation,
RangeKm: o.LookAngles.Range,
RangeRate: o.LookAngles.RangeRate,
}, nil
}
// earthRadiusKm is the mean radius — the footprint is a circle drawn on a
// sphere, and a metre of flattening does not show at that scale.
const earthRadiusKm = 6371.0
// footprintKm is the radius of the circle from which the satellite is above the
// horizon: the ground distance to where it sits exactly on it.
func footprintKm(altKm float64) float64 {
if altKm <= 0 {
return 0
}
return earthRadiusKm * math.Acos(earthRadiusKm/(earthRadiusKm+altKm))
}
// Passes lists the crossings of the sky between two instants.
//
// minEl drops the passes not worth waiting for: a bird that scrapes three
// degrees over the horizon is a line in a table that will never be a QSO, and
// on a busy evening those are most of the list.
func (s *Store) Passes(name string, obs Observer, from, to time.Time, minEl float64) ([]Pass, error) {
e, ok := s.Get(name)
if !ok {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("sat: %q is not in the element set", name)
}
if !to.After(from) {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("sat: the window ends before it starts")
}
// Thirty seconds: fine enough that the rise and set times are right to a few
// seconds, coarse enough that a day of predictions for a dozen satellites
// stays instant.
details, err := e.tle.GeneratePasses(obs.Lat, obs.Lon, obs.AltM, from.UTC(), to.UTC(), 30)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("sat: %q passes: %w", e.Name, err)
}
out := make([]Pass, 0, len(details))
for _, d := range details {
if d.MaxElevation < minEl {
continue
}
out = append(out, Pass{
Name: e.Name,
AOS: d.AOS.UTC(),
LOS: d.LOS.UTC(),
AOSAz: d.AOSAzimuth,
LOSAz: d.LOSAzimuth,
MaxEl: d.MaxElevation,
MaxElAz: d.MaxElevationAz,
MaxElAt: d.MaxElevationTime.UTC(),
Duration: d.Duration.Seconds(),
})
}
return out, nil
}
// NextPasses is Passes over several satellites at once, in time order — the
// question an operator actually asks: what is coming, and when.
func (s *Store) NextPasses(names []string, obs Observer, from time.Time, window time.Duration, minEl int) []Pass {
var all []Pass
for _, n := range names {
ps, err := s.Passes(n, obs, from, from.Add(window), float64(minEl))
if err != nil {
continue // a satellite whose elements are missing is simply not listed
}
all = append(all, ps...)
}
sort.Slice(all, func(i, j int) bool { return all[i].AOS.Before(all[j].AOS) })
return all
}
// Shift is the Doppler-corrected pair for one moment.
type Shift struct {
DownHz int64 `json:"down_hz"` // where to LISTEN for a nominal downlink
UpHz int64 `json:"up_hz"` // where to TRANSMIT for a nominal uplink
}
// Doppler corrects a nominal uplink/downlink pair for the satellite's motion.
//
// Two corrections, opposite in sign, and that is the part worth being careful
// about: the DOWNLINK is what we receive, so it arrives shifted and we tune to
// meet it — approaching (negative range rate) means a higher frequency. The
// UPLINK is what the satellite receives, so we must transmit shifted the other
// way for it to land on the transponder's nominal input.
//
// Zero in, zero out: a satellite with no uplink (a beacon) is not given an
// invented one.
func Doppler(p Position, downHz, upHz int64) Shift {
f := -p.RangeRate / speedOfLightKmS // fraction, positive when approaching
var s Shift
if downHz > 0 {
s.DownHz = downHz + int64(math.Round(float64(downHz)*f))
}
if upHz > 0 {
s.UpHz = upHz - int64(math.Round(float64(upHz)*f))
}
return s
}