Understanding the information contained in the Deep Space Network XML data?











up vote
1
down vote

favorite












NASA's Deep Space Network activity can be viewed conveniently at https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html but if you would like data in a more raw XML form, it can be accessed as described in this answer



Below is a small Python script that reads the XML into a list of dictionaries, and saves it to disk as a JSON.



The dictionaries are organized at the higher level by dish, then by spacecraft per dish.



Question: What are the most-likely meanings of all the data field contained in the Deep Space Network XML data?



This is the example url from the other answer, used in the script below: https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/data/1365107113.xml



def dictify(r,root=True): # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2148119/how-to-convert-an-xml-string-to-a-dictionary-in-python/30923963#30923963
if root:
return {r.tag : dictify(r, False)}
d=copy(r.attrib)
if r.text:
d["_text"]=r.text
for x in r.findall("./*"):
if x.tag not in d:
d[x.tag]=
d[x.tag].append(dictify(x,False))
return d

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
from copy import copy
import requests, json, pprint

# https://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsnnow/
# https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
# https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/17046/is-there-any-publicly-available-logging-or-wayback-machine-for-dsn-now-activi

N = 1365107113

url = "https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/data/" + str(N) + ".xml"

r = requests.get(url)

text = r.text

a = ET.fromstring(text)

things = [dictify(x) for x in a]

with open (str(N) + '_XML', 'w') as outfile:
json.dump(things, outfile)

pp = pprint.PrettyPrinter(indent=1)

for i, thing in enumerate(things):
print "i = ", i
pp.pprint(thing)


Here are the last two "things" this prints:



i =  14
{'dish': {'_text': 'ntt',
'azimuthAngle': '16.999969',
'created': '2013-04-04T07:00:42.036Z',
'downSignal': [{'dataRate': '2291.963470',
'frequency': '8445767679.000001',
'power': '-482.579407',
'signalType': 'none',
'signalTypeDebug': 'IDLE OFF 0 MCD2',
'spacecraft': 'RSTS',
'spacecraftId': '99'}],
'elevationAngle': '88.000488',
'isArray': 'false',
'isDDOR': 'false',
'isMSPA': 'false',
'name': 'DSS43',
'target': [{'downlegRange': '-1.0',
'id': '99',
'name': 'RSTS',
'rtlt': '-1.0',
'uplegRange': '-1.0'}],
'upSignal': [{'dataRate': '',
'frequency': '',
'power': '',
'signalType': 'none',
'signalTypeDebug': ' ',
'spacecraft': 'RSTS',
'spacecraftId': '99'}],
'updated': '2013-04-04T07:00:42.036Z',
'windSpeed': '0.000000'}}
i = 15
{'timestamp': {'_text': '1365107113334'}}









share|improve this question




























    up vote
    1
    down vote

    favorite












    NASA's Deep Space Network activity can be viewed conveniently at https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html but if you would like data in a more raw XML form, it can be accessed as described in this answer



    Below is a small Python script that reads the XML into a list of dictionaries, and saves it to disk as a JSON.



    The dictionaries are organized at the higher level by dish, then by spacecraft per dish.



    Question: What are the most-likely meanings of all the data field contained in the Deep Space Network XML data?



    This is the example url from the other answer, used in the script below: https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/data/1365107113.xml



    def dictify(r,root=True): # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2148119/how-to-convert-an-xml-string-to-a-dictionary-in-python/30923963#30923963
    if root:
    return {r.tag : dictify(r, False)}
    d=copy(r.attrib)
    if r.text:
    d["_text"]=r.text
    for x in r.findall("./*"):
    if x.tag not in d:
    d[x.tag]=
    d[x.tag].append(dictify(x,False))
    return d

    import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
    from copy import copy
    import requests, json, pprint

    # https://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsnnow/
    # https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
    # https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/17046/is-there-any-publicly-available-logging-or-wayback-machine-for-dsn-now-activi

    N = 1365107113

    url = "https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/data/" + str(N) + ".xml"

    r = requests.get(url)

    text = r.text

    a = ET.fromstring(text)

    things = [dictify(x) for x in a]

    with open (str(N) + '_XML', 'w') as outfile:
    json.dump(things, outfile)

    pp = pprint.PrettyPrinter(indent=1)

    for i, thing in enumerate(things):
    print "i = ", i
    pp.pprint(thing)


    Here are the last two "things" this prints:



    i =  14
    {'dish': {'_text': 'ntt',
    'azimuthAngle': '16.999969',
    'created': '2013-04-04T07:00:42.036Z',
    'downSignal': [{'dataRate': '2291.963470',
    'frequency': '8445767679.000001',
    'power': '-482.579407',
    'signalType': 'none',
    'signalTypeDebug': 'IDLE OFF 0 MCD2',
    'spacecraft': 'RSTS',
    'spacecraftId': '99'}],
    'elevationAngle': '88.000488',
    'isArray': 'false',
    'isDDOR': 'false',
    'isMSPA': 'false',
    'name': 'DSS43',
    'target': [{'downlegRange': '-1.0',
    'id': '99',
    'name': 'RSTS',
    'rtlt': '-1.0',
    'uplegRange': '-1.0'}],
    'upSignal': [{'dataRate': '',
    'frequency': '',
    'power': '',
    'signalType': 'none',
    'signalTypeDebug': ' ',
    'spacecraft': 'RSTS',
    'spacecraftId': '99'}],
    'updated': '2013-04-04T07:00:42.036Z',
    'windSpeed': '0.000000'}}
    i = 15
    {'timestamp': {'_text': '1365107113334'}}









    share|improve this question


























      up vote
      1
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      1
      down vote

      favorite











      NASA's Deep Space Network activity can be viewed conveniently at https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html but if you would like data in a more raw XML form, it can be accessed as described in this answer



      Below is a small Python script that reads the XML into a list of dictionaries, and saves it to disk as a JSON.



      The dictionaries are organized at the higher level by dish, then by spacecraft per dish.



      Question: What are the most-likely meanings of all the data field contained in the Deep Space Network XML data?



      This is the example url from the other answer, used in the script below: https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/data/1365107113.xml



      def dictify(r,root=True): # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2148119/how-to-convert-an-xml-string-to-a-dictionary-in-python/30923963#30923963
      if root:
      return {r.tag : dictify(r, False)}
      d=copy(r.attrib)
      if r.text:
      d["_text"]=r.text
      for x in r.findall("./*"):
      if x.tag not in d:
      d[x.tag]=
      d[x.tag].append(dictify(x,False))
      return d

      import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
      from copy import copy
      import requests, json, pprint

      # https://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsnnow/
      # https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
      # https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/17046/is-there-any-publicly-available-logging-or-wayback-machine-for-dsn-now-activi

      N = 1365107113

      url = "https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/data/" + str(N) + ".xml"

      r = requests.get(url)

      text = r.text

      a = ET.fromstring(text)

      things = [dictify(x) for x in a]

      with open (str(N) + '_XML', 'w') as outfile:
      json.dump(things, outfile)

      pp = pprint.PrettyPrinter(indent=1)

      for i, thing in enumerate(things):
      print "i = ", i
      pp.pprint(thing)


      Here are the last two "things" this prints:



      i =  14
      {'dish': {'_text': 'ntt',
      'azimuthAngle': '16.999969',
      'created': '2013-04-04T07:00:42.036Z',
      'downSignal': [{'dataRate': '2291.963470',
      'frequency': '8445767679.000001',
      'power': '-482.579407',
      'signalType': 'none',
      'signalTypeDebug': 'IDLE OFF 0 MCD2',
      'spacecraft': 'RSTS',
      'spacecraftId': '99'}],
      'elevationAngle': '88.000488',
      'isArray': 'false',
      'isDDOR': 'false',
      'isMSPA': 'false',
      'name': 'DSS43',
      'target': [{'downlegRange': '-1.0',
      'id': '99',
      'name': 'RSTS',
      'rtlt': '-1.0',
      'uplegRange': '-1.0'}],
      'upSignal': [{'dataRate': '',
      'frequency': '',
      'power': '',
      'signalType': 'none',
      'signalTypeDebug': ' ',
      'spacecraft': 'RSTS',
      'spacecraftId': '99'}],
      'updated': '2013-04-04T07:00:42.036Z',
      'windSpeed': '0.000000'}}
      i = 15
      {'timestamp': {'_text': '1365107113334'}}









      share|improve this question















      NASA's Deep Space Network activity can be viewed conveniently at https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html but if you would like data in a more raw XML form, it can be accessed as described in this answer



      Below is a small Python script that reads the XML into a list of dictionaries, and saves it to disk as a JSON.



      The dictionaries are organized at the higher level by dish, then by spacecraft per dish.



      Question: What are the most-likely meanings of all the data field contained in the Deep Space Network XML data?



      This is the example url from the other answer, used in the script below: https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/data/1365107113.xml



      def dictify(r,root=True): # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2148119/how-to-convert-an-xml-string-to-a-dictionary-in-python/30923963#30923963
      if root:
      return {r.tag : dictify(r, False)}
      d=copy(r.attrib)
      if r.text:
      d["_text"]=r.text
      for x in r.findall("./*"):
      if x.tag not in d:
      d[x.tag]=
      d[x.tag].append(dictify(x,False))
      return d

      import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
      from copy import copy
      import requests, json, pprint

      # https://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsnnow/
      # https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
      # https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/17046/is-there-any-publicly-available-logging-or-wayback-machine-for-dsn-now-activi

      N = 1365107113

      url = "https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/data/" + str(N) + ".xml"

      r = requests.get(url)

      text = r.text

      a = ET.fromstring(text)

      things = [dictify(x) for x in a]

      with open (str(N) + '_XML', 'w') as outfile:
      json.dump(things, outfile)

      pp = pprint.PrettyPrinter(indent=1)

      for i, thing in enumerate(things):
      print "i = ", i
      pp.pprint(thing)


      Here are the last two "things" this prints:



      i =  14
      {'dish': {'_text': 'ntt',
      'azimuthAngle': '16.999969',
      'created': '2013-04-04T07:00:42.036Z',
      'downSignal': [{'dataRate': '2291.963470',
      'frequency': '8445767679.000001',
      'power': '-482.579407',
      'signalType': 'none',
      'signalTypeDebug': 'IDLE OFF 0 MCD2',
      'spacecraft': 'RSTS',
      'spacecraftId': '99'}],
      'elevationAngle': '88.000488',
      'isArray': 'false',
      'isDDOR': 'false',
      'isMSPA': 'false',
      'name': 'DSS43',
      'target': [{'downlegRange': '-1.0',
      'id': '99',
      'name': 'RSTS',
      'rtlt': '-1.0',
      'uplegRange': '-1.0'}],
      'upSignal': [{'dataRate': '',
      'frequency': '',
      'power': '',
      'signalType': 'none',
      'signalTypeDebug': ' ',
      'spacecraft': 'RSTS',
      'spacecraftId': '99'}],
      'updated': '2013-04-04T07:00:42.036Z',
      'windSpeed': '0.000000'}}
      i = 15
      {'timestamp': {'_text': '1365107113334'}}






      nasa deep-space deep-space-network






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      share|improve this question




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      edited 4 hours ago

























      asked 5 hours ago









      uhoh

      33.3k16114407




      33.3k16114407






















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          2
          down vote



          accepted










          It took me several days observing data from DSN. Here is my analysis of the fields from the XML data files.



          station





          • name: Call sign for the station.


          • friendlyName: Common name for the station (Goldstone, Madrid, Canberra).


          • timeUTC: Time that this report happened, using Coordinated Universal Time, in milliseconds (1/1000 of second) since the Unix epoch (1 January 1970).


          • timeZoneOffset: Add this number to timeUTC to get the local time of this station, again in milliseconds since the Unix epoch.


          dish





          • name: Identifier of the dish. Usually "DSS" followed by two decimal digits.


          • azimuthAngle, elevationAngle: The astronomical azimuth and elevation where this dish is currently pointing, in degrees with a decimal fraction.


          • windSpeed: The wind speed around the dish, in km/hr.


          • isMSPA: If "true", the dish is listening to more than one target (Multiple Spacecraft Per Aperture).


          • isArray: If "true", the dish is part of a dish array.


          • isDDOR: If "true", the dish is being used for Delta Differential One-way Ranging.


          • created, updated: File creation and modification times (of what?), in ISO 8601 format.


          target





          • name: The call sign for the target spacecraft.


          • id: A decimal ID number for each spacecraft. Appears to be sequentially assigned (starting at 1) when the spacecraft was added to the database.


          • uplegRange, downlegRange: Estimated distance to and from the target, in km. Should be the same, unless using an array or DDOR. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          • rtlt: Round-trip light time, in seconds. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          upSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being sent.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • power: Power of transmitted signal, in kW.


          • frequency: Frequency of transmitted signal, in MHz.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of transmitted data.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          downSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being received.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of received data.


          • frequency: Frequency of received signal, in Hz. Note the different units and higher precision than the upSignal; this would be useful for analyzing the Doppler effect of the spacecraft's motion.


          • power: Power of received signal, in dBm. There have been several times where two targets of the same dish have nearly identical power, except offset by a value of 300: typically -1xx.xx and -4xx.xx dBm. Therefore, I think 300 is deducted from the power as a flag for a certain condition (which I have yet to identify). Code to handle this value should look like this:



          if (power < -300.00)
          power = power + 300.00



          Please give this a try, plot the results, and let us know if it works!





          You'll notice that units are not consistent. Time can be in Unix time or in ISO 8601. Frequency can be in Hz or MHz. Power can be in kW or dBm.



          I would be concerned that units might change in the future, or have changed in the past. Therefore, I would recommend performing a "sanity check" on values, and adjust the correspondingly. Frequency for example:



          if (frequency < 40.0)
          # Gigahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E9
          else if (frequency < 40000)
          # Megahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E6
          # else Hertz


          IEEE radio band frequencies (from Wikipedia):



          S   2 to 4 GHz  Short wave
          C 4 to 8 GHz Compromise between S and X
          X 8 to 12 GHz Used in WW II for fire control, X for cross (as in crosshair). Exotic.
          Ku 12 to 18 GHz Kurz-under
          K 18 to 27 GHz Kurz (German for "short")
          Ka 27 to 40 GHz Kurz-above





          share|improve this answer

















          • 1




            This is beautiful, thanks for your hard work!
            – uhoh
            5 hours ago


















          up vote
          1
          down vote













          Follow-up



          DSN stores the data internally in a format called "TRK-2-34". It's described in DSN technical note 820-013. I've found 15 papers that refer to using this data format. Two of those papers specifically state that it is an "internal document." Also consider this blog post:




          This is a technical article about how to use the Deep Space Network (DSN). I’m going to start high briefly and dive in deeply. You can google/wiki the top level stuff. I want to get right into how to translate from DSN formatted data types into range and range rate in kilometers/ kilometers per second.



          I want to do this because it was unnecessarily hard for me. Not because of the theory but because of the lack of documentation or guidance. I’ve ranted before that the DSN’s idea of a car for sale is a bag of parts, some duplicates, some bad, no instructions.




          and




          The documentation on the TRK-2-34 format is actually comprehensive, but doesn’t explain how to put the pieces together to get a usable measurement




          and




          In general, my #1 complaint with almost everything spacecraft operations related is how needlessly complicated everything is, and how difficult it is to agree on data format, interfacing and access, even units and modeling.




          and




          DSN does a beautiful thing, but they are not a public-facing for-profit company. If you want to use the DSN to track your precious spacecraft, you’ll have to play with the toys they give you. You’ll need a half-decent a priori state vector for your spacecraft, a simulator to propagate it and extract geometry, a binary parser, the TRK-2-34 handbook, and all the steps listed above.



          https://clarkpatricknewman.wordpress.com/category/nasa/dsn/




          The TRK-2-34 format description (820-013) is not public information. It appears the only way you are going to get a copy is to send up your own spacecraft and pay DSN to track it.






          share|improve this answer





















          • This bodes ill for the chances of this getting its "authoritative source". If you like, please feel free to leave a comment or an answer there pointing this out, as you've nicely documented that likelihood here!
            – uhoh
            47 mins ago













          Your Answer





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          2 Answers
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          active

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          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes








          up vote
          2
          down vote



          accepted










          It took me several days observing data from DSN. Here is my analysis of the fields from the XML data files.



          station





          • name: Call sign for the station.


          • friendlyName: Common name for the station (Goldstone, Madrid, Canberra).


          • timeUTC: Time that this report happened, using Coordinated Universal Time, in milliseconds (1/1000 of second) since the Unix epoch (1 January 1970).


          • timeZoneOffset: Add this number to timeUTC to get the local time of this station, again in milliseconds since the Unix epoch.


          dish





          • name: Identifier of the dish. Usually "DSS" followed by two decimal digits.


          • azimuthAngle, elevationAngle: The astronomical azimuth and elevation where this dish is currently pointing, in degrees with a decimal fraction.


          • windSpeed: The wind speed around the dish, in km/hr.


          • isMSPA: If "true", the dish is listening to more than one target (Multiple Spacecraft Per Aperture).


          • isArray: If "true", the dish is part of a dish array.


          • isDDOR: If "true", the dish is being used for Delta Differential One-way Ranging.


          • created, updated: File creation and modification times (of what?), in ISO 8601 format.


          target





          • name: The call sign for the target spacecraft.


          • id: A decimal ID number for each spacecraft. Appears to be sequentially assigned (starting at 1) when the spacecraft was added to the database.


          • uplegRange, downlegRange: Estimated distance to and from the target, in km. Should be the same, unless using an array or DDOR. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          • rtlt: Round-trip light time, in seconds. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          upSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being sent.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • power: Power of transmitted signal, in kW.


          • frequency: Frequency of transmitted signal, in MHz.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of transmitted data.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          downSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being received.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of received data.


          • frequency: Frequency of received signal, in Hz. Note the different units and higher precision than the upSignal; this would be useful for analyzing the Doppler effect of the spacecraft's motion.


          • power: Power of received signal, in dBm. There have been several times where two targets of the same dish have nearly identical power, except offset by a value of 300: typically -1xx.xx and -4xx.xx dBm. Therefore, I think 300 is deducted from the power as a flag for a certain condition (which I have yet to identify). Code to handle this value should look like this:



          if (power < -300.00)
          power = power + 300.00



          Please give this a try, plot the results, and let us know if it works!





          You'll notice that units are not consistent. Time can be in Unix time or in ISO 8601. Frequency can be in Hz or MHz. Power can be in kW or dBm.



          I would be concerned that units might change in the future, or have changed in the past. Therefore, I would recommend performing a "sanity check" on values, and adjust the correspondingly. Frequency for example:



          if (frequency < 40.0)
          # Gigahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E9
          else if (frequency < 40000)
          # Megahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E6
          # else Hertz


          IEEE radio band frequencies (from Wikipedia):



          S   2 to 4 GHz  Short wave
          C 4 to 8 GHz Compromise between S and X
          X 8 to 12 GHz Used in WW II for fire control, X for cross (as in crosshair). Exotic.
          Ku 12 to 18 GHz Kurz-under
          K 18 to 27 GHz Kurz (German for "short")
          Ka 27 to 40 GHz Kurz-above





          share|improve this answer

















          • 1




            This is beautiful, thanks for your hard work!
            – uhoh
            5 hours ago















          up vote
          2
          down vote



          accepted










          It took me several days observing data from DSN. Here is my analysis of the fields from the XML data files.



          station





          • name: Call sign for the station.


          • friendlyName: Common name for the station (Goldstone, Madrid, Canberra).


          • timeUTC: Time that this report happened, using Coordinated Universal Time, in milliseconds (1/1000 of second) since the Unix epoch (1 January 1970).


          • timeZoneOffset: Add this number to timeUTC to get the local time of this station, again in milliseconds since the Unix epoch.


          dish





          • name: Identifier of the dish. Usually "DSS" followed by two decimal digits.


          • azimuthAngle, elevationAngle: The astronomical azimuth and elevation where this dish is currently pointing, in degrees with a decimal fraction.


          • windSpeed: The wind speed around the dish, in km/hr.


          • isMSPA: If "true", the dish is listening to more than one target (Multiple Spacecraft Per Aperture).


          • isArray: If "true", the dish is part of a dish array.


          • isDDOR: If "true", the dish is being used for Delta Differential One-way Ranging.


          • created, updated: File creation and modification times (of what?), in ISO 8601 format.


          target





          • name: The call sign for the target spacecraft.


          • id: A decimal ID number for each spacecraft. Appears to be sequentially assigned (starting at 1) when the spacecraft was added to the database.


          • uplegRange, downlegRange: Estimated distance to and from the target, in km. Should be the same, unless using an array or DDOR. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          • rtlt: Round-trip light time, in seconds. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          upSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being sent.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • power: Power of transmitted signal, in kW.


          • frequency: Frequency of transmitted signal, in MHz.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of transmitted data.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          downSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being received.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of received data.


          • frequency: Frequency of received signal, in Hz. Note the different units and higher precision than the upSignal; this would be useful for analyzing the Doppler effect of the spacecraft's motion.


          • power: Power of received signal, in dBm. There have been several times where two targets of the same dish have nearly identical power, except offset by a value of 300: typically -1xx.xx and -4xx.xx dBm. Therefore, I think 300 is deducted from the power as a flag for a certain condition (which I have yet to identify). Code to handle this value should look like this:



          if (power < -300.00)
          power = power + 300.00



          Please give this a try, plot the results, and let us know if it works!





          You'll notice that units are not consistent. Time can be in Unix time or in ISO 8601. Frequency can be in Hz or MHz. Power can be in kW or dBm.



          I would be concerned that units might change in the future, or have changed in the past. Therefore, I would recommend performing a "sanity check" on values, and adjust the correspondingly. Frequency for example:



          if (frequency < 40.0)
          # Gigahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E9
          else if (frequency < 40000)
          # Megahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E6
          # else Hertz


          IEEE radio band frequencies (from Wikipedia):



          S   2 to 4 GHz  Short wave
          C 4 to 8 GHz Compromise between S and X
          X 8 to 12 GHz Used in WW II for fire control, X for cross (as in crosshair). Exotic.
          Ku 12 to 18 GHz Kurz-under
          K 18 to 27 GHz Kurz (German for "short")
          Ka 27 to 40 GHz Kurz-above





          share|improve this answer

















          • 1




            This is beautiful, thanks for your hard work!
            – uhoh
            5 hours ago













          up vote
          2
          down vote



          accepted







          up vote
          2
          down vote



          accepted






          It took me several days observing data from DSN. Here is my analysis of the fields from the XML data files.



          station





          • name: Call sign for the station.


          • friendlyName: Common name for the station (Goldstone, Madrid, Canberra).


          • timeUTC: Time that this report happened, using Coordinated Universal Time, in milliseconds (1/1000 of second) since the Unix epoch (1 January 1970).


          • timeZoneOffset: Add this number to timeUTC to get the local time of this station, again in milliseconds since the Unix epoch.


          dish





          • name: Identifier of the dish. Usually "DSS" followed by two decimal digits.


          • azimuthAngle, elevationAngle: The astronomical azimuth and elevation where this dish is currently pointing, in degrees with a decimal fraction.


          • windSpeed: The wind speed around the dish, in km/hr.


          • isMSPA: If "true", the dish is listening to more than one target (Multiple Spacecraft Per Aperture).


          • isArray: If "true", the dish is part of a dish array.


          • isDDOR: If "true", the dish is being used for Delta Differential One-way Ranging.


          • created, updated: File creation and modification times (of what?), in ISO 8601 format.


          target





          • name: The call sign for the target spacecraft.


          • id: A decimal ID number for each spacecraft. Appears to be sequentially assigned (starting at 1) when the spacecraft was added to the database.


          • uplegRange, downlegRange: Estimated distance to and from the target, in km. Should be the same, unless using an array or DDOR. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          • rtlt: Round-trip light time, in seconds. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          upSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being sent.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • power: Power of transmitted signal, in kW.


          • frequency: Frequency of transmitted signal, in MHz.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of transmitted data.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          downSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being received.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of received data.


          • frequency: Frequency of received signal, in Hz. Note the different units and higher precision than the upSignal; this would be useful for analyzing the Doppler effect of the spacecraft's motion.


          • power: Power of received signal, in dBm. There have been several times where two targets of the same dish have nearly identical power, except offset by a value of 300: typically -1xx.xx and -4xx.xx dBm. Therefore, I think 300 is deducted from the power as a flag for a certain condition (which I have yet to identify). Code to handle this value should look like this:



          if (power < -300.00)
          power = power + 300.00



          Please give this a try, plot the results, and let us know if it works!





          You'll notice that units are not consistent. Time can be in Unix time or in ISO 8601. Frequency can be in Hz or MHz. Power can be in kW or dBm.



          I would be concerned that units might change in the future, or have changed in the past. Therefore, I would recommend performing a "sanity check" on values, and adjust the correspondingly. Frequency for example:



          if (frequency < 40.0)
          # Gigahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E9
          else if (frequency < 40000)
          # Megahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E6
          # else Hertz


          IEEE radio band frequencies (from Wikipedia):



          S   2 to 4 GHz  Short wave
          C 4 to 8 GHz Compromise between S and X
          X 8 to 12 GHz Used in WW II for fire control, X for cross (as in crosshair). Exotic.
          Ku 12 to 18 GHz Kurz-under
          K 18 to 27 GHz Kurz (German for "short")
          Ka 27 to 40 GHz Kurz-above





          share|improve this answer












          It took me several days observing data from DSN. Here is my analysis of the fields from the XML data files.



          station





          • name: Call sign for the station.


          • friendlyName: Common name for the station (Goldstone, Madrid, Canberra).


          • timeUTC: Time that this report happened, using Coordinated Universal Time, in milliseconds (1/1000 of second) since the Unix epoch (1 January 1970).


          • timeZoneOffset: Add this number to timeUTC to get the local time of this station, again in milliseconds since the Unix epoch.


          dish





          • name: Identifier of the dish. Usually "DSS" followed by two decimal digits.


          • azimuthAngle, elevationAngle: The astronomical azimuth and elevation where this dish is currently pointing, in degrees with a decimal fraction.


          • windSpeed: The wind speed around the dish, in km/hr.


          • isMSPA: If "true", the dish is listening to more than one target (Multiple Spacecraft Per Aperture).


          • isArray: If "true", the dish is part of a dish array.


          • isDDOR: If "true", the dish is being used for Delta Differential One-way Ranging.


          • created, updated: File creation and modification times (of what?), in ISO 8601 format.


          target





          • name: The call sign for the target spacecraft.


          • id: A decimal ID number for each spacecraft. Appears to be sequentially assigned (starting at 1) when the spacecraft was added to the database.


          • uplegRange, downlegRange: Estimated distance to and from the target, in km. Should be the same, unless using an array or DDOR. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          • rtlt: Round-trip light time, in seconds. Seems to be off by a factor of 2.


          upSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being sent.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • power: Power of transmitted signal, in kW.


          • frequency: Frequency of transmitted signal, in MHz.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of transmitted data.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          downSignal





          • signalType: none if setup/teardown/tracking, carrier if carrier frequency only, data if something actually being received.


          • signalTypeDebug: Unknown; intended for the programmers.


          • spacecraft: Call sign of targeted spacecraft.


          • spacecraftId: ID number of targeted spacecraft.


          • dataRate: Bits per second of received data.


          • frequency: Frequency of received signal, in Hz. Note the different units and higher precision than the upSignal; this would be useful for analyzing the Doppler effect of the spacecraft's motion.


          • power: Power of received signal, in dBm. There have been several times where two targets of the same dish have nearly identical power, except offset by a value of 300: typically -1xx.xx and -4xx.xx dBm. Therefore, I think 300 is deducted from the power as a flag for a certain condition (which I have yet to identify). Code to handle this value should look like this:



          if (power < -300.00)
          power = power + 300.00



          Please give this a try, plot the results, and let us know if it works!





          You'll notice that units are not consistent. Time can be in Unix time or in ISO 8601. Frequency can be in Hz or MHz. Power can be in kW or dBm.



          I would be concerned that units might change in the future, or have changed in the past. Therefore, I would recommend performing a "sanity check" on values, and adjust the correspondingly. Frequency for example:



          if (frequency < 40.0)
          # Gigahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E9
          else if (frequency < 40000)
          # Megahertz
          frequency = frequency * 1E6
          # else Hertz


          IEEE radio band frequencies (from Wikipedia):



          S   2 to 4 GHz  Short wave
          C 4 to 8 GHz Compromise between S and X
          X 8 to 12 GHz Used in WW II for fire control, X for cross (as in crosshair). Exotic.
          Ku 12 to 18 GHz Kurz-under
          K 18 to 27 GHz Kurz (German for "short")
          Ka 27 to 40 GHz Kurz-above






          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 5 hours ago









          Dr Sheldon

          3,9181342




          3,9181342








          • 1




            This is beautiful, thanks for your hard work!
            – uhoh
            5 hours ago














          • 1




            This is beautiful, thanks for your hard work!
            – uhoh
            5 hours ago








          1




          1




          This is beautiful, thanks for your hard work!
          – uhoh
          5 hours ago




          This is beautiful, thanks for your hard work!
          – uhoh
          5 hours ago










          up vote
          1
          down vote













          Follow-up



          DSN stores the data internally in a format called "TRK-2-34". It's described in DSN technical note 820-013. I've found 15 papers that refer to using this data format. Two of those papers specifically state that it is an "internal document." Also consider this blog post:




          This is a technical article about how to use the Deep Space Network (DSN). I’m going to start high briefly and dive in deeply. You can google/wiki the top level stuff. I want to get right into how to translate from DSN formatted data types into range and range rate in kilometers/ kilometers per second.



          I want to do this because it was unnecessarily hard for me. Not because of the theory but because of the lack of documentation or guidance. I’ve ranted before that the DSN’s idea of a car for sale is a bag of parts, some duplicates, some bad, no instructions.




          and




          The documentation on the TRK-2-34 format is actually comprehensive, but doesn’t explain how to put the pieces together to get a usable measurement




          and




          In general, my #1 complaint with almost everything spacecraft operations related is how needlessly complicated everything is, and how difficult it is to agree on data format, interfacing and access, even units and modeling.




          and




          DSN does a beautiful thing, but they are not a public-facing for-profit company. If you want to use the DSN to track your precious spacecraft, you’ll have to play with the toys they give you. You’ll need a half-decent a priori state vector for your spacecraft, a simulator to propagate it and extract geometry, a binary parser, the TRK-2-34 handbook, and all the steps listed above.



          https://clarkpatricknewman.wordpress.com/category/nasa/dsn/




          The TRK-2-34 format description (820-013) is not public information. It appears the only way you are going to get a copy is to send up your own spacecraft and pay DSN to track it.






          share|improve this answer





















          • This bodes ill for the chances of this getting its "authoritative source". If you like, please feel free to leave a comment or an answer there pointing this out, as you've nicely documented that likelihood here!
            – uhoh
            47 mins ago

















          up vote
          1
          down vote













          Follow-up



          DSN stores the data internally in a format called "TRK-2-34". It's described in DSN technical note 820-013. I've found 15 papers that refer to using this data format. Two of those papers specifically state that it is an "internal document." Also consider this blog post:




          This is a technical article about how to use the Deep Space Network (DSN). I’m going to start high briefly and dive in deeply. You can google/wiki the top level stuff. I want to get right into how to translate from DSN formatted data types into range and range rate in kilometers/ kilometers per second.



          I want to do this because it was unnecessarily hard for me. Not because of the theory but because of the lack of documentation or guidance. I’ve ranted before that the DSN’s idea of a car for sale is a bag of parts, some duplicates, some bad, no instructions.




          and




          The documentation on the TRK-2-34 format is actually comprehensive, but doesn’t explain how to put the pieces together to get a usable measurement




          and




          In general, my #1 complaint with almost everything spacecraft operations related is how needlessly complicated everything is, and how difficult it is to agree on data format, interfacing and access, even units and modeling.




          and




          DSN does a beautiful thing, but they are not a public-facing for-profit company. If you want to use the DSN to track your precious spacecraft, you’ll have to play with the toys they give you. You’ll need a half-decent a priori state vector for your spacecraft, a simulator to propagate it and extract geometry, a binary parser, the TRK-2-34 handbook, and all the steps listed above.



          https://clarkpatricknewman.wordpress.com/category/nasa/dsn/




          The TRK-2-34 format description (820-013) is not public information. It appears the only way you are going to get a copy is to send up your own spacecraft and pay DSN to track it.






          share|improve this answer





















          • This bodes ill for the chances of this getting its "authoritative source". If you like, please feel free to leave a comment or an answer there pointing this out, as you've nicely documented that likelihood here!
            – uhoh
            47 mins ago















          up vote
          1
          down vote










          up vote
          1
          down vote









          Follow-up



          DSN stores the data internally in a format called "TRK-2-34". It's described in DSN technical note 820-013. I've found 15 papers that refer to using this data format. Two of those papers specifically state that it is an "internal document." Also consider this blog post:




          This is a technical article about how to use the Deep Space Network (DSN). I’m going to start high briefly and dive in deeply. You can google/wiki the top level stuff. I want to get right into how to translate from DSN formatted data types into range and range rate in kilometers/ kilometers per second.



          I want to do this because it was unnecessarily hard for me. Not because of the theory but because of the lack of documentation or guidance. I’ve ranted before that the DSN’s idea of a car for sale is a bag of parts, some duplicates, some bad, no instructions.




          and




          The documentation on the TRK-2-34 format is actually comprehensive, but doesn’t explain how to put the pieces together to get a usable measurement




          and




          In general, my #1 complaint with almost everything spacecraft operations related is how needlessly complicated everything is, and how difficult it is to agree on data format, interfacing and access, even units and modeling.




          and




          DSN does a beautiful thing, but they are not a public-facing for-profit company. If you want to use the DSN to track your precious spacecraft, you’ll have to play with the toys they give you. You’ll need a half-decent a priori state vector for your spacecraft, a simulator to propagate it and extract geometry, a binary parser, the TRK-2-34 handbook, and all the steps listed above.



          https://clarkpatricknewman.wordpress.com/category/nasa/dsn/




          The TRK-2-34 format description (820-013) is not public information. It appears the only way you are going to get a copy is to send up your own spacecraft and pay DSN to track it.






          share|improve this answer












          Follow-up



          DSN stores the data internally in a format called "TRK-2-34". It's described in DSN technical note 820-013. I've found 15 papers that refer to using this data format. Two of those papers specifically state that it is an "internal document." Also consider this blog post:




          This is a technical article about how to use the Deep Space Network (DSN). I’m going to start high briefly and dive in deeply. You can google/wiki the top level stuff. I want to get right into how to translate from DSN formatted data types into range and range rate in kilometers/ kilometers per second.



          I want to do this because it was unnecessarily hard for me. Not because of the theory but because of the lack of documentation or guidance. I’ve ranted before that the DSN’s idea of a car for sale is a bag of parts, some duplicates, some bad, no instructions.




          and




          The documentation on the TRK-2-34 format is actually comprehensive, but doesn’t explain how to put the pieces together to get a usable measurement




          and




          In general, my #1 complaint with almost everything spacecraft operations related is how needlessly complicated everything is, and how difficult it is to agree on data format, interfacing and access, even units and modeling.




          and




          DSN does a beautiful thing, but they are not a public-facing for-profit company. If you want to use the DSN to track your precious spacecraft, you’ll have to play with the toys they give you. You’ll need a half-decent a priori state vector for your spacecraft, a simulator to propagate it and extract geometry, a binary parser, the TRK-2-34 handbook, and all the steps listed above.



          https://clarkpatricknewman.wordpress.com/category/nasa/dsn/




          The TRK-2-34 format description (820-013) is not public information. It appears the only way you are going to get a copy is to send up your own spacecraft and pay DSN to track it.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 1 hour ago









          Dr Sheldon

          3,9181342




          3,9181342












          • This bodes ill for the chances of this getting its "authoritative source". If you like, please feel free to leave a comment or an answer there pointing this out, as you've nicely documented that likelihood here!
            – uhoh
            47 mins ago




















          • This bodes ill for the chances of this getting its "authoritative source". If you like, please feel free to leave a comment or an answer there pointing this out, as you've nicely documented that likelihood here!
            – uhoh
            47 mins ago


















          This bodes ill for the chances of this getting its "authoritative source". If you like, please feel free to leave a comment or an answer there pointing this out, as you've nicely documented that likelihood here!
          – uhoh
          47 mins ago






          This bodes ill for the chances of this getting its "authoritative source". If you like, please feel free to leave a comment or an answer there pointing this out, as you've nicely documented that likelihood here!
          – uhoh
          47 mins ago




















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