The Line of Sight Distance Measurement by Drone for CubeSat ADS-B Payload

A CubeSat NutSat was designed and manufactured by National Formosa University with a mission payload of ADS-B receiver. NutSat's main mission is to collect flight information broadcasted by civil aircraft equipped with ADS-B OUT along the orbit of NutSat. This study presents the experiments to verify the link budget of space-based ADS-B receiver via drone. An UAV carries the ADS-B receiver of the NutSat in the air and transfers ADS-B OUT to ground real time, then calculates the LOS distance from UAV to each aircraft in the sky. This study designs the UAV flight test methods and shows the results to evaluate feasibility of the low earth orbit mission of NutSat.