Configuring two wireless networks on a CubeSatSim.

[W7DGP]

While demonstrating my cubesatsim I often need to get it into command and control mode. That can easily be done using the pushbutton and counting the blinks. However, this essentially stops the demo while I hunch over the cubesat. I've come up with a much better method where I bring in my own router and simulate commanding a satellite from the ground by ssh-ing into the sat and using the config commands. When demoing at a school there is never an opportunity to put the ground station (laptop or Fox In A Box) on the school's WiFi. My solution is to use a small router: Opal AC1200 Wireless Travel Router, a tiny but fully functional wireless router.
For the cubesatsim which uses Bullseye OS, I modify the /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf to have two wifi networks. One network is my home wifi and the other is the little Opal AC1200. The way wpa_supplicant works in this case is to pick the network with the strongest or only signal. My cubesatsim will automatically (there's that word!) pick home wifi or when I'm away from home, the little Opal router. To simulate commanding uplinks, I use the Fox In A Box and simply ssh into the satellite. I am not only simulating a satellite but a day in the life of a NASA data acquisition engineer, one of my former occupations. And, yes, the ground station must be on the Opal router WiFi network. Fox In A Box is on Bookworm so the GUI is the easiest method of getting it on the Opal router wifi. If you are a command line person, nmcli or Network Manager Command Line Interface must be used. I've tried it and it works.

[alanbjohnston]

Nice approach for a demo! I always bring my own WiFi hub with me when I do demos, primarily so I can VNC from my laptop into the Raspberry Pi Ground Station Fox-in-a-box v4 and share my screen. But it is also useful to troubleshoot or configure the CubeSatSim.

I use this small router: https://a.co/d/27U5zT5

Alan