Configuration

Initial configuration

Before r2cloud start receiving satellite data, it needs to be configured. There are several mandatory parameters required: latitude and longitude. They should contain base station location. r2cloud will use them to calculate satellite passes.

Optionally coordinates can be taken from the browser. Just click on "Detect" link.

Automatic updates are not required, but highly recommended. New satellites are constantly launched and added to r2cloud. Old satellites decay and burn in the atmosphere. Automatic updates will bring new functionality as long as new satellites.

General configuration

General configuration can be accessed via "Configuration -> General" menu in the top right corner.

This configuration contains some reasonable defaults, that can be changed.

Coordinates

Latitude, Longitude - base station coordinates. Configured on the very first startup. Alternatively can be read from GPS. Currently only linux GPSD is supported.

Auto updates

It is possible to completely disable auto updates. Or re-enable them back.

Retention and housekeeping

r2cloud can keep track of disk space taken by observations. I/Q files are the biggest space consumer and can be tweaked separately from the rest of observations. They can be used for troubleshooting and processing by other tools.

Advanced configuration

Web UI has some basic configuration parameters. For advanced configuration, a special ~/.r2cloud file should be manually edited. It contains user-specific overrides for system parameters, which can be found at r2cloud/etc/config-prod.properties.

Change observations location

In some cases, the root partition may have limited disk space, or the main disk may be too slow (e.g., when using a Raspberry Pi). In such situations, it's recommended to use a separate disk for storing observation data.

If the disk is mounted under /mnt/disk, you can update the configuration as follows:

server.tmp.directory=/mnt/disk/r2cloud
satellites.basepath.location=/mnt/disk/r2cloud/satellites
server.static.location=/mnt/disk/r2cloud

Make sure the /mnt/disk/r2cloud directory exists and that the pi user has write permissions to it.

Custom demodulator

r2cloud supports 2 types of demodulators:

• jradio-based. This is default demodulator written in java. It supports: FSK, AFSK, BPSK, QPSK.
• sdr-modem. This is highly optimised demodulator written in C. It supports: FSK.