The second finalist for the 2015 Soumac Award is Christian Mesmar, whose project involves designing a satellite signal strength meter for use in dish installations for home satellite television reception.
The product that will be developed is a tool which will aid people to install satellite dishes and allow them to achieve the optimum signal reception. This will be done through a process of analysing the incoming signals to the satellite and then emitting a sound that informs the installer of the strength of signal that has been detected. The sound will be based on the frequency that is produced and can indicate whether the signal is constructively or deconstructively affected by any movement of the dish.
The device works by using a logarithmic detector which will provide a voltage output depending on the power of the radio frequency (RF) signal. Once the LNB has received the satellite signal reflected from the dish, it will be filtered so that a specific transponder is considered, which can then be amplified to satisfy the input requirements of the logarithmic detector.
Christian came up with the idea for a satellite signal strength meter through working with similar devices when experimenting with television receptions. At the moment, he is at the stage of having finalised the schematic of the circuit and is currently designing and routing the PCB.
Schematic diagram for circuit of the product
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