{"id":10774,"date":"2026-04-22T12:35:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T10:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/?p=10774"},"modified":"2026-04-22T12:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T10:36:22","slug":"vlf-station-2-0-telemetry-mqtt-and-the-new-meteor-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/?p=10774","title":{"rendered":"VLF Station 2.0: Telemetry, MQTT, and the New Meteor Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>After the technical hiatus that began last November, I am happy to announce that the VLF receiver is finally fully operational again as of Saturday, April 18th. The upgrade work was extensive and required a significant amount of energy, which is why the <strong>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/?cat=168\">Pills of technique&#8221;<\/a><\/strong> Monday column is temporarily suspended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hardware changes compared to &#8220;Version 1&#8221; are substantial, transforming the system into a much more resilient and intelligent setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-20-at-16.08.48.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-20-at-16.08.48-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10778\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-20-at-16.08.48-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-20-at-16.08.48-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-20-at-16.08.48-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-20-at-16.08.48-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-20-at-16.08.48.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2>The Core of the New Architecture: ESP8266<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The main innovation is the integration of an <strong>ESP8266<\/strong> into the system. This small but powerful microcontroller now acts as the system&#8217;s &#8220;guardian&#8221;:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hardware Watchdog:<\/strong> Through direct hardware interfacing, the ESP8266 monitors the Raspberry Pi and can force a reboot in case of sudden freezes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Advanced Telemetry:<\/strong> I leveraged the chip&#8217;s I\/O capabilities to build a complete monitoring system. I can now track real-time solar battery charge\/discharge cycles along with environmental parameters: internal case temperature, external temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, the VLF station has effectively become a precision weather and diagnostic station. <strong>Furthermore, all telemetry and weather data are now transmitted over the APRS network and are publicly available on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/aprs.fi\">aprs.fi<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-21-at-12.24.59-1.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-21-at-12.24.59-1-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10781\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-21-at-12.24.59-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-21-at-12.24.59-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-21-at-12.24.59-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-21-at-12.24.59-1-1024x1365.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-21-at-12.24.59-1.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2>MQTT Infrastructure on Linux Mint<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>All data streams are now interconnected thanks to a dedicated <strong>MQTT server<\/strong> running on a Linux Mint micro-PC at my home. This architecture allows me to sort and manage messages from various sensors in a smooth, centralized manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the most scientifically exciting aspect is the completion of a project I have studied for years: the <strong>data correlation system<\/strong>. We are now able to cross-reference VLF background noise anomalies with the number of meteor echoes detected by the VHF station at the <strong>APA Observatory in Latina<\/strong> in real-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2>Real-Time Visualization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the image below, you can see the diagram of the various systems communicating with each other over the internet. It is a complex infrastructure that deserves its own deep dive; therefore, in the coming weeks, I will publish detailed posts about each individual sub-system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/vlfvhflayout.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/vlfvhflayout-1024x640.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10775\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/vlfvhflayout-1024x640.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/vlfvhflayout-300x188.png 300w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/vlfvhflayout-768x480.png 768w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/vlfvhflayout-1536x960.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/vlfvhflayout.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can check the live results of the VLF and VHF detections directly here: \ud83d\udc49 <strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/?page_id=377\" target=\"_blank\">Real-time data &#8211; ik0vve.net<\/a><\/strong> (charts are located at the bottom of the page).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A new and exciting adventure begins here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the technical hiatus that began last November, I am<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[265,84,73,263,264,65],"tags":[266,267,268,269,270,173],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10774"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10783,"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10774\/revisions\/10783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ik0vve.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}