Results are presented from the 2021 test run of active fire detection using the Visual Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument, that is currently onboard the polar satellites Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20. The test is performed by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, in cooperation with local fire departments in Sweden. The aim of this report was to study the impact of clouds on the ability of active fire detection, as well as to identify objects that potentially can cause commission errors in the VIIRS 375 m active fire algorithm (false positive notifications). Also, the study aimed to investigate what may cause omission errors in the algorithm, and to show to what extent the detections can be used to represent the true time development of the wildfire front and burned area. Using a cloudmask and a cloudtype classification product from Nowcasting Satellite Application Facilities (NWC SAF), the impact of clouds was anlalyzed by comparing the cloud data with the obtained fire notifications from the satellites. Active fires and newly burned areas were also studied using Sentinel-2 imagery, specifically the False Color Urban and the Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) RGB composites, as well as images from the 842 nm band, making use of the relatively high spatial resolution as well as the spectral signatures of fire and newly burned vegetation. Detection of active fires occurred in both cloud free and completely cloud covered conditions. How-ever, roughly 70% of the detected vegetation fire pixels were obtained in conditions with 20% clouds or less. / I rapporten presenteras resultat från 2021 års test av satellitdetektering av skogs- och vegetationsbränder, ett test som genomförs av MSB och SMHI i samverkan med kommunala räddningstjänster. De två satelliter som ingår i testet (Suomi-NPP och NOAA-20) går i polära omloppsbanor och är utrustade med instrumentet Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Detta projekt syftade till att undersöka hur molnighet påverkar möjligheten till detektion med satellit, vilka objekt som potentiellt kan ge upphov till falska detektioner samt vad som kan orsaka uteblivna satellitdetektioner. Ytterligare ett mål med rapporten var att genom fallstudier av större bränder undersöka i vilken utsträckning satellitdetektionerna kan användas för att representera brandfrontens utveckling med tiden och brandens faktiska utbredning. Vid studierna av molnighet analyserades en molnmask och en molnklassificeringsprodukt från Nowcasting Satellite Application Facilities (NWC SAF). I utvärderingen användes även data från Sentinel-2 för att studera pågående bränder och avbränd yta, som syns tydligt i RGB-kompositerna False Color Urban och Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) och i 842 nm-bandet, tack vare den relativt höga bildupplösningen och den nyligen avbrända ytans spektralsignatur. Brand detekterades i både molnfria och helt molntäckta förhållanden. Drygt 70 % av detektionerna vid vegetationsbrand kom emellertid i förhållanden med 20 % moln eller mindre.

In this thesis, we present the design and implementation of a CubeSat receiver system using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) and GNU Radio. The goal of this project is to develop a low-cost and flexible ground station capable of receiving telemetry and payload data from CubeSats in real time. The CubeSat receiver operates in the UHF frequency range with a center frequency of 435 MHz and uses a software-defined radio (SDR) approach to provide wideband signal processing and demodulation capabilities. The satellite transceiver transmits an Ax.25 Transciever packet every 1 second using the Pumpkin CubeSat kit programmed in MPLab. To achieve this goal, we discuss the design considerations for the receiver system, including the selection of suitable hardware components and the development of custom software blocks in GNU Radio. We also developed the GFSK-based transmitter and receiver in GNU Radio, as well as a tracking system for the satellite. To decode the Ax.25 radio packet transmitted by the Pumpkin CubeSat kit, we developed an Ax.25 deframer in GNU Radio to decode the received signal. Our results demonstrate that the CubeSat receiver is capable of receiving and demodulating AX.25 formatted radio signals from Transciever. Additionally, we show that the receiver system is scalable and can be easily adapted for use with other CubeSat missions. Overall, our work provides a practical solution for CubeSat communication and lays the groundwork for future developments in low-cost CubeSat ground station technology.