1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,080
Hi, this is Open Research Institute.

2
00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:04,060
This is our exhibit at RF Village.

3
00:00:04,060 --> 00:00:05,900
We're so happy to be here again.

4
00:00:05,900 --> 00:00:07,520
It's a wonderful place.

5
00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:10,740
What we do is open-source digital radio.

6
00:00:10,740 --> 00:00:15,120
We're a non-profit, so we solve problems for space and terrestrial open-source work.

7
00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:17,000
And then we give all that work away for free.

8
00:00:17,100 --> 00:00:18,780
We do technical work.

9
00:00:18,820 --> 00:00:22,600
So here, behind us, is one of our posters from the poster session.

10
00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,900
And this is about authentication and authorization for open-source satellites.

11
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:29,280
Wait, so hold on.

12
00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,180
Did you just say open-source satellites?

13
00:00:32,180 --> 00:00:33,080
Yes.

14
00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:39,060
Can I... I feel like this is a dumb question, but can I put up a satellite?

15
00:00:39,060 --> 00:00:40,000
Is that a thing?

16
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:40,780
You can.

17
00:00:40,780 --> 00:00:41,860
You can put up a satellite.

18
00:00:41,860 --> 00:00:42,600
Legally?

19
00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:43,020
Yes.

20
00:00:43,020 --> 00:00:44,520
Legally, you can put up a satellite.

21
00:00:45,180 --> 00:00:46,100
How?

22
00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,660
Well, we've been putting up satellites for decades.

23
00:00:49,740 --> 00:00:53,200
And there is actually an amateur satellite service.

24
00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,280
So just like amateur radio, there's amateur satellite service as well.

25
00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:05,300
And so that's what most of our work is aimed at, because amateur satellite and amateur radio is such a great way to experiment with open-source digital radio.

26
00:01:05,620 --> 00:01:06,700
And so that's one of the things we do.

27
00:01:06,700 --> 00:01:09,480
We do technical work to make it easier to understand.

28
00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:17,400
And we also have done a lot of regulatory work to make it safe for people to volunteer to work on open-source communication satellites.

29
00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:22,140
Because those are controlled by the government under two sets of regulations, ITAR and EAR.

30
00:01:22,140 --> 00:01:28,020
And so one of the things that we did is to set up a framework to make it easy to volunteer for that.

31
00:01:28,020 --> 00:01:28,780
Okay, pause it.

32
00:01:28,780 --> 00:01:30,940
You said ITAR and EAR.

33
00:01:30,940 --> 00:01:31,620
What are the...

34
00:01:31,620 --> 00:01:33,040
ITAR and EAR.

35
00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:34,940
They're two different sets of regulations.

36
00:01:34,940 --> 00:01:36,240
ITAR is from the U.S.

37
00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,680
State Department, and EAR is from the Commerce Department.

38
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:45,460
So essentially what we did is we said, you know, we need this framework to be useful for open-source volunteers.

39
00:01:45,460 --> 00:01:46,700
We went out and did it.

40
00:01:46,700 --> 00:01:48,320
So we have a poster about that too.

41
00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:48,880
Okay.

42
00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:54,220
I want to get back to the whole idea of, like, I can throw a satellite up in the air.

43
00:01:54,220 --> 00:01:55,580
How does that even work?

44
00:01:55,580 --> 00:01:59,040
Like, what are the steps I would have to take to get my own satellite up?

45
00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:06,020
Well, yeah, usually you work with an organization or a group or a company, and what you have to do is solve a whole bunch of problems.

46
00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:13,420
So one of the reasons that we exist is because there's such a huge variety of different problems, and we think that they should be solved in an open-source way.

47
00:02:13,420 --> 00:02:21,840
So you have mechanical, you have electrical, communications, thermal, propulsion, attitude control, and a lot of regulatory work.

48
00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,440
So it's a huge interdisciplinary problem.

49
00:02:24,700 --> 00:02:26,160
And that's open-source?

50
00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:27,560
Like, just freely available?

51
00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:28,280
Yes.

52
00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,780
So how do you get, like, how do you fund it?

53
00:02:31,780 --> 00:02:32,980
Is it funded out of donations?

54
00:02:32,980 --> 00:02:34,040
Is it funded out of sponsorships?

55
00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:42,640
In general, amateur radio, amateur satellites have been funded through donations or in-kind contributions for many decades.

56
00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:47,220
There's an amateur satellite that happened right almost after Sputnik.

57
00:02:47,220 --> 00:02:54,680
So this is something that's been going on for decades, and it's been done by a really dedicated, wonderful group of people over time.

58
00:02:54,940 --> 00:03:02,640
So the answer is yes, you can do it, and it's usually funded by donations, or either donations from individuals or from companies.

59
00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:05,540
Because the question I have is, like, so I want to get involved.

60
00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,600
This is fascinating that you can just open-source all of this.

61
00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,780
Because at a certain point, it feels like these are secret things.

62
00:03:12,780 --> 00:03:13,500
They were.

63
00:03:13,500 --> 00:03:18,180
For the longest, it was very difficult to volunteer and to do this in the open.

64
00:03:18,700 --> 00:03:25,740
So that was one of the first things that we had to tackle, was to help make it safe from a regulatory point of view to do it.

65
00:03:25,740 --> 00:03:30,300
Because the vast majority of satellite work is done under closed or proprietary conditions.

66
00:03:30,300 --> 00:03:34,480
And there are some stiff penalties if you break these regulations.

67
00:03:34,500 --> 00:03:37,520
It can be very expensive for you and very scary.

68
00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,580
And we don't want volunteering or open-source to be scary.

69
00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:47,060
So one of the questions I had is, like, if I want to get involved, I learn it all.

70
00:03:47,060 --> 00:03:55,480
Is there practical applications I can do as an individual, or do I need to work with a company or a bigger group to be able to do anything with it?

71
00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,240
Your best bet is to join a team.

72
00:03:58,260 --> 00:04:00,220
There's lots of teams at universities.

73
00:04:00,540 --> 00:04:02,760
There's teams like us that are non-profits.

74
00:04:02,820 --> 00:04:08,780
There's amateur radio organizations all over the world that do wonderful work in the amateur satellite service.

75
00:04:08,780 --> 00:04:10,980
So there's lots of opportunities to do this.

76
00:04:10,980 --> 00:04:20,880
And there's a few commercial companies where you could probably either end up working there, or the few that do open-source work would actually take you on.

77
00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:22,720
And those are the paths.

78
00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:23,220
That's cool.

79
00:04:23,220 --> 00:04:24,960
Now, the village is huge.

80
00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:25,760
Yes, it is.

81
00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:27,720
There's tons of talks going on.

82
00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:27,840
Yes.

83
00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:29,020
There's a CTF.

84
00:04:29,020 --> 00:04:31,800
Can you tell me a little bit about the CTF going on?

85
00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:32,420
I can.

86
00:04:32,420 --> 00:04:34,300
Like, what type of aspects are in it?

87
00:04:34,420 --> 00:04:36,940
Yeah, this is a wonderful aspect of this village.

88
00:04:36,940 --> 00:04:41,680
And so it's generally Wi-Fi based, but not exclusively.

89
00:04:43,180 --> 00:04:52,700
And your challenges are that you sit down with either an SDR, or usually a software-defined radio of some sort, and you take on the challenges.

90
00:04:52,700 --> 00:04:54,280
And there's a huge variety.

91
00:04:55,980 --> 00:05:06,820
So, when you take on the challenges, you have a software-defined radio, are you scanning for the challenges, scanning for the frequencies, are you trying to connect and communicate and maybe dump the information?

92
00:05:06,820 --> 00:05:09,420
Just like any good question, the answer is it depends.

93
00:05:09,420 --> 00:05:13,520
Because there's a huge variety of ways to do a wireless CTF like this.

94
00:05:13,540 --> 00:05:16,240
So you might have to find something in the payload.

95
00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:21,380
You might have to demodulate or decode something that's not quite standard.

96
00:05:21,460 --> 00:05:23,880
You might have to find something that's really obscure.

97
00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:26,720
So there's just an immense variety.

98
00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:27,140
Okay.

99
00:05:27,140 --> 00:05:34,560
As you go around and talk to the folks up at the front, they're going to be able to tell you all sorts of the neat things that are going on this year.

100
00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:35,080
Excellent.

101
00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:36,340
Hey, thank you so much for your time.

102
00:05:36,340 --> 00:05:36,980
Thank you.

103
00:05:36,980 --> 00:05:40,480
I'm guessing OpenResearch.Institute is how people get involved.

104
00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:40,480
Yes .

105
00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:44,200
And we have a Getting Started link at OpenResearch.Institute.

106
00:05:44,380 --> 00:05:45,480
Everyone is welcome.

107
00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:47,600
You do not have to be an expert to join.

108
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,960
You just have to be willing to become more of one along the way.

109
00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:55,760
We're here to help people learn about open-source digital radio for space and terrestrial.

110
00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,220
And we also have some demos over here of things that are working.

111
00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:04,200
And some stickers and some patches and some buttons and all sorts of fun things.

112
00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:04,800
Excellent.

113
00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:06,320
Thank you so much for your time.

114
00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:08,040
Thanks for watching.

115
00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:09,400
And hack on!