WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:02.080 Hi, this is Open Research Institute. 00:02.080 --> 00:04.060 This is our exhibit at RF Village. 00:04.060 --> 00:05.900 We're so happy to be here again. 00:05.900 --> 00:07.520 It's a wonderful place. 00:07.560 --> 00:10.740 What we do is open-source digital radio. 00:10.740 --> 00:15.120 We're a non-profit, so we solve problems for space and terrestrial open-source work. 00:15.120 --> 00:17.000 And then we give all that work away for free. 00:17.100 --> 00:18.780 We do technical work. 00:18.820 --> 00:22.600 So here, behind us, is one of our posters from the poster session. 00:22.760 --> 00:26.900 And this is about authentication and authorization for open-source satellites. 00:27.760 --> 00:29.280 Wait, so hold on. 00:29.280 --> 00:32.180 Did you just say open-source satellites? 00:32.180 --> 00:33.080 Yes. 00:33.560 --> 00:39.060 Can I... I feel like this is a dumb question, but can I put up a satellite? 00:39.060 --> 00:40.000 Is that a thing? 00:40.000 --> 00:40.780 You can. 00:40.780 --> 00:41.860 You can put up a satellite. 00:41.860 --> 00:42.600 Legally? 00:42.600 --> 00:43.020 Yes. 00:43.020 --> 00:44.520 Legally, you can put up a satellite. 00:45.180 --> 00:46.100 How? 00:46.360 --> 00:49.660 Well, we've been putting up satellites for decades. 00:49.740 --> 00:53.200 And there is actually an amateur satellite service. 00:53.200 --> 00:57.280 So just like amateur radio, there's amateur satellite service as well. 00:57.280 --> 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. 01:05.620 --> 01:06.700 And so that's one of the things we do. 01:06.700 --> 01:09.480 We do technical work to make it easier to understand. 01:09.480 --> 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. 01:17.400 --> 01:22.140 Because those are controlled by the government under two sets of regulations, ITAR and EAR. 01:22.140 --> 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. 01:28.020 --> 01:28.780 Okay, pause it. 01:28.780 --> 01:30.940 You said ITAR and EAR. 01:30.940 --> 01:31.620 What are the... 01:31.620 --> 01:33.040 ITAR and EAR. 01:33.040 --> 01:34.940 They're two different sets of regulations. 01:34.940 --> 01:36.240 ITAR is from the U.S. 01:36.240 --> 01:39.680 State Department, and EAR is from the Commerce Department. 01:39.680 --> 01:45.460 So essentially what we did is we said, you know, we need this framework to be useful for open-source volunteers. 01:45.460 --> 01:46.700 We went out and did it. 01:46.700 --> 01:48.320 So we have a poster about that too. 01:48.320 --> 01:48.880 Okay. 01:49.560 --> 01:54.220 I want to get back to the whole idea of, like, I can throw a satellite up in the air. 01:54.220 --> 01:55.580 How does that even work? 01:55.580 --> 01:59.040 Like, what are the steps I would have to take to get my own satellite up? 01:59.040 --> 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. 02:06.200 --> 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. 02:13.420 --> 02:21.840 So you have mechanical, you have electrical, communications, thermal, propulsion, attitude control, and a lot of regulatory work. 02:21.840 --> 02:24.440 So it's a huge interdisciplinary problem. 02:24.700 --> 02:26.160 And that's open-source? 02:26.160 --> 02:27.560 Like, just freely available? 02:27.560 --> 02:28.280 Yes. 02:28.280 --> 02:31.780 So how do you get, like, how do you fund it? 02:31.780 --> 02:32.980 Is it funded out of donations? 02:32.980 --> 02:34.040 Is it funded out of sponsorships? 02:34.040 --> 02:42.640 In general, amateur radio, amateur satellites have been funded through donations or in-kind contributions for many decades. 02:42.640 --> 02:47.220 There's an amateur satellite that happened right almost after Sputnik. 02:47.220 --> 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. 02:54.940 --> 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. 03:02.640 --> 03:05.540 Because the question I have is, like, so I want to get involved. 03:06.080 --> 03:09.600 This is fascinating that you can just open-source all of this. 03:09.600 --> 03:12.780 Because at a certain point, it feels like these are secret things. 03:12.780 --> 03:13.500 They were. 03:13.500 --> 03:18.180 For the longest, it was very difficult to volunteer and to do this in the open. 03:18.700 --> 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. 03:25.740 --> 03:30.300 Because the vast majority of satellite work is done under closed or proprietary conditions. 03:30.300 --> 03:34.480 And there are some stiff penalties if you break these regulations. 03:34.500 --> 03:37.520 It can be very expensive for you and very scary. 03:37.600 --> 03:40.580 And we don't want volunteering or open-source to be scary. 03:41.160 --> 03:47.060 So one of the questions I had is, like, if I want to get involved, I learn it all. 03:47.060 --> 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? 03:55.480 --> 03:58.240 Your best bet is to join a team. 03:58.260 --> 04:00.220 There's lots of teams at universities. 04:00.540 --> 04:02.760 There's teams like us that are non-profits. 04:02.820 --> 04:08.780 There's amateur radio organizations all over the world that do wonderful work in the amateur satellite service. 04:08.780 --> 04:10.980 So there's lots of opportunities to do this. 04:10.980 --> 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. 04:21.400 --> 04:22.720 And those are the paths. 04:22.720 --> 04:23.220 That's cool. 04:23.220 --> 04:24.960 Now, the village is huge. 04:24.960 --> 04:25.760 Yes, it is. 04:25.760 --> 04:27.720 There's tons of talks going on. 04:27.720 --> 04:27.840 Yes. 04:27.840 --> 04:29.020 There's a CTF. 04:29.020 --> 04:31.800 Can you tell me a little bit about the CTF going on? 04:31.800 --> 04:32.420 I can. 04:32.420 --> 04:34.300 Like, what type of aspects are in it? 04:34.420 --> 04:36.940 Yeah, this is a wonderful aspect of this village. 04:36.940 --> 04:41.680 And so it's generally Wi-Fi based, but not exclusively. 04:43.180 --> 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. 04:52.700 --> 04:54.280 And there's a huge variety. 04:55.980 --> 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? 05:06.820 --> 05:09.420 Just like any good question, the answer is it depends. 05:09.420 --> 05:13.520 Because there's a huge variety of ways to do a wireless CTF like this. 05:13.540 --> 05:16.240 So you might have to find something in the payload. 05:16.400 --> 05:21.380 You might have to demodulate or decode something that's not quite standard. 05:21.460 --> 05:23.880 You might have to find something that's really obscure. 05:24.640 --> 05:26.720 So there's just an immense variety. 05:26.800 --> 05:27.140 Okay. 05:27.140 --> 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. 05:34.560 --> 05:35.080 Excellent. 05:35.080 --> 05:36.340 Hey, thank you so much for your time. 05:36.340 --> 05:36.980 Thank you. 05:36.980 --> 05:40.480 I'm guessing OpenResearch.Institute is how people get involved. 05:40.480 --> 05:40.480 Yes . 05:40.480 --> 05:44.200 And we have a Getting Started link at OpenResearch.Institute. 05:44.380 --> 05:45.480 Everyone is welcome. 05:45.480 --> 05:47.600 You do not have to be an expert to join. 05:47.600 --> 05:50.960 You just have to be willing to become more of one along the way. 05:50.960 --> 05:55.760 We're here to help people learn about open-source digital radio for space and terrestrial. 05:55.880 --> 05:59.220 And we also have some demos over here of things that are working. 05:59.840 --> 06:04.200 And some stickers and some patches and some buttons and all sorts of fun things. 06:04.320 --> 06:04.800 Excellent. 06:04.800 --> 06:06.320 Thank you so much for your time. 06:06.320 --> 06:08.040 Thanks for watching. 06:08.040 --> 06:09.400 And hack on!