SignalRange

A web-based training simulation for satellite ground station operations, built with TypeScript and vanilla JavaScript.

Overview

SignalRange simulates a commercial satellite ground station environment where operators learn to configure and troubleshoot RF equipment chains. The training scenarios are set at North Atlantic Teleport Services (NATS), a fictional satellite ground station facility in Vermont serving the TIDEMARK constellation.

Campaign 1: North Atlantic Teleport Services (NATS)

Five scenarios (with three more coming in January) taking you from observation to independent operations at a commercial C-band ground station in Vermont. Progress from health checks and maintenance procedures through satellite handovers, acquisitions, and RF troubleshooting. See the scenario guide for details.

2026 Roadmap

Campaign 1 is the beginning. Here's what's planned for 2026:

Jan - NATS Scenarios 6-8

Complete the NATS campaign with advanced scenarios: rain fade compensation, full link budget analysis, and independent troubleshooting under time pressure.

Q1 - Campaign 2: European Operations

Charlie transfers to NATS Europe. LEO satellite tracking, multi-contact mission planning, video feed decoding, and Ku-band operations.

Q2 - Campaign 3: Backyard Operator

Charlie's niece teaches you how to track satellites from your backyard. Software-defined radios, SatNOGS, circular polarization, GPS signal tracking, and DIY antenna setups.

Q3 - Campaign 4: Electronic Warfare

Military counter-communications operations. SATCOM denial, redundant hardware management, multi-antenna coordination, X-band.

Q4 - Campaign 5: Signal Hunter

Someone is jamming allied satellites. Find them using geolocation and advanced RF techniques.

Equipment Simulated

• 9m C-band Antenna - Pointing, tracking modes, polarization control
• LNB - Local oscillator, gain, thermal stabilization
• BUC - Block upconverter with mute control
• HPA - High power amplifier with safety interlocks
• IF Filter Bank - Bandwidth selection
• GPSDO - GPS-disciplined oscillator for frequency reference
• Spectrum Analyzer - Real-time RF visualization
• Receiver/Transmitter Modems - Signal demodulation and generation

🛠️ Local Development Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18.x or 20.x (LTS recommended)
• npm 9.x or later

Quick Start

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/thkruz/SignalRange.git
cd SignalRange

# 2. Install dependencies
npm install

# 3. Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env

# 4. Pull campaign assets from R2 (audio/images)
npm run r2:pull

# 5. Start the development server
npm run dev

The app will be available at http://localhost:3000 (or the port shown in terminal).

Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env and configure:

Variable	Required	Description
PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL	For auth features	Your Supabase project URL
PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY	For auth features	Supabase anonymous/public key
PUBLIC_USER_API_URL	No	User API endpoint (has default)
PUBLIC_ASSETS_BASE_URL	No	Leave empty for local dev

For local development without authentication features, the default .env.example values work out of the box.

Asset Management

Campaign assets (audio files, character images) are stored in Cloudflare R2 and not committed to the repository.

# Download assets from R2 (no authentication required)
npm run r2:pull

# Preview what would be downloaded
npm run r2:pull:dry

Assets are downloaded to public/assets/campaigns/ and public/assets/characters/.

Available Scripts

Command	Description
npm run dev	Start webpack dev server with hot reload
npm run build	Production build to dist/
npm run preview	Preview production build with Wrangler
npm run r2:pull	Download campaign assets from R2
npm run test	Run Jest test suite
npm run type-check	TypeScript type checking
npm run lint	Run ESLint

Troubleshooting

Assets not loading? Run npm run r2:pull to download campaign audio and images.

TypeScript errors? Run npm run type-check to see detailed type errors.

Port already in use? The dev server defaults to port 3000. Check for other processes or modify webpack.config.js.

🌐 Deployment

SignalRange is deployed on Cloudflare Workers with static assets. There are two environments:

Environment	URL	Purpose
Production	https://app.signalrange.space	Live user-facing application
UAT	https://uat.signalrange.space	Pre-production testing and validation

Deploy Commands

# Deploy to UAT (test changes first)
npx wrangler deploy --env uat

# Deploy to Production (after UAT validation)
npx wrangler deploy --env production

Always deploy to UAT first to validate changes before promoting to production.

📄 License

AGPLv3 - See LICENSE.md