Widespread distribution of data gathered via amateur satellites poses two significant problems. The first relates to the difficulty of downloading large amounts of data given the short access windows (roughly an hour a day) typical of amateur satellites. The second arises once the data is downloaded, as there is no practical means for distribution. Enter the Internet-connected amateur ground station. Client ground stations for a given satellite will be connected, via the Internet, to a remote server, which maintains a master database of everything downloaded from the satellite. When the satellite is in view of a client ground station, the server is given the current directory contents of the satellite, and is queried regarding which file should be downloaded. Once the data has been downloaded and forwarded to the server, it is then accessible to anyone with Internet access. Such a client/server architecture is the goal of the SEDSAT Ground Station Client/Server (SGSC and SGSS, respectively) design.
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