Tracking Antenna

Project Requirements as of March 2023:

See 2023 System Architecture for more detail. These requirements are from Discord Convo and have been documented here so they are not lost. They are not a formal definition of how things will be and therefore do not qualify to be in the architecture document by themselves.

  1. Telemetry Tower

    1. - 1x RFD900x. the RFD900x will have the same cable output as it does right now, so ideally there's some way for us to hold the cable in place with a 3d printed bracket or otherwise. The rfd900 will also have two coaxial cables coming out of the top, there needs to be space for that. The heatsink of the RFD900 should also be facing upwards, if you have "spare" time, you could consider CAD-ing a small 40mm fan bracket for a noctua 40x10mm fan to provide active cooling.

    2. - 2x RFD900x Dipole antenna (the black ones that are maybe one hand length). these antennas, ideally, are mounted > 20cm apart, so if there's a way for us to secure them to the edge of the plexiglass on different planes (one horizontal, one vertical), that would be ideal.

    3. - 1x TBS Tracer Nano RX. this is the white doodad ziptied to the side of the large yagi antenna. It's already soldered into the wire connector, it just needs to be placed somewhere secure where it can't easily short or be otherwise damaged (incl. the potential of cables getting caught

  2. Video Tower note that this is the tower that might get yeeted onto a PVC pipe and secured to the ground with lots of ropes & stakes. Your design should ... not inhibit that

    1. - 1x RMRC 1.3GHz Video Receiver We have two of these in the bay, either of them are ok. They'll need to take 12V dc in, as well as output RCA video/audio out. They will have a coax antenna attachment, we may or may not need a small antenna stand in the future. Maybe leave some holes / space on the platform for a small antenna pole (not super long, only about 10cm) in the future. The antenna will be a singularity 1280.

    2. - 1x Rush Tank Race II OR Akk TS832 transmitter. both of these MIGHT be mounted, as long as there's space for either of them at any one time, you're good. They'll have input wires near the bottom, and both of them will have some form of antenna output. Ideally both of these can be mounted vertically, with a small plastic guide for the antenna to ziptie to as well (especially since the rush tank antenna is quite floppy).

    3. - 1x 3s battery (3s 4000mah). just a battery, can be mounted lower down on the tripod in some 3d printed basket that clamps onto a leg if you'd like.

 

 

block diagram

 

 Success metrics

 

Goal

Metric

Goal

Metric

 

 

 

 

 Assumptions

 

  •  

  •  

 Requirements

 

e

Requirements / Constraints

Justification

Priority

Subteam involved

Owner

Notes

Implementation Notes

Requirements / Constraints

Justification

Priority

Subteam involved

Owner

Notes

Implementation Notes

 

 

HIGHMEDIUM LOW

 

@

 

 

Each tower need to have a solid unsupport and can withstand 20 knots of wind, supported with 50-60 knots

e.g tripod

HIGH

Mech

 

 

 

Need two tower with easy to swap mountings

Each tripod can be mounted with any system(T_telem or T_vtx)

Medium

Mech

 

Wire soln very hard

xbee easy

 

Each tower need to be portable (weight limit)

E.g carrying solution

Medium

Mech

 

 

 

Each tower need to be easy to setup in low dexterity & visibility environments without any tools

1 trained person finish setting the tower up in 15 min e.g tower and sensor head only connect those two + battery preassembled

Medium

Mech & ee

 

 

 

The tower need to be able to rotate (supporting pwm protocol || dshot protocol)

rotation at 4 rpm & able to move 360 degree

High

EE & mech

 

every components placed on the rotating platform

 

The tower need to have a weather proof solution

e.g a shielding tent

LOW

mech & ee

 

hard for first iteration; hard for maintaince

 

must be able to be transported by any SDC vehicle

 

Medium

EE & mech

 

sensor head portition safe to transport able to be warpped and safely transported

 

The nucleo need to be powered

e.g 3s battery for at least an hour; battery harness is needed e.g xt50

&&

e.g a step down converter

HIGH

EE

 

exceed required battery input

 

nucleo need to be mounted on the tower

The unsed pin must not short with metal

HIGH

MECH & EE

 

wiring (first iteration just nucleo & later edition very solid || shield)

 

All the connector need to be easy for inspection

A quick scan can tell it is safe to use or not

LOW

EE

 

not applicable for first iteration

 

Xbee need to be mounted on the tower OR wire solution to connect the tracking antenna tower to the ground station

The antenna need to point at the ground station OR the wire is able to reach the ground station

HIGH

EFS > EE

 

strength of driver and length to cable(important to test)

push for xbee (strong suggested)

 

BMX 160 need to be laid flat and rotate as the antenna rotate and give back the heading and pitch data

E.g mount on the antenna

HIGH

EFS, mech

 

 

 

BMX 160 need to have a calibration algorithm

E.g press the position and can set the current position as origin

Medium

EFS

 

 

 

TBS nano 2.4 Ghz need to have a clear line or sight with the pilot Tx16s

E.g direct pointing at the pilot at the back of the tower?

HIGH

Mech

 

different coax cable? Height aspect?

TBS omni-directional highest

 

Singular 868 need to be mount on the tower fixed without major obstcales blocking the line of sight

The 868 antenna do not need to rotate as the directional antenna rotate

HIGH

Mech (ee data sheet)

 

as tall as possible

 

X-air 900 and x-air 1.3 need to be safely mounted on the rotation mechanism and able to adjust it’s pitch

x-air 900 and x-air 1.3 need to be interchangable e.g pitch can be achieved by an encoder

HIGH

EE EFS Mech

 

pitch adjustment breaking system

 

Neo M8 need to mounted on the tower and antenna signal is received

fixed position and clear line of sight for antenna

HIGH

EE Efs

 

 

 

Neo m8 signal pre check

ensure signal is received

HIGH

EFS

 

LED signalling(inspection)

 

Neo m8 & Bmx 160 & xbee & RFD900(maybe) need to connect to the nucleo

e,g using a harness solution

HIGH

EE

 

As discuss previously

 

The nucleo need to connect to the ground station either xbee(wireless) || wire soln(long micro usb) with medium lantancy

e,g usb extention cable?

HIGH

EFS

 

As discussed previously

 

signal from x-air need to directed to xbee || Wire to send to groundstation

e.g a forward algorithm?

HIGH

EFS

 

needed researching

 

GPSC data need to be recieved on the tower

E.g xbee driver read GPSC data from ground station

HIGH

EFS

 

XBEE

 

NEO m8(GPS) and BMX 160(Heading pitch) data received by nucleo

E.g corresponding driver

HIGH

EFS

 

XBEE

 

The tracking accuracy of the tracking tower <= 15 degree

e.g pid tracking antenna algorithm + vector calc

Medium

EFS

 

algorithm

 

an removable camera mount on the antenna

able to verify the performance of the tracking antenna

HIGH

Mech

 

go pro

 

tool-less assembly, if any required

 

Medium

Mech EE

 

 

 

sync between two tower

 

low

EFS

 

pass back to ground station and distribute

 

conceptualize be done by reading week && a little bit cad ++ buy list

 

Cad after the mid term

12 finish all the part for first iteration

19 for the first test flight

 

 

 

 

 

 

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