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.

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
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

version 2.0 tracking antenna project

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
		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