Interfacing with RFD 900x and Nucleo

As of now, the drone will use RFD 900x modems to allow bidirectional communication from drone to Ground Station - one placed on drone and the other connected to Ground Station PC. Nucleo microcontroller will allow communication between Ground Station PC and tracking antenna system.

Open

Tracking Antenna System from Kevin Huang

RFD 900x

RFD 900x are modems that can communicate over 40 km and support serial communication with 2 RP-SMA connectors. They allow for communication between drone and Ground Station PC similar to a wired serial connection.

Nucleo Boards

STM32 Nucleo boards are microcontrollers with support for hardware add-ons. Micropython is supported for many Nucleo boards (listed here) if interfacing with Nucleo boards with python necessary. UART will be used for communicating with Nucleo board.

Ground Station

RFD 900x modem at Ground Station can connect to Ground Station PC with a jumper to USB connection to configure RFD and connect to Mission Planner.

Next Steps

• Find a module that allows for interfacing with RFD 900x similar to XBeeDevice from digi.xbee.devices

• Update CommsInterface class to use RFD 900x rather than XBees

Other Findings:

• rfd900x (library for control and config, although not documented)

• RFD 900x Config Tutorial: Long range Telemetry for Drones - RFD 900