Tracking Antenna 2023
MicroArch and Timeline
Principle Engineers | @Rahul Ramkumar @Egor Gorelyy @Yuchen Lin |
Forced to Review | EFS Leads |
Dragged Along |
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Uplifted |
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Objective | To design and fabricate an antenna system which receives drone GPS coordinates from the ground stiation and uses them to allow the two directional--antennas to track the drone. The two antenna towers are T_Telem and T_VRX (video reception). |
Due date |
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Key outcomes | Implement the algorithm to obtain GPS data to pitch and yaw the antenna using the Nucleo board, servo motors, and a potentiometer. Antennae should be able to rotate 360 degrees yaw multiple times (flight path and available cable length will need to be considered) Pitch adjustment should be able to go from ~20 to 90 degrees Both antenna towers must
If properly setup, antenna should be able to run for 40 minutes unconnected to the GSPC |
Status | Background Research |
Scope
Current Must Haves: | Each tower will have a: Nucleo, IMU, GPS, antenna all mounted on the panning head. This pan head should be able to track a drone flying ~ 70km/h at a 50m radius away while maintaining accuracy within 15 degrees of the centre of a drone at a max range of 7 km away. Mounted on the tracking antenna (but perhaps not on the moving head) of the antenna may be signal boosters, signal relays, excess wires, wire splitters, power, etc. Notch filters to improve signal quality. Have the antennae accurately position themself according to the position of the drone within a 30~60-degree effective angle (angle needs to be clarified further). Antenna towers need to be ~25 feet apart to avoid interference. |
Future Expansion: |
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Not in scope: |
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Tasks Break Down:
Timeline
Implementation Details
[outdated drawing]
Continous rotation servos will be used and will need to meet minimum speed, weight and resolution requirements.
IMU (inertial measurement unit) will need to move with antenna whereas GPS will not.
Should be able to track a drone flying ~ 70km/h at a 50m radius away while maintaining accuracy within 15 degrees of the centre of a drone at a max range of 7 km away. This results in a maximum 0.3889 rad/s (3.7136 rpm) for angular rotation of the antenna.
What sort of calibration do we need on power-on? Depends on what sensors are used to measure rotation.
Hardware | Location | How it is used | Details | Quantity | Data Sheet | Price | Size |
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Nucleo | One on each tower | Microcontroller for the whole system |
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BMX160 IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) | One on each antenna head | Tracks the direction and movement of the antenna head and is used in adjusting it so it lines up with the drone. |
| 2 | https://www.mouser.ca/datasheet/2/783/BST_BMX160_DS000-1509610.pdf |
| 20 x 12.5mm |
Neo m8 GPS | One on each tower | Used to get position of each tower and to compare with that of the drone to aim at it. Connects to Nucleo via cable. |
| 2 |
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USB Tether |
| Tethered tower operation |
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XBEES 2.4ghz |
| Untethered operation |
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RMRC 1.3 GHZ video receiver |
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AKK 5.8 GHZ Video Transmitter |
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TBS Tracer Nano 2.4 GHZ Rx | Enclosure | PPM relay |
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Servos |
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| 4 |
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X-AIR 1.3 | Separate from the other two antennas Mounted on panning head | Directional patch antenna | 135 g Mounting: Standard 1/4-20 flush thread Connector: SMA male | 1 |
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| 152mm x 152mm x 30mm |
SINGULARITY 868 | Together with X-AIR 900 Does not need to be mounted on the panning head but has to be outside box | Omnidirectional antenna | Connector: SMA Weight unspecified | 1 |
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| 65mm x xxmm + 90mm cable |
X-AIR 900 | Together with Singulairty 868 Nees to be mounted on the panning head | Directional patch antenna | 324 g Connector: SMA male Mounting: Standard 1/4-20 flush thread | 1 |
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| 222mm x 222mm x 45mm |
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T_VRX Tower
List of things to be mounted on video tower
T_Telem Tower
List of things to be mounted on telemetry tower
Actions Items
Ground station sends GPS data of the drone to each nucleo and each nucleo gets its position data from its gps.
IMU is used to track the heading of the antenna by each nucleo
Motor output is generated and used to control both outputs.
Calculating
Milestones and deadlines
Milestone | Owner | Deadline | Status |
Coding/Simulation |
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| Algorithm exists already in Matlab but it is undecided yet if it is going to be used |
Implement the GPS position → yaw and pitch algorithm in C++ |
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| Not started |
Driver Testing for imu, GPS, and motor |
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| Not started |
Unit testing for drone-tracking code |
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| Not started |
Tune PID for motors (if needed)
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| Not started |
Open Questions
What is going to need to be mounted on each tower?
Reference materials
2023 System Architecture | Antenna Towers
BMX160 Data Sheet: https://www.mouser.ca/datasheet/2/783/BST_BMX160_DS000-1509610.pdf