Table of Contents
Antenna ground box
The antenna ground box provides access to the antenna on the vessel from a laptop or tablet running QGroundControl. The station is composed of
- Pololu D24V50F5 5V DC/DC converter to provide power from 24V power input
- GL-AR750 access point to access mavlink via Wifi
- The RFD868+ Modem
- The Datasheet of the Angled Header available at Reichelt.
In addition it is possible to connect via the FTDI UART/USB cable with and without power from the 24V system. The router can also be connected with an ethernet cable to have wired access to the telemetry data.
Antenna Box V1
All electronic components are in the Spelsberg box.
Connections
- 24V power supply from Ship (max. 3A / 6V-38V InputRange)
- Antenna cable with N connector for the Taoglas antenna
- Ethernet cable for wired access
- FTDI UART/USB cable for direct wired access
Jumpers
- Power Switch: Use Power from D24V50F5 DC/DC Converter (Jumper Left) or the USB Power via FTDI Cable (Jumper Right)
- Data Switch: Route the Telemetry RADIO TX/RX to Ethernet (Jumpers Left) or to the FTDI Cable (Jumpers Right)
Mechanical
The electronics is in a Spelsberg box with 300x300x180mm and pole mounting.
- GEOS MSS-30 Masthalterung mit Schraubschellenset SRS 60-90 und SRS 90-150 und einer
- GEOS-L EP-3030 Montageplatte mit (NOT USED)
- GEOS MH-22 Halterset (WRONG!!! This is too long and probably useless)
Waveshare UART to Ethernet
- User: SWing, Pass: SW018
- IP: Alan Kurdi: 192.168.8.50, Sea-Eye 4: 192.168.8.2
- MAC: Alan Kurdi: 9C:A5:25:A0:48:B4, Sea-Eye 4: 9C:A5:25:A0:48:51
Configuration:
- Baud Rate: 57600, 8 Databits, No Parity, 1 Stopbit
- Local Port: 14550
- Remote Port Number: 14550
- Work Mode: UDP Client
- Remote Server Addr: 192.168.8.255
Access Point
- Type: GL-Inet AR750
- SSID: SW-AntBox-5G (5 GHz), SW-AntBox-24G (2.4 GHz)
- Wifi Password: GEHEIM
- 5 GHz Channel 48, 2.4 GHz Channel 1
- Router IP: 192.168.8.1
- LAN as DHCP with UARTtoEth via MAC Binding to fixed address)
- Admin Password: GEHEIM
The changes made from factory setting are:
- Wifi SSID, Passwords
- Bind MAC from UART2ETH WaveShare to IP (Kurdi: 192.168.8.50, Sea-Eye 4: 192.168.8.2)
Installation
The installation requires
- 24 DC power supply cable
- install of the Taoglas Antenna
- install of the Spelzberg box
- optional install of the Ethernet Cable for fixed wire access
The image shows the installed SearchWing Antenna Box on the Alan Kurdi. The box contains a Wifi Access Point for a connection to the flight tablet computer. It is therefore recommended to operate the tablet in proximity to the box.
Antenna Box V2
A new PCB board integrates the voltage regulator, RFD868+ modem, UART to Ethernet Converter on one board. Everything is now installed via “Hutschiene”. This version was installed on the mission with Sea-Watch 4 with Philipp.
Electronics / Board
Franc and Tim designed a board for the antenna ground box.
Fig. 4: Antenna Ground Station PCB v1.0 with Hutschienenadapter
Figure 4 shows the antenna ground box PCB version 1.0. The design data is available at
Easyeda - Antenna Ground Station PCB Board
The pcb board is installed with Hutschiene inside the Spelsberg box.
Fig. 5: Antenna Ground Station v2 box with PCB and Hutschiene
Figure 5 shows the Antenna Ground Station box V2 with PCB and Wifi AP on Hutschiene.
Fig. 6: Hutschienenadapter mit Sekundenkleber an Wifi AP geklebt
Figure 6 shows the Wifi Access Point glued with Sekundenkleber to the Hutschienenadapter.