Antenna Tracking for RC Radio Link

[Crash9]

I just purchased a 2.4ghz wifi booster for my RC radio to increase the range after researching if it was even possible....it is! . The stock radio puts out about 100mw and the booster puts out 500mw. Should be good for a solid link and longer range.

So here's my plan...when the EagleEyes antenna tracker is available I plan on using it for both RX'ing video and for TX'ing 2.4ghz Rc radio with a patch antenna (2 patches installed on it..one for 900 video and the other for RC link). This is why I want a booster because running a cable from the RC radio to the ET antenna tracker is sure to lose TX'ing power so the booster will help. I'm looking to get a solid link not necessary long range...just a couple of miles. What'a you guys think?



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[Crash9]

Here's a link to the boosters:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19616

http://cgi.ebay.com/15d-WiFi-Wireles...item2eaa4d8c9f

[skyhigh]

Originally Posted by Crash9

I just purchased a 2.4ghz wifi booster for my RC radio to increase the range after researching if it was even possible....it is! . The stock radio puts out about 100mw and the booster puts out 500mw. Should be good for a solid link and longer range.

I bought a 1000mW booster and performed a "ground test" of it using my computer WI-FI router. The booster didn't do a thing for my WI-FI range -- no increase or decrease. I haven't tried it on my RC transmitter yet because of the results of this test.

I've read that most boosters do have increased power but also unfortunately add in a lot of noise into the signal negating any benefits. Only the very high quality ones can boost the signal without adding in noise. I couldn't directly measure the noise of my WIFI test but I could see the "signal bars" on the computer's wireless network interface.

[Crash9]

I got my EagleEyes last week and have been playing around with it. Neat little item and helped clean up my ground station. I also got to test my Long Range 2.4ghz radio mod and it gave me almost twice the range as before. I used my Emaxx truck to do the test. Being on the ground it will have much less range then in the sky but it should tell me if there's an increase. Without the booster I could travel up to 1500' (LOS) and with the wifi booster I could go 2500' ...not bad and when I get out in the wide open I'll test it on my easystar.

I also had sometime to finish my prototype antenna tracker mount and will do a small production run on Monday . I designed it to allow different placement of the antenna so it could be balanced not causing any servo strain like the other trackers do. Also the panning is supported with a surface bearings so no wobbling when operating .


.http://fpvpilot.com/AntennaTrackerMount.aspx

[Roel-CP]

Read this website.
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/...ost-your-24ghz

Also its important what booster you buy and what was tested.
Don't forget that when you have more power you spreading the frequenty more.
When you use more device's on 2.4g you can get in trouble.

I will use my DX7 on 2.4G with booster soon
A/V 1.3G
Head tracking mayby on a 35mhz

[l14m]

Hi Scott nice one with booster ,I was going to go that route but in the end I bought a Futaba 9c. On the subject of the E T , is the diversity as good as the Oracle ?
Regards Liam.

[Crash9]

Originally Posted by l14m

Hi Scott nice one with booster ,I was going to go that route but in the end I bought a Futaba 9c. On the subject of the E T , is the diversity as good as the Oracle ?
Regards Liam.

I like the Oracle and having both I see no difference in the diversity switching but the truth is the EE is a bit better IMO. 4 video/audio outputs (which is what most of need so now it cleaned up my GS), sensitivity adjustments and able to do firmware updates via USB, Now add antenna tracking, live telemetry viewing/recording and live Google Earth via your laptops internet wireless connection and OSDpro. I like the live telemetry via laptop. As I went to fly my new FunJet with the ET gear on board I had a buddy watch the gauges on my laptop with the Eagle Trees Windows Software running so he was acting like a co-pilot even though this info is available on the OSD it's nice to have another set of eyes on the gauges not to mention it's recording the info too so no need to download from your eLogger unless you want too. Then there's the lower cost also

[l14m]

Cheers Scott as soon as its here in the Uk I will order one.
Regards Liam.

[Helicopterfixer]

I looked around a bit, can someone tell me, where do I order an Eagle Eyes Diversity Controller? Im having trouble finding anything other than an antenna tracker.

[Helicopterfixer]

Oh, nevermind. I found it. Backordered!

[halley]

I'm waiting on my second-generation prototype pcbs to arrive, but I'm developing a four-input video-and-audio rssi based diversity controller. If it works well, I'll be pricing them between Oracle and Eagle Eyes, maybe by the end of summer.

[Trnquill]

Originally Posted by halley

I'm waiting on my second-generation prototype pcbs to arrive, but I'm developing a four-input video-and-audio rssi based diversity controller. If it works well, I'll be pricing them between Oracle and Eagle Eyes, maybe by the end of summer.

Have you found any real world tests on which is better, video quality diversity (Oracle, Eagle Eyes) vs. RSSI diversity? I remember reading somewhere that RSSI can give false information on actual video quality. In other words, RSSI signal might be high even if the video itself is of poor quality (while the lower RSSI value reception has better image quality). Just like WiFi devices tell you signal stregth AND quality. Quality can be very low even if the signal strength (RSSI) is high.

Don't know if the above has any real effect on FPV diversity devices. I guess the difference between signal is usually quite high, if the other receiver has a rubber duck and the other high gain directional patch, for example. That's why I would like to see some comparative tests. As far as I know, RSSI diversity is almost trivial to achive where as true signal quality diversity is tough to do right.

[halley]

Originally Posted by Trnquill

Have you found any real world tests on which is better, video quality diversity (Oracle, Eagle Eyes) vs. RSSI diversity?

Short answer, no, but I plan to do some testing on my own. I can't even really tell what part of the video frame is being measured in existing devices to determine "video quality." Dropping frame markers? Poor timing? Lack of color burst? I doubt it's very sophisticated when you get right down to it.

I do have some long term ideas on how to repair video timing, though, so that you don't need an external time-base-corrector to deal with the blue screen issue. If the video signal drops out after having been seen briefly, I want a video output that looks like perfectly formed frame/timing markers with gray snow as the image component and white noise as the audio component. No test color bars, no bright blue screen, no "signal lost" text, just give me good video with any image/sound content you did get.

[Crash9]

Well now that Eagle tree Systems has announced that they will be releasing the EagleLink which is radio RX, TX, Video TX, video RX, etc...all-in-one FPV system I'm going to scrap the idea of using the antenna tracker for the RC radio link. This means one antenna if what they are say is true I won't need a second 2.4ghz patch since one will get the job done.

Now for my latest project the EagleEyes and antenna tracker pan and tilt is done and I've been having some fun messing around with it. I've mounted most of the gear onto the ATPT-100 and only have one cable coming from the EagleEyes and antenna tracker so no issues with tangling cables as it pans. I'm then using a video splitter to send the signal to my goggles and camcorder. I would of liked to use the EE's 4 outputs but the cabling was to much. I'm done bench testing and will head out tomorrow and give it a go. I think this set up just replaced my ground station as most all the gear is attached. Next I'll use it with a Yagi and/or a Grid.

Here's some pics.

[Crash9]

I got the prototype yagi antenna mounts in and got it mounted to my antenna tracker. Lots of different variations. Here's some pics.



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[halley]

Looking great. Waiting for videos.

Even if you have the tilt axis on a continuous rotation gear, you may want to move the yagi back a little bit so its center of gravity is closer to the axis of tilt rotation.

[Crash9]

That's why I have the counter weight it helps balance it on the tilt arm

[Crash9]

Hey all, Ok I finally got my Antenna trackers in stock and put one together mounted on a tripod. I made some changes from the prototype and as now the pan servo can be standard size or the highly recommended SM8166M large servo that DPCAV.com has in stock. This servo ROCKS and is much better then anything I have tried yet. It doesn't even notice the weight with a bunch of ground station gear attached to the tracker. I'm headed out to the Mojave desert this weekend to fly and will put the unit to a full test and abuse it as much as I can. I expect no issues but want to be sure before I start shipping these out next week. I'll report back with my results and video.


http://fpvpilot.com/AntennaTrackerMount.aspx




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[Crash9]

Here's a short demo video of the AT Pro 1000 being used. I went out to the desert for 3 days with some friends and managed to get 26 flights in with it. No issues and is very robust. I had to travel off road to 4-5 different locations and handles my abuse.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq-_MBxUWO8[/ame]

[Crash9]

The 2.4ghz wifi booster also worked very well by doubling my range with my Spektrum module. It might even tripled it but the RTH on my OSD was not activating so I stayed within 1-1/2 miles.