4286
Comment:
|
4618
|
Deletions are marked like this. | Additions are marked like this. |
Line 26: | Line 26: |
* most important missing things: * weather "shield" for rotator (some ideas, not tested) * testing testing testing |
* Rotator is in test use with 2 x 9el 2M yagis * Rotator has survied it first storm, with no damage! |
Line 51: | Line 50: |
*IMU sensors for calibration : *BerryIMU + MPU9250 IMU chips *External weather shielded box which is connected directly to antenna support boom, gives you quite good compass / tilt bearings when calibrated correctly. *quite cheap(25€/each) and easy to use (i2c bus, RTIMULib2) |
|
Line 101: | Line 105: |
[[attachment:imu.jpg|{{attachment:imu.jpg||width=200}}]] |
- hacker
PiRotator
RaspberryPi controlled antenna rotator
Summary:
Current commercial az/el antenna rotators are really expensive(easily over 1500€ with controllers), and moreover technically most are from 90s (analog potentiometer sensors/control, no network, rs/lpt controllable, no web, no rest api, etc).
I tried to take little bit different approach..
Goals:
- Cheap common hardware (wormgears, nema steppers, rasberrypi, etc)
- Intelligence on mast (controlbox includes rasberrypi, this enables many things, like SDR on mast)
- All digital (digital rotary sensors, steppers, tcp/ip, etc)
- network (only IO is network, controlling thru different apis(REST, legacy RS emulation api))
- backward compatibility to legacy software, via software RS (ham radio deluxe, pstrotator, etc)
- project is only for fun, and learning new stuff!
Project status:
hardware & software are in quite good shape
- Rotator is in test use with 2 x 9el 2M yagis
- Rotator has survied it first storm, with no damage!
Hardware:
- Steppers:
- Common 4-lead NEMA 23
- one full step 1.8 degrees
- cheap (from 10$/each)
- easy to control
- Worm gears:
- Absolute rotary encoders:
- Cheapest used 10bit absolute rotary sensors what i could find (KOYO TRD-3A1024)
precision is more than enough (10bit -> 1024 -> 360/1024= 0.35 degrees)
- price about 15€/each
- 10bit means in this case that there are 10pin for data + 2 power pins
- IMU sensors for calibration :
- BerryIMU + MPU9250 IMU chips
- External weather shielded box which is connected directly to antenna support boom, gives you quite good compass / tilt bearings when calibrated correctly.
- quite cheap(25€/each) and easy to use (i2c bus, RTIMULib2)
- Slip rings:
- Capsule slip ring OD22MM 18Wires
- stepper control cables and rotary sensors data cables to upper module go thru axle, with slip ring we dont have to worry about these cables and rotation.
- about 15€
- Stepper control:
?PicoBorg Reverse
- easy, cheap, efficient,
- Controller:
- Raspberrypi 2 or B+
- full OS
- enough gpio ports for encoders and stepper control
- network port
- could run as "SDR streamer" with rtl_tcp or similar
- full python
- Connectors/box/cables/gears/belts/bolts/etc:
Software:
Plan / specs for pirotator server:
- REST api for controlling (done)
- you could control your rotator via simple http posts
- enables many kind of solutions
- Legacy rotator emulation for legacy software via virtual RS (done)
- emulates yeasu GS-232B protocol (only control and feedback commands implemented)
client OS sees ?SerialPort via virtual serial port software (eg. hw-groups HW virtual serial port -HW VSP3)
- Tested with HRD rotator and PSTrotator
- Simpple CLI UI (70%)
- mainly for debugging purposes
- Multithreaded structure, and locks/aborts (90%)
- could use all of those apis/interfaces at same time
- Neat WEB/JavaScript UI top of REST api (15%)
- Graphical javascipt / angular UI
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/embed/0F_P8_iJNqI
Pictures
- description
- Current commercial az/el antenna rotators are really expensive(easily over 1500€ with controllers), and moreover technically most are from 90s (analog potentiometer sensors/control, no network, rs/lpt controllable, no web, no rest api, etc).I tried to take little bit different approach..
- started
- 2015-10-02