"Where are you and Where am I" - Improving OSURC Ground Station and Rover Communications

Loss of or poor signal is a never-ending source of frustration; isn't it wonderful hearing garbled words from Discord or Zoom or waiting for the loading spiral of doom to go away?

For the OSU Robotics Team, the loss of communication between our ground-station and Mars Rover could mean a competition disaster! We've been dealing with signal issues when the rover is in beyond (over the horizon) or obstructed (hidden from view) line of sight situations; the signal from our station can't reach the rover and vice versa.

This project will fix these issues with a new directional antenna and direction finding equipment.

Objectives

Deliverables will follow ECE 44X Senior Capstone schedule but is ultimately due before CIRC (Canadian International Rover Competition) in mid-August. Objectives are, of course, subject to change as the project matures but the following are “minimum” requirements.

  • PCB
    • Antenna and signals circuitry
    • Motor controller(s)
    • Microcontroller
  • Control Software
    • Align function
    • Track function
    • Compass Heading output
    • Signal Strength output
  • Tracking algorithm
  • Antenna mount
    • Stable under wind and on uneven terrain
    • Ease of setup and transport
  • Integration
    • OSURC Rover and Ground Station

Motivations

Radio Direction Finding both historically and in modernity is a method for navigation whether it be figuring out where you or an object/transmitter is. RDF systems are used in search-and-rescue, aviation, cellular and Internet, et cetera.

For OSURC, RDF will be used to locate the rover and point our RX and TX antennas in that direction. Good antenna performance will improve both testing and competition performance by reducing latency (between input and response) and improving data rate (especially live video). RDF will provide an additional navigation reference (in addition to visual spotting and GPS) in terms of compass heading (azimuth) and distance.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

In keeping with OSURC tradition, a willingness to put time in and learn is the minimum!

Preferred Qualifications:

Since this is a team effort, no single member is expected to know everything.

  • Soldering
  • PCB
  • 3D Printing
  • C++/C, Python


Details

Project Partner:

Angel Huang

Start Date:
September 22, 2022
End Date:
June 1, 2023
Compensation:
None
Keywords:
3D PrintingAnalogPCBRoboticsSignal ProcessingOSURCRadio Direction FindingRadio Frequency
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