my diy ground control station

Well first of all I'll start with the reason I chose to build this ground station instead of using a laptop

So after many times of carrying the laptop around assembling and disassembling parts and cables xbees usb cables and such I figured my laptop days as ground station will be numbered

Because of this I decided that I needed a ground station that would save me the need to deal with the assembling and disassembling in the field and will be more durable then my laptop

First I had to plan my shopping and inventory list

I had an old laptop with a broken screen that did not survive its frequent trips around and my poor handling skills And an older laptop screen that i planned on using with the other laptop mother board in order to do it I had to buy a lcd adapter that will let me use the vga port on the motherboard with the lvds laptop screen

That's about what I had to start with

The second thing was to look for a case that will be large enough to contain the mother board the screen another small screen that will fit in the remaining space and some lcd meters for giving a better look mostly and some 3 position switches

After many searches I found an old stock of Pelican at an affordable price and size that is suitable for my budget and needs i measured the space that left after installing the main screen and figure out that a 5 inch screen will just fit

then i needed to think of a way to install everything in a way that would give me easy access to the parts just for any case

after trying multiple materials Plexiglas plywood and others which are not very easy to work with without machinery which i didnt have access to i found just what i needed a pvc foam it is not the perfect material consider his toughness which is lacking but it is very easy to work with and so i chose it and start to cut holes and install the switches and lcds

for the finishing touch of the station i used a vinyl sticker in a 3d carbon woven pattern which gave the panel a nicer look

 

 

some technical details:

for powering the station i chose to use a sla battery instead of lipo for some reasons

first it is easier to deal with in terms of charging it and is much safer then lipo

second it is cheaper and heavier so I can save money and use it for balancing the case

i also wanted to be able to hook the station to ac power when its available

so i searched for some ac/dc converter that will meet my power demends and it turned out that i missed it in my calculation by a bit but for the moment it is working and i see no reason to change it but when it brake i'll certenly buy a bigger one capable of outputing more current

I then wanted to charge the battery while using the ac/dc convertor and giving the station more reliability i found a charger which is also a ups that is just what i wished for

also used step up regulator from 12v to 19v for powering the motherboard

and a step down regulator from 12v to 5v for powering the usb hub

both regulators are adjustable with lcd meters for convenience reasons and capable of outputting more current than consumed 

　

bom for the station is:

laptop mother board and screen - free

pelican 1520 - ebay

LCD Controller Board DIY Kit  - for connecting lvds screen to the motherboard - ebay

VGA 2AV driver board 5inch HSD050IDW1 800×480 screen - ebay

12v to 19v step up convertor with lcd for powering the motherboard - ebay

temperature meter with two sensors (inside and out of the case) - ebay

power meter with 2X lcd voltmeter and amp meter - ebay

12v to 5v step down convertor with lcd for powering usb hub - ebay

picoUPS-120 12v dc micro ups system - ebay

4X  3 position 6 pins switches - bought at a local electricity store - ebay

4X  Delta Fan for Compaq 12vdc  .15A  40mm EFB0412HHA - ebay

3d carbon woven pvc vinyl sticker - deal extreme

ac/dc convertor 100-240v input 12v output 3.2A  or higher :) - ebay

pvc foam sheet - ebay

access point modem asus wl-330ge - ebay

usb hub 7-ports - ebay *

thermal skin for wires - ebay

 

* if you want to build your own usb hub you can do it using fe1.1s chip or similar very easily

**and so on with the other regulators it is just to my believe cheaper and faster to order it assembled :)

features of the station:

up to 2.5 hours of use on a single 12v 7Ah sla battery

secondary screen switchable between av and vga (via pc hdmi port and vga converter)

wireless connection to antenna tracker (xbee repeater, Bluetooth, 5.8Ghz)

access point modem - for multiple connection to the station (andropilot for ex)

can be easily modified and upgraded

 

sorry for my poor writing and description capabilities/skills

the uav station is not done yet still need to do some more things I will update the post as It go

Views: 90501

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Fausto Coletti on February 5, 2013 at 1:38pm

Hello elad,

nice job, congratulations.

I am going to get some ideas to make a similar job with my old laptop.

Fausto

Permalink Reply by elad orbach on February 6, 2013 at 4:46pm

thanks

waiting to see your work :)

Permalink Reply by Reynier on February 8, 2013 at 1:11am

Man this is ausem!

I also love it..i am still going with a table and doo all the setup. You know what will be soo much more ausem to get a small van that is closed and setup in a nice dark spot in the van but that is only in the dreams..Like a spy van...I will start with looking for a nice deurable box like yours and also start my setup...

Very nice job  and ambeleavable that you did that.

 

hope to se yours as well Fausto

Permalink Reply by Archangel06 on February 15, 2013 at 5:22pm

I love it! how did you interface your small 5" screen? I am interested in what you used the DIP switches for and how did you wire up the small displays for voltage MaH usage etc.........

great build. looking forward to finish mine

Permalink Reply by jose on February 24, 2013 at 11:40pm

i want one of those!!!

Permalink Reply by ready aim fire photography on February 27, 2013 at 3:31pm

looks so hard

Permalink Reply by elad orbach on March 3, 2013 at 5:13am

the discussion moved to the main post please follow

 

here

Permalink Reply by dave dickson on March 6, 2013 at 7:21pm

hello elad,

if you would like to talk about drones i would like to call,

if there would be a convenient time.  i am long time flyer but new

to the autonomous flight .

dhdickson52@yahoo.com

if it is ok send your phone number anda good time,

thanks

dave

Permalink Reply by Max Darrow on March 27, 2013 at 9:03pm

Awesome, keep up the good work!

Permalink Reply by Chip on March 30, 2013 at 4:34pm

Looks like you have a fan in upper right hand corner? You having any issues with heat?

Looks awesome!

Permalink Reply by elad orbach on April 5, 2013 at 1:19pm

nope

but it is built to be solid and reliable and I don't want it to get to warm when used in the summer

and having the ac/dc converter plus sla charger and the access point modem might cause it to

get heated so just to be on the safe side

sorry I haven't updated for a while between my job and school I got little time for my hobby :)

Permalink Reply by Michael Wilkinson on April 5, 2013 at 6:49pm

+1 Rep!!

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

Top Discussions 

1 Quadcopter APM 2.8, flip over when lift off

Quadcopter APM 2.8, flip over when lift off
2 Measuring Piles Indoors

Measuring Piles Indoors
3 Tarot T4-3D Gimbal using Pixhawk SBUS out? (or other options?)

Tarot T4-3D Gimbal using Pixhawk SBUS out? (or other options?)
4 DRONE LAWS ARE STUPID Around The World

DRONE LAWS ARE STUPID Around The World
5 Waterproof Zoom Camera

Waterproof Zoom Camera
6 500 kg lifting Drone

500 kg lifting Drone
7 Photogrammetry with A2 flight controller, Z15 gimbal

Photogrammetry with A2 flight controller, Z15 gimbal
8 external barometer for PIXHAWK

external barometer for PIXHAWK
9 my diy ground control station

my diy ground control station
10 Custom Quadcopter PID Stabilization Help..

Custom Quadcopter PID Stabilization Help..

Groups

Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest 
A list of all T3 contests is here. The current round, the Vertical Horizontal one, is here

© 2017   Created by Chris Anderson.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service