Discussions

The goal of the project was to have a small(ish) footprint ground station with an external antenna array/tripod but all self encapsulated to those two units. The main objective being a HD720/1080 digital stream with very low latency.

Structure:
Pelican 1510 wheeled hard case (22" x 9" x 13.8")
CaseLabs vertical accessory mount - Run along back and forward sides of the case to provide mounting points for components since I do not want to drill any holes through the case and compromise the water seal. They are attached with 20lbs mounting tape (grey). This will also be the place where hinges for the faceplate will be mounted so it can be easily opened for maintenance.
CaseLabs Mercury S3 Motherboard Tray - Perfect little motherboard tray for my needs
CaseLabs Dual SSD mount kit - Using all these caselabs components almost like an erector set piecing together a internal frame with everything I need.

Just finishing up a "firewall" between the battery compartment and the rest of the case and will post up pictures to give you a better idea of how things will be mounted

Power:
M4-ATX-HV 6-34V IN DC 250W ATX PSU
There will be two of these to run all the components in the system as of right now. These are perfect for use due to the wide operating input voltage they have. Since I will be running it on an 8s system I will be able to drain the batteries way past a healthy point and still have everything be operational. Also running at 29.6v will result in much better efficiency. It also has a usb header and software to monitor voltage and amperage.

One will be used for the computer (should leave a decent amount headroom) and the other will be used for powering the displays/antenna tripod/everything else. It is key to have all components hooked up to these as to keep everything operating down to the same cutoff.

Monitors:
AOC 22" LED/IPS monitor (30W operating draw, DVI/VGA)
I chose this for multiple reasons. It not only is perfect size (3mm too tall, case will have to be shaved inside slightly but it is also an IPS and LED backlit display. The LED will help on power consumption greatly and still give great brightness. This was also created to be a "rimless" so it looks extremely nice de-bezeled because its got a 1mm thick casing that surrounds the frame (this cannot be removed if you want the monitor to keep functioning).

Another huge reason is that the monitor controller/psu is built for a 12v adapter/input - meaning no need to run an inverter for the monitor, just hook it up to straight 12v DC on the computer PSU!

Ipad 9.7" Retina display driven by Rozsnyo DP2Retina dp port interface
This was a must have as soon as I knew how well mission planner worked on multiple screens. This will be the dedicated screen for google earth and status/gauge view. The 2048x1536 res makes for a very nice map visual as you see all the detail as well as covering a larger area. I hope to mod MP to show gauges and status screens on the left.

Computer Components:
Asus Maximus VI Impact - Built in DP/HDMI and handles "4K"(DP-Retina / HDMI-AOC). Needed something beefy to be able to run both monitor resolutions ontop of a 720/1080 stream being captured.
Intel 4770K i7 - 3.5ghz 4core HT (max consumption @ stock clock - 84w)
Adata XPG V2 2600 DDR3 16GB (8gb x 2) -Z87 actually run these speeds
Intel 520 Series Cherryville 120GB - Running 2 x in Raid 0 (Onboard/UEFI)
Blackmagicdesign DeckLink Mini Recorder - This is tested working with mission planner and has no problem picking it up as a capture source. Surprisingly there were no artifacts/video processing lag displayed from the OSD running at full screen on 1080 res with a 1080p stream active. This was while running mission planner google earth and status view on the retina - Impressive!
Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B12-4 120mm x 25mm
OKGear 8" SATA III Round Cable 6GB/s w/latch
DarkSide 24-Pin12" Sleeved Extension Cable - Black
DarkSide 8-Pin 12" Sleeved Extension Cable - Black
StarTech 18" Internal 5 p-Inch USB header cable
Cable Matters USB 3 hub - 4 port / passive - Will serve as the jump point to
Panel Mount HDMI - 1' - Ran from hdmi input to faceplate so long hdmi can be plugged in from Antenna/Receiver array. I want to run all receivers as close to actual antenna as possible to reduce any signal lose over coax.
Cable Matters 270 Degree HDMI Male to Female Adapter
Cosmos Copper VGA RAM Heatsinks - I have done some testing while everything has been running on an open bench and heatsinked any regulator/ic that got noticeably warm as an extra precaution. Since computer freezes are so much more critical in this type of situation I want to do everything I can to minimize possible thermal issues.

Peripherals:
Microsoft PL2 Wedge Mobile Keyboard - Bluetooth keyboard that is small footprint but still usable and very nice quality. You guys will get a kick out of how well it sits on the end of the pelican case using the front handle as a shelf making it absolutely perfect! It will then be slid into a slot when not in use.
Apple Magic Trackpad - If you have ever used a multitouch before (2 finger scroll & right click, 3 fingers - forward/back, etc) you will know why these are so nice to use and will work nicely here
3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse - Now this is where the fun begins. The mission planner had no problem picking up all the axis on this 3D mouse and I was able to test setting up cam gimbal controls with this. All movements were registering proper values in proper axis, so this is going to work out very well because you will be able to setup 4 axis control for use from one hand. The 4th being the zoom control function by pulling up/pushing down on the mouse.

The faceplate is designed to have slots for the microsoft wedge keyboard on the bottom and multitouch on the left. Since the mini-itx has a bluetooth module they both work without any additional receiver. They both are slid into their slots when GS is on the move and out in their mounts while being used.

The two holes in top of the monitor panel are for sma connectors for wifi and verizon lte antennas. The position allows them to stay clear of any obstruction when in use/up position but then can be flipped 180 so the case can be closed without dismounting antennas. Didnt want to mount them to the outside of the case, again, to keep it water tight. Mounting them on the case will also keep them from introducing as much noise to the antenna array/tripod as possible.

Onto the link - I am currently using a Nyrius Aries Pro WHDI system for testing everything. I opened them up hoping to remove the internal antennas and solder sma connectors in their places. While doing that I was able to get pcb board model for both and found some great information on the pcb manufactures site. Found out that the transmitter/receiver combo it quite low powered (40mW/10mW respectively) and works on 5.8Ghz spectrum so I kind of scrapped the idea since I was wanting something with more power. If someone modded the receiver to have a pepperbox and spironet on the transmitter might get very good results. I still may give it a go just to see as this would be a much more compact solution than plan B.

For those wanting a close range HD streaming solution this might be a nice way to go since it is not a bad price point either. Whats great about this particular model is the transmitter is a lot smaller than the receiver (built to be used on a laptop) and takes a 5v input through a usb connector so would be very easy to power from a BEC. Good luck wiring in an OSD in between though but thats where the Mission planner osd on the GS side comes in!

A Replay XD (1080P/30fps) hooked via mini hdmi -> hdmi -> aries transmitter with a modified configuration to disable auto-off features so live video goes uninterrupted. It is a very clean/minimalist setup overall but the range sucks unfortunately.

Since I most likely will not be using the Aries Pro for the flight -> GS stream I may use it for transmitting the ground station display out from the computer as long as it doesnt cause any interference issues with the ubiquiti equipment. That way I would be able to hook up a wireless “spectator” screen/lcd remote to the GS location.

Updated pics to come!