The AeroComm AC4490 is a radio that provided us the ability to receive data from our payload while it was in flight and allowed us to send signals to the payload. This would be useful if we needed to perform a remote cut-down by command. The AeroComm had two hurdles to overcome in getting it integrated into our system the software and hardware aspects.
The Software:
In order to configure the radios we had to use the supplied software, which had its own difficulties as the software was only available on a CD, but my computer has no optical drive. A quick work around involving a friends computer and a flash drive and we were back on track. Which was further derailed when the drivers for the radios had to be loaded, and again they were on the CD. Those hiccups aside the configuration of the radios was straight forward. It entailed ensuring radio a spoke to radio b, and radio b spoke to radio a, and that only one was set to be the server and the other was set up as a client. Figure 1 show the software used to configure the radios prior to loading a radio.
The Software:
In order to configure the radios we had to use the supplied software, which had its own difficulties as the software was only available on a CD, but my computer has no optical drive. A quick work around involving a friends computer and a flash drive and we were back on track. Which was further derailed when the drivers for the radios had to be loaded, and again they were on the CD. Those hiccups aside the configuration of the radios was straight forward. It entailed ensuring radio a spoke to radio b, and radio b spoke to radio a, and that only one was set to be the server and the other was set up as a client. Figure 1 show the software used to configure the radios prior to loading a radio.
The radios had to be set to the 9600 baud rate that our Arduino Nano ran in order to communicate with it. We discovered this when the Arduino wouldn't run properly, or load new code when connected to the AeroComm when the baud rate was different. This was a straight forward fix under the Configure tab as well as a portion under the PC Settings tab.
The Hardware:
The Radios themselves spoke to each other fine when connected to the same computer, but it had to be figured out how to connect the radio to the Arduino and have the data sent from the Arduino transmit to the base station (the radio we have separate from the Arduino and payload). This took finding the AC4490 User's Manual, which was easily obtainable from the internet, and detailed the pin layout for the radio. With this we were able to set the radio up with the Arduino and receive communications from our payload. This was hindered at times when without warning the system would fail or the configuration software would close. Most times to correct this we would restart my computer or just the configuration software, but one series of shutdowns prompted changing which cables we had used to connect the base station to my computer and we have found that the serial cables have been more robust for us. Figure 2 is the base station and figure 3 is the radio with the payload.
The Hardware:
The Radios themselves spoke to each other fine when connected to the same computer, but it had to be figured out how to connect the radio to the Arduino and have the data sent from the Arduino transmit to the base station (the radio we have separate from the Arduino and payload). This took finding the AC4490 User's Manual, which was easily obtainable from the internet, and detailed the pin layout for the radio. With this we were able to set the radio up with the Arduino and receive communications from our payload. This was hindered at times when without warning the system would fail or the configuration software would close. Most times to correct this we would restart my computer or just the configuration software, but one series of shutdowns prompted changing which cables we had used to connect the base station to my computer and we have found that the serial cables have been more robust for us. Figure 2 is the base station and figure 3 is the radio with the payload.