ImmersionRC EzAntennaTracker User manual

EzAntennaTracker-Lite

Overview & Operating Instructions

Preliminary. April 2009

Table of Contents

1. Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................2

2. Overview....................................................................................................................................4

3. Installation.................................................................................................................................5

3.1. Airborne Electronics......................................................................................................................5

3.2. Ground Station Electronics ...........................................................................................................5

3.3. Only the AUDR (Audio, Right), and Ground pins are connected on this connector.....................5

3.4. Cabling, Getting the Correct Audio Channel.................................................................................6

3.5. Transmitter Audio Connection......................................................................................................6

3.5.1. ImmersionRC/Airwave Transmitter ......................................................................................6

3.5.2. Lawmate Transmitter............................................................................................................7

3.6. Receiver Audio Connection...........................................................................................................7

3.6.1. ImmersionRC/Airwave receivers...........................................................................................7

3.6.2. Lawmate Receivers ...............................................................................................................8

3.7. Lawmate Transmitter, Airwave Receiver......................................................................................8

3.8. Checking, and Debugging Audio Issues.........................................................................................9

3.9. Recording telemetry .....................................................................................................................9

3.10. Suitable Pan/Tilt mounts.........................................................................................................10

3.10.1. ServoCity Medium-Duty......................................................................................................10

3.11. Low cost alternatives ..............................................................................................................10

3.12. Do I really need a Tilt axis?......................................................................................................11

3.13. Servo Splines ...........................................................................................................................11

4. Configuration ...........................................................................................................................12

4.1. Setup Menu.................................................................................................................................12

4.1.1. Description of Controls .......................................................................................................12

4.2. Setting up the servos ..................................................................................................................15

4.2.1. Servo Setup Step #1: Defining the zero position ................................................................15

4.2.2. Servo Setup Step #2: Setting up servo reverses .................................................................15

4.2.3. Servo Setup Step #3: Setting up servo gains.......................................................................15

4.2.4. Servo Setup Step #4: Setting up tilt servo limits.................................................................15

4.3. Example settings .........................................................................................................................16

4.3.1. ServoCity pan/tilt mount , SPG785 Pan (2:1, 630 degree option), DDT500H Tilt..............16

4.3.2. GWS/SuperTec S125 (for pan axis only) .............................................................................16

5. Flight........................................................................................................................................17

5.1. Status Pages ................................................................................................................................17

5.2. Calibration...................................................................................................................................18

1) Manually, using a compass. ............................................................................................................18

2) Automatically, using the GPS in the plane......................................................................................18

5.3. ..........................................................................................................................................................19

6. Replaying recorded telemetry data ...........................................................................................19

7. Frequently Asked Questions .....................................................................................................19

1. Overview

The EzAntennaTracker system, is the first commercially available antenna tracker designed for FPV/UAV

flight.

It operates by sending a digital telemetry stream down one of the audio channels of an A/V link, via the

EzOSD module. This telemetry stream contains information on the plane’s GPS location, and other

information available to the EzOSD.

This telemetry stream then exits from the audio jack of the ground-based receiver, and can be used for

various purposes.

1) It can be simply recorded to the audio/video recorder, and ‘re-played’ through Google Earth™ to

show the path that the model took during the flight/drive/sail. This case requires no additional

hardware.

2) It can be recorded, as above, but used to find a lost plane in the event of a distant crash. The gps

coordinates of the last packet sent should indicate roughly (or best case, exactly) where the plane

crashed. Again, no additional hardware required.

3) It can be fed to an antenna tracker, which is driving a pan/tilt mount. This can aim a directional

antenna at the plane during the entire flight, greatly reducing dropouts (and with the added bonus that

the antenna points to where the plane landed/crashed in the event of a ‘problem’.

This manual is dedicated to the third purpose, the use of the telemetry stream to drive an antenna

tracker.

Figure 1: The ImmersionRC Antenna Tracker

2. Installation

2.1.Airborne Electronics

Not much to do on this side, the EzOSD is equipped to transmit telemetry data down the right audio

channel.

Ensure that the cable running between the EzOSD and the transmitter is cabled correctly for video and

stereo audio (for LawMate systems, take the right channel of the stereo pair from the EzOSD, and route

that to the mono audio input of the Lawmate transmitter).

2.2.Ground Station Electronics

The EzAntennaTracker -Lite module requires the following connections:

1. Audio Input

The audio input is supplied via a 4-Pole, 3.5mm jack, with the same pinout used for other Fat Shark, and

ImmersionRC equipment.

Only the AUDR (Audio, Right), and Ground pins are connected on this connector.

2. Servo Power

Power for the servos, and the EzAntennaTracker module itself,, must be supplied through a standard 3-

pin servo connector (with only two of the pins used).

Looking at the front of the module, power must be provided through either of the lower two connectors

(these are paralleled, and may be use to daisy-chain power to other devices).

Power the EzAntennaTracker unit the same way you would power a R/C receiver. 5v or 6v depending

upon servo requirements, sourced from either a ‘Rx Battery Pack’, or a 5v/6v BEC.

3. Pan Servo

The upper of the 4 connectors is the Pan Servo connection. Connect any R/C servo to this connector. See

elsewhere in this document for servo recommendations.

4. Tilt servo

The connector below the Pan Servo connector is for the Tilt servo.

Note that the USB connection is currently used primarily for upgrading flash firmware, and may be left

disconnected in normal use.

2.3.Cabling, Getting the Correct Audio Channel

There are two fundamental types of A/V Tx/Rx equipment being used for FPV, those with a mono audio

link, and those with a stereo link.

The ‘Lawmate’ equipment, and clones, used primarily for law-enforcement, transmits only (relatively

low bandwidth) mono audio (one channel). This equipment will function correctly with the EzOSD

telemetry link, but note that the only audio channel will be dedicated to telemetry, and cannot be used

for an onboard microphone.

The ‘Airwave’ equipment, and clones, provides a high-bandwidth stereo audio link. One of the two

channels may be used for telemetry (generally, the Right-Channel), while the other (Left) may be used

for an onboard microphone.

One of the most common problems experienced when setting up an antenna tracking system is to

ensure the audio is correctly cabled both in the plane (Tx-end), and on the ground (Rx-end).

Additional care must be taken if Lawmate transmitters are used with Airwave receivers (or vice-versa).

These cases will be covered below.

2.4.Transmitter Audio Connection

2.4.1. ImmersionRC/Airwave Transmitter

If ImmersionRC (Airwave) transmitters are used, there are two A/V connectors supplied on the

transmitter board.

One is the 5-pin Molex-SL connector, which is used to interconnect ImmersionRC cameras, Transmitters,

and OSDs. This will be the standard method for connecting the audio channels, and requires no

additional effort (assuming standard cables are used, with all 5 pins connected).

An additional connector is supplied on ImmersionRC transmitters, for future expansion. This is a 5-pin

JST (small white connector), with the same pinout as the larger 5-pin Molex.

2.4.2. Lawmate Transmitter

For Lawmate transmitters, a 4-pin connector is supplied, with the following pinout. The telemetry signal

from the EzOSD must be routed to the white cable (Audio) .

Yellow Composite Video

White Audio (Mono)

Black Ground

Red +5v/+12v

2.5.Receiver Audio Connection

2.5.1. ImmersionRC/Airwave receivers

ImmersionRC receivers, including the Duo2400, and the Fat Shark RCV922 LCD glasses, all use a standard

4-pole 3.5mm jack. For reasons which are not immediately obvious, manufacturers of equipment using

these connectors do not always follow the same pinout. The 4 most common are shown below:

The pinout used by the ImmersionRC/FatShark equipment is shown, and is shared with other common

consumer equipment (Archos, Creative Labs, Apple, etc.)

When an ImmersionRC transmitter is used, the telemetry signal will appear on the Right audio channel,

pin 3.

Typically, when a 4-pole 3.5mm cable is terminated with Phono/Cinch/RCA connectors on the other end,

the colors are Yellow for video, Red for Audio-Right, and White for Audio-Left. (Note: This is typical, but

cannot be guaranteed).

2.5.2. Lawmate Receivers

Lawmate receivers use a stereo 3.5mm jack. With the following pinout:

Cables commonly used to interface to Lawmate receivers have a 3.5mm stereo jack on one end, and two

Phono/Cinch/RCA connectors on the other. These connectors are typically Red & White, with audio

emitted on the red connector, and video on the white.

Mixed Equipment

2.6.Lawmate Transmitter, Airwave Receiver

In the case where a lawmate transmitter is coupled to an airwave receiver, for example, the

ImmersionRC Duo 2400, the mono audio from the lawmate transmitter will be emitted on both audio

outputs. Note however that the Right channel (Red connector usually) is generally ‘cleaner’, and

contains less interference from the video channel.

2.7.Checking, and Debugging Audio Issues

There are two useful tools in the EzAntennaTracker –Lite for debugging audio issues.

The first is the audio level tool. This is accessed by cycling through the status screens using the up/down

buttons. The indicator shows the ‘volume’ detected on the audio right-channel input.

The status in the lower-left corner will show ‘Low’, ‘OK’, or ‘High’, depending upon the suitability of the

audio signal for telemetry use.

The second tool is the Decoder status screen, which shows the number of packets successfully decoded,

along with the bad packet count, and the ratio between good/bad packets.

Note: In most cases, there is no cause for alarm if the pad packet rate is relatively high. The telemetry

protocol used by the EzTelemetry system sends several updates per second, and the antenna tracker

(especially when the plane is a long distance out) requires very few for a successful track.

If the bad packet count is high when the plane is close to the Rx then it may indicate a problem.

2.8.Recording telemetry

Not much to do here either, just ensure that the output from the audio/video receiver is correctly

cabled to the recording device (avoiding swapping the left and right audio channels if possible).

Try to use a fairly high bitrate for recording the audio (DV Camcorder users don’t need to worry, its

plenty high enough).

2.9.Suitable Pan/Tilt mounts

Some antenna pan/tilt mounts that have been used successfully with the EzAntennaTracker system are

listed below. The SPG785/DDT500H combination has been used by the designers of the

EzAntennaTracker for several months, and has proven to be a reliable, robust solution.

2.9.1. ServoCity Medium-Duty

SPG785 Pan, 2:1 ratio option (630 degrees)

DDT500H Tilt

This combination works well, and gives a full 360 degree pan rotation with plenty of torque (especially

on the Pan axis) for larger patch antennas.

Figure 4: ServoCity mount with 8dBi 2.4GHz antenna installed

The SPG785 includes the highly recommended HS-785 HB sail winch servo. The specifications for this

servo may be found here: http://www.hitecrcd.com/product_file/file/35/HS-785HB.pdf

This is a high-torque servo, which provides 1260 degrees of rotation, straight out of the box.

2.10. Low cost alternatives

The ‘GWS 125’ 360 degree servo, is a reasonable low-cost alternative for the pan servo, at least for light-

weight antennas. This is also sold under the SuperTec brand, as the S125.

Figure 3: The SPG785 Pan mount

Figure 2: The DDT500H Tilt mount

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