Antenna Tracker Project (High School Sophomore)
This project was initiated to increase my quadcopter's range by allowing for the use of high-gain, directional receiver antennas. Because I began this project during the latter half of my sophomore year, I adapted it to be the final project for my engineering design course (the course where I learned Inventor). Though this was a group project, 95% of the actual engineering work was done by me, because my group did not have the experience to deal with the circuitry required. This device, based on an Arduino, used the signal strength of angled directional antennas to aim a main receiver antenna at the drone for video reception. It had an integrated monitor and a control system with a 1602 LCD in the base unit for changing settings as well as a secondary standard omnidirectional antenna for short range reception. The button below links to a full design paper detailing its construction.
This is an image of the completed assembly of the first prototype of my antenna tracker. It is running a proof-of-concept firmware that displays current signal strength outputs and has a menu system for adjusting program parameters using the potentiometer dial. I have since destroyed this prototype to harvest its parts for other projects and for the second prototype. This device suffered from movement issues due to the design of its rotation system, which was geared to increase the servo's range of motion. Its biggest problem was RF interference caused by the radiation emitted when the servo's position refreshed, requiring a complicated workaround explained on later slides. This prototype had a two part design, with a ground box and a remote rotator assembly connected by re-purposed Ethernet cables.