Re: [Paparazzi-devel] tracking antenna

[Tom Becker]

On http://www.recherche.enac.fr/paparazzi/wiki/index.php/Main_Page , the 
mpeg of Jeremie Vacher's servo-driven antenna tracker seems broken, 
unfortunately.  I wonder if his seeks peak RSSI from the video receiver 
or is pointed by calculation toward a reported position?

Here is one way, a side-effect of an altogether unrelated project that 
steers a lamp and camera at a fixed target from a moving platform.  The 
az/el drive is a modified remote-control marine search light.  It has 
been equipped with encoders, processor, motor control and lamp 
switching, and two 1/4" studs that can carry any lightweight load along 
for the steered ride.  Here, it carries a camera and a 2.4GHz Cantenna.

http://rightime.com/images/WAAS/wAntenna.JPG

The control application that commands this light calculates the vector 
to the target's lat/long/z and continually keeps the light trained on 
that point.  If the position-reporting object were an airplane and the 
light position is fixed and known, the light's drive will follow the 
aircraft's track.  As it happens, it can illuminate the thing, too!

FWIW.


Tom Becker