Carnegie Mellon Baseing ft. all your base are belong to CMR - a wireless base station for Carnegie Mellon Racing

Created on 24 Oct 2017

The coolest mobile base station for race-ops this school has ever seen

Carnegie Mellon Racing makes really cool racecars. We need to send data into and get data out of said racecars while they are doing racecar things. Rather than have some hodge-podge of equipment and batteries, this project aims to create the ultimate base station that will serve the organization well for years to come. Features include: proper two-way radio setup, powerful mobile energy solution, integrated laptop mount, computer/remote control of all hardware, waterproof/transportation safe enclosure. A detailed explanation of implementation to be discussed in Track 2 presentation materials.

@gdellagr

Griffin Della Grotte

@jbogomol

Jackson Bogomolny

@mlutwak

Max Lutwak

Part Cost Quantity Total
https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-006297 $22.95 1 $22.95
Antenna for radio comms
PL-259 Patch Cable $14.24 1 $14.24
Need to interface with antenna jack on back of 8900R
Yaesu FT-8900R Radio $329.95 1 $329.95
Fully configurable radio that can do dual receive and x-band transmit, also with a detachable head
Kaizen Knife | Foam Accessories | The Pelican Store $6.11 1 $6.11
Kaizen Knife (For cutting foam in Pelican case)
Audio Cable for Headset $4.99 1 $4.99
Coiled audio cable for headset
Pelican 1560 Case | Medium Equipment Cases | The Pelican Store $194.90 1 $194.90
Pelican 1560 Case (Desert Tan) w/ Kaizen Foam Black
RJ12 Breakout $3.99 2 $7.98
Breakout to let us do RE on the protocol. We'll use these + breadboard to intercept the signals
Audio cable for radio $5.96 1 $5.96
Going to be cut up for internal audio wiring
Panel Mount SMA Female connectors $7.99 1 $7.99
For interfacing with antennas
SMA Male Connectors $7.91 1 $7.91
Crimp on coax for internal routing
Arduino Pro $7.50 1 $7.50
Going to run the radio once we RE the protocol fully
6 Conductor Cable $4.89 1 $4.89
Going to cut up and use for wiring up the radio data/mic
RG-174 Coax $5.95 1 $5.95
Used for internal routing of RF in the station
IEC Mains Connection Terminal $5.82 1 $5.82
Mains connector box for the front panel of base station, will interface with power supply.
RJ12 Connectors $4.99 1 $4.99
Crimp connectors for the RJ12 Cable
Wood Glue $3.78 1 $3.78
Glue for assembling laser cut wood
Panel Mount Headphone Jack $2.27 3 $6.81
Jack to allow external connection to headphones
Panel Mount RJ11 Connector $10.05 1 $10.05
Allows the radio head to be detached and not soldered into the base station
900 MHz Antenna $32.95 1 $32.95
Antenna for XBEE telemetry
Wood for Laser Cutter $60.00 1 $60.00
Plywood sheets for laser cutting the base station internal structure
Team Companion Radios $104.81 1 $104.81
Radios to communicate portable with the base station
Track Headset $40.49 1 $40.49
Headset suitable for use around a bunch of noisy internal combustion cars
Project Totals: 25 $891.02
Track 2 Base Budget: $999.00
Preferred Vendor Budget Bonus: $0.00
Remaining Budget: $107.98
Griffin Della Grotte 16 Jan 2018, 11:35 p.m. EST
Reverse engineering of the Yaesu 8900R radio is a success. Time to design the applications processor to hijack control from the front panel!
Griffin Della Grotte 17 Jan 2018, 1:52 a.m. EST
CAD of Base Station panels and layout progressing nicely
Griffin Della Grotte 19 Jan 2018, 11:18 a.m. EST
Base station structure complete as of 4am last night!