3dr Radio Config Software 47
Hercules Montero
The data_rate (default=radio.RATE_1MBIT) indicates the speed at whichdata throughput takes place. Can be one of the following contants definedin the radio module : RATE_250KBIT, RATE_1MBIT orRATE_2MBIT.
The FRC Radio Configuration Utility requires administrator privileges to configure the network settings on your machine. The program should request the necessary privileges automatically (may require a password if run from a non-administrator account), but if you are having trouble, try running it from an administrator account.
Plug directly from your computer into the wireless bridge ethernet port closest to the power jack. Make sure no other devices are connected to your computer via ethernet. If powering the radio via PoE, plug an Ethernet cable from the PC into the socket side of the PoE adapter (where the roboRIO would plug in). If you experience issues configuring through the PoE adapter, you may try connecting the PC to the alternate port on the radio.
By default, the Radio Configuration Utility will program the radio to enforce the 4Mbps bandwidth limit on traffic exiting the radio over the wireless interface. In the home configuration (AP mode) this is a total, not a per client limit. This means that streaming video to multiple clients is not recommended.
Part of the installation prompts will include installing Npcap if it is not already present. The Npcap installer contains a number of checkboxes to configure the install. You should leave the options as the defaults.
If you see an error about NPF name, try disabling all adapters other than the one being used to program the radio. If only one adapter is found, the tool should attempt to use that one. See the steps in Disabling Network Adapters for more info.
Select which operating mode you want to configure. For most cases, the default selection of 2.4GHz Access Point will be sufficient. If your computers support it, the 5GHz AP mode is recommended, as 5GHz is less congested in many environments.
Robot Name: This is a string that gets appended to the SSID used by the radio. This allows you to have multiple networks with the same team number and still be able to distinguish them.
Firewall: If this box is checked, the radio firewall will be configured to attempt to mimic the port blocking behavior of the firewall present on the FRC field. For a list of open ports, please see the FRC Game Manual.
BW Limit: If this box is checked, the radio enforces a 4 Mbps bandwidth limit like it does when programmed at events. Note that this is a total limit, not per client, so streaming video to multiple clients simultaneously may cause undesired behavior.
Follow the on-screen instructions for preparing your wireless bridge, entering the settings the bridge will be configured with, and starting the configuration process. These on-screen instructions update to match the bridge model and operating mode chosen.
The two key message parameters are RADIO.rssi and RADIO.remrssi.The first is the RSSI (signal strength) level that the local radio isreceiving at. The remrssi parameter is the RSSI that the remote radio isreceiving at.
The reason the RSSI varies so much during this flight is that thesignal is attenuated when the plane is rolled over in a turn as I wasusing a simple wire antenna in the plane. The RSSI values for thisflight were plenty high enough for the link quality to be excellentthroughout the flight using the default radio parameters.
The most common source of range problems is noise. Noise is unwantedradio emissions in the same frequency range that your radio is usingthat interferes with the operation of your radio. The radios havetelemetry logging built in to help you diagnose the source of the noise.
Perhaps the most common source of noise with the 3DR-433 is noise fromthe USB bus on your ground station. That shows up as high values for theRADIO.noise value. If you get this, then you could try using a differentUSB cable, or a different laptop. You can also try using a USB hubbetween your laptop and your radio.
The key parameter that controls the range of your radios is theAIR_SPEED. The default is 64 (which is 64kbps) will give you a rangeof over a kilometre with small omni antennas. The lower you set theAIR_SPEED the longer your range, although lowering the AIR_SPEEDalso lowers how much data you can send over the link.
The radio firmware can only support 13 possible air data rates, whichare 2, 4, 8, 16, 19, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96, 128, 192 and 250. If yourapplication needs a different air rate for some reason then we canpotentially add it to the register tables. If you choose an unsupportedair rate then the next highest rate from the supported list will bechosen.
The ECC parameter makes a big difference to the data rate you cansupport at a given AIR_SPEED. If you have ECC set to zero, then noerror correcting information is sent, and the radio uses a simple 16 bitCRC to detect transmission errors. In that case your radio will be ableto support data transfers in one direction of around 90% of theAIR_SPEED.
If you enable ECC, then the data rate youcan support is halved. The ECC system doubles the size of the data sentby the radios. It is worth it however, as the bit error rate will dropdramatically, and you are likely to get a much more reliable link atlonger ranges.
As mentioned above, the radios support a 12/24 Golay error correctingcode if you set the ECC parameter to 1. This means that for every 12bits of data the radio will send 24 bits, calculating the bits usingGolay code lookup tables. The process is reversed on the receiving end,and allows the radio to correct bit errors of up to 3 bits in every 12bits send (i.e. 25% bit error rate).
If you set MAVLINK to 2, then in addition to doing MAVLink framing theradio will look for RC_OVERRIDE packets (used for joysticks) andensure that those packets get sent as quickly as possible. This optionis useful if you are using a tablet based joystick for control.
The RADIO packets also contain information about error rates, and howfull the serial transmit buffer is (as a percentage). ArduPilot canuse this information to automatically adapt the telemetry stream ratesto the data rate that the radios can sustain.
You need to be very careful to configure your radios to stay within thelegal power limits of the country you are operating in. The defaultpower level of 20dBm is fine for the US and Australia, as up to 30dBm isallowed by the LIPD class licenses there in the 915-928MHz frequencyband for a frequency hopping radio. So as long as your antennas have again of less than 10dBi you should be within the ISM rules.
Change MAX_WINDOW from the default of 131 to 33. This will ensurethat the GCS can send a packet to the vehicle at least once every 33msecs. It is worth noting that this will lower the availablebandwidth, so if you need absolute maximum bandwidth you are best offwith the default of 131. Both radios on a channel must have thesame value for this parameter, or they will not be able to talk toeach other.
To enable LBT in your radio you need to set the LBT_RSSI threshold.This is the signal strength that the radio considers to be an indicationthat the channel is busy. If you set LBT_RSSI to zero then LBT isdisabled.
The minimum non-zero setting is 25 which is a few dB above the receivesensitivity of the radio (-121 dBm). To setup LBT_RSSI you need toknow what signal level your local radio regulations require for LBTfunctionality. Each increment in LBT_RSSI above 25 is roughly equal to0.5dB above the radios receive sensitivity. So if you set LBT_RSSI to40 then the radio will consider the channel to be free if the signalstrength is less than 7.5dB above the receiver sensitivity.
The way firmware upload normally works is the planner connects to theradio and sends a AT&UPDATE command to put the radio into bootloadermode ready to receive a new firmware. That only works if the planner cansend AT commands to the radio.
to prevent the buffer from getting too much data (which increaseslatency and risks overflow) the radios send information on how fullthe buffer is to the connected device. ArduPilot adapts itstelemetry rates by small amounts to keep the amount of buffered datareasonable.
during the initial search for another radio, and any time the link islost, the radios go into a mode where they move the receivingfrequency very slowly but move the transmit frequency at the normalrate. This allows the two radios to find each other for initial clocksync. How long this takes depends on the number of channels, the airdata rate and the packet loss rate.
Whether to enable WMM. 802.11n and 802.11ax STAs must support WMM. If the WMM function is disabled in a radio, 802.11n and 802.11ax cannot work and STAs can access the network only in 802.11a/b/g mode.
Whether to enable WMM. 802.11n, 802.11ac and 802.11ax STAs must support WMM. If the WMM function is disabled in a radio, 802.11n, 802.11ac and 802.11ax cannot work and STAs can access the network only in 802.11a/b/g mode.
Air scan interval. If the customer has high requirements on real-time data analysis, configure a small air scan interval to improve the scan frequency; however, higher scan frequency indicates much larger impact on the services. In vehicle-ground communication scenarios, the air scan interval ranges from 300 ms to 1000 ms.
Yesterday I had an SM running 2.5.2 that had to be replaced because of failed ethernet. So I exported the config to load it onto a new radio also running 2.5.2. I first tried the binary option and kept getting a JSON error on import. Then I tried the text export and import to the new radio. I believe it was the same error in both cases, country code should not exist, IIRC. So I edited the text version and took out the country code and then it finally imported.
But I know you are in the US and hence your radio should be an FCC radio . The CC should be US. When you login to the GUI, what do see for "Country" on the radio? It should be US. If not, this could be a bug.
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