My understanding is that the ME students picked up the main electronics platform Thurs. AM to display at the Open House, and returned it sometime later - it is back here in the lab now.
Hopefully students will be in & out of the lab this week finishing up various misc. tasks - I posted a list of items to be finished up in this blog, a few posts ago.
Latest word from Juan & M. Dean is that they are almost finished (again) with the refactoring of the high-speed logic - hopefully this week we can compile those changes, check for improvements in the Fmax value, and test.
Work Item: Procure/Install GPS Antenna at CLC
* Emailed Reed about coming to meet with him a little later in the week to go over the GPS antenna situation, discuss possible routes, etc. Note to self: [ ] Bring tape measure.
* Emailed students to find out their schedule this week; I need to know this so I'll know when it's safe for me to go over to CLC. Ray says he'll be around after 3:30, so maybe I will go today.
[/] Need to look through old email with DeLorme to look at the GPS antenna manufacturer they recommended. OK, here's some stuff from Brian Stearns of DeLorme:
We need to consider attenuation, possible need for re-amplification, possible repeater (re-radiate through glass?), possible need for surge protection.
The re-radiating kits are kind of expensive (ranging from $400 - $2,100), so it might be a good idea to avoid that approach. Also, if re-transmitting the GPS signal a long distance through the building, we might add some difficult-to-model extra delay.
Here's a nice white paper from SpectraCom about GPS antenna installation: http://www.spectracomcorp.com/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?EntryId=353&Command=Core_Download&PortalId=0&TabId=59
From this we can estimate the attenuation in dB, and maybe get some idea whether some kind of repeater is necessary.
Samad came by with his new 2x6-pin power-connector cable, and he fixed (jumpered over) the mis-pinned power-on connection on his power distribution board, and then we plugged his new power cable in, and also jury-rigged power/ground cables to the Wi-Fi node #0 (5V), GPS kit (5V), and OCXO (3.3V). The Wi-Fi board and the DE3 seem to be powering up just fine, but the DE3 board is receiving no communications from the GPS kit for some reason. I need to diagnose that problem. The light on the level-shifter is flashing, suggesting data is being sent, but none of it is coming through. I need to connect to the GPS kit from the PC to see what's up. For that I will need a new gender-bender from Radio Shack, because I used the one we had to make a removable connection to the FEDM. Good time to go out and run my other errands...
Work Item: Procure/Install GPS Antenna at CLC
* Emailed Reed about coming to meet with him a little later in the week to go over the GPS antenna situation, discuss possible routes, etc. Note to self: [ ] Bring tape measure.
* Emailed students to find out their schedule this week; I need to know this so I'll know when it's safe for me to go over to CLC. Ray says he'll be around after 3:30, so maybe I will go today.
[/] Need to look through old email with DeLorme to look at the GPS antenna manufacturer they recommended. OK, here's some stuff from Brian Stearns of DeLorme:
I’ve been asked this before… GPS Networking makes some fixed antenna mount kits...see: http://www.gpsnetworking.com/For an antenna and mount, see L1GPSA-N (Antenna) and L1RAMB or L1/L2RAMB (mount):http://gpsnetworking.com/GPS-antennae.asphttp://gpsnetworking.com/ antenna-mounts.asp If the distance is long (>50feet), you'll need to use Plenum Cable instead of regular coax. Most buildings/local governments require surge protectors as well.See PCABLE and SURGEPRO: http://gpsnetworking.com/ cables-connectors.asp You may need to re-amplify the signal after a long run. See: http://gpsnetworking.com/ standard-line-amplifiers.asp For a repeater take a look here for kits and the FCC Regulatory Policy:http://gpsnetworking.com/GPS- re-radiating-kits.asp
We need to consider attenuation, possible need for re-amplification, possible repeater (re-radiate through glass?), possible need for surge protection.
The re-radiating kits are kind of expensive (ranging from $400 - $2,100), so it might be a good idea to avoid that approach. Also, if re-transmitting the GPS signal a long distance through the building, we might add some difficult-to-model extra delay.
Here's a nice white paper from SpectraCom about GPS antenna installation: http://www.spectracomcorp.com/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?EntryId=353&Command=Core_Download&PortalId=0&TabId=59
From this we can estimate the attenuation in dB, and maybe get some idea whether some kind of repeater is necessary.
Samad came by with his new 2x6-pin power-connector cable, and he fixed (jumpered over) the mis-pinned power-on connection on his power distribution board, and then we plugged his new power cable in, and also jury-rigged power/ground cables to the Wi-Fi node #0 (5V), GPS kit (5V), and OCXO (3.3V). The Wi-Fi board and the DE3 seem to be powering up just fine, but the DE3 board is receiving no communications from the GPS kit for some reason. I need to diagnose that problem. The light on the level-shifter is flashing, suggesting data is being sent, but none of it is coming through. I need to connect to the GPS kit from the PC to see what's up. For that I will need a new gender-bender from Radio Shack, because I used the one we had to make a removable connection to the FEDM. Good time to go out and run my other errands...
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