Progress on the Ohio Transportable Unit
I have returned from vacation and can report that significant progress has been made in my absence. There are some more pictures on the OARNet web site.
The design details continue to evolve as we find out what works and what does not. We continue toward our goal of having the system operable by one school teacher with one days training. And no hand tools required.
The dish mounting has been considerably modified to make it more stable and easily changed. The azimuth motion is now on a good bearing (replacing the bolt), and driven by a motor. The elevation motion is manual, controlled by a turnbuckle-like device which you twist with your hand. The radio portion slides on and off the feed arm easily and is pinned in place. The dish is stowed pointing straight up, with the radio removed. The feed arm is hinged so it folds across the dish for storage. This reduces the height, wind resistance and cost of the trailer. It is now about 5 feet tall. By careful rearrangement of all the components, we were able to shorten the trailer from its original 10 feet to 8 feet long. This improves maneuverability and reduces cost.
All the equipment is now mounted on the trailer, and we are discussing the outer enclosure design. Current thinking is it will be a boxy clam-shell design split down the length of the trailer, and opening to both sides, made of lightweight aluminum. That could change, and has several times already.
The local wireless link equipment is all here, including two 2-foot dishes which Cisco claims will give us 25 miles range line-of-sight. These are stored in special pockets on the trailer, and will be mounted on camera tripods when in use.
Lighting is being added to the trailer so we can operate it in the dark.
After the mechanical work is complete, we will add the interconnection wiring, which is not a big job. Then we wheel it out of the construction factory to the parking lot and put it on the air, and find out where we Really messed up.
Bob
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Robert S. Dixon, Ph D, PE
Chief Research Engineer
Ohio State University, Office of the CIO
and Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARNet)Postal address:
Office of the CIO
Room 451 Baker Systems Engr Lab
Ohio State University
1971 Neil Ave
Columbus, OH 43210
Office Telephone: 614-292-1638
Telephone: 614-292-7425
Fax: 614-292-7081
Email: Bob_Dixon@osu.edu