Communication Breadcrumbs

On By jtisaacs

In order to be able to explore deeper into the underground environment while still being able to communicate with our base-station we are investigating the use of communication breadcrumbs which can be dropped at strategic locations to build out a mesh network. The underlying technology that we are using is called BATMAN Advanced. The embedded computer is a Raspberry Pi Zero W and is powered by a small rechargeable battery. In order for our radios to provide sufficient range to be useful we needed to get them off the ground. Gaining inspiration from Weeble toys (link includes a nice description of the physics) from the 1970s we designed a 3D Printed communication node that can be dropped by our robots and will automatically position themselves with the antenna at the highest position.

We used 3D designs from Thingiverse to produce the body of the node as well as a servo motor controlled dropper system. Special thanks to Dylan and Sameeh for your help with assembly.