Hello!
I am in my university's Rocket Club and am trying to design our telemetry transmission system for our Avionics Team. We are building our own hybrid-engine rocket, and our first launch is expected to reach an apogee of approximately 500 meters. We want to send data from sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, altimeter, magnetometer, GPS) in real time to us on the ground.
We have been looking into using the XBee 3 RP-SMA Module which transmits at 2.4 Ghz with a maximum transmission power output of 6.3 [mW] (+8dBm). I thought to use the RP-SMA module because I understand the UFL connection is less sturdy/reliable, especially if we plan to put unplug/replug the connection often (this is likely due to the many tests we plan on doing). My question is which antenna should I use, and how can I connect it to the Xbee? The maximum transmission power for the country we are located at 2.4 {GHz] is 125 [mW]. I understood that having an antenna which is either half or a fourth of the wavelength is recommended, meaning either 3 or 6 centimeters. Any information on the antenna to use on the rocket/the connection from the module to the antenna would be greatly appreciated.
Additionally, we need a ground antenna for our receiver on the ground, are there any recommendations for the size/specs of the ground antenna?
Here are some links:
XBee 3 SparkFun
XBee 3 DataSheet - page 29 has relevant information
I am in my university's Rocket Club and am trying to design our telemetry transmission system for our Avionics Team. We are building our own hybrid-engine rocket, and our first launch is expected to reach an apogee of approximately 500 meters. We want to send data from sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, altimeter, magnetometer, GPS) in real time to us on the ground.
We have been looking into using the XBee 3 RP-SMA Module which transmits at 2.4 Ghz with a maximum transmission power output of 6.3 [mW] (+8dBm). I thought to use the RP-SMA module because I understand the UFL connection is less sturdy/reliable, especially if we plan to put unplug/replug the connection often (this is likely due to the many tests we plan on doing). My question is which antenna should I use, and how can I connect it to the Xbee? The maximum transmission power for the country we are located at 2.4 {GHz] is 125 [mW]. I understood that having an antenna which is either half or a fourth of the wavelength is recommended, meaning either 3 or 6 centimeters. Any information on the antenna to use on the rocket/the connection from the module to the antenna would be greatly appreciated.
Additionally, we need a ground antenna for our receiver on the ground, are there any recommendations for the size/specs of the ground antenna?
Here are some links:
XBee 3 SparkFun
XBee 3 DataSheet - page 29 has relevant information