On 02/09/2013 08:35 PM, Chris Albertson wrote:
Features? 1) Power the thing with "power over Ethernet" then you can remove the coaxial power input. Also this would make it real easy to place the server right at the antenna location. You would simply run cat-5 up to the roof. The mount the antenna on top of a water proof box with the server inside the box. If power has to come in via the coaxel power connection to a wall-wort then it wil be hard to mount this server outdoors, near the antenna.
PoE is a great idea, but I think this is better served by using a separate, off-the-shelf splitter. It's hard to compete with economies of scale. "Real" 802.3af in particular is difficult because of the required isolation.
2) You really should make provision for a 5V antenna. All it will cost is a tiny little 78L05 to provide a few milliamps. Put a jumper on the board to select the antenna voltage.
You're right, and I've been in "digital mode" long enough that I hadn't even considered using a linear regulator for that function. Depending on the antenna and input voltage the regulator could end up dissipating up to a watt but that's quite feasible. That will definitely be in the next revision, then.
With the GPS on the server using power over Ethernet makes even more sense because peoplewill want to place the seaver very near the antenna to make the wiring simpler. Wha not go all the way and put a patch antenna on the board?
Again, this sort of comes down to not being able to serve everyone with one board. Maybe I can make a "rooftop package" with a patch antenna and passive power injector/splitter in the box. It looks like most ceramic patch antennas already have a u.FL (they call it "IPEX") connector which is what I was already planning on using internally.
Thanks a bunch for your feedback. -- m. tharp _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
