Radio Control Receiver

The radio control receiver is responsible for transmitting control signals from the safety pilot to the SSC and is responsible for granting or denying control to the on-board processing system.

The receiver is mounted just in front of the network ports on the encloure's mounting plate. Servo tape is used to secure the recevier to plate. The last step of this installation is to hook the recevier channels to the enclosure's input channels (block 4 in Figure 20). This requires seven male to male servo cables. In order from pins one through nine (left to right) on the SSC interace board the connection are: channel 8,1,2,3,4,5 and 6. For power, the DSC channel on the receiver is connected to the servo power switch on the Joker Maxi-2. Note that contrary to the output channels, described at the end of Section 3.3.6, the signal wires must be on the bottom row of the connectors.

The last pieces of hardware to be mounted to the USL tested are the batteries. The battery hardware consists of a 37V 10Ah Lipo battery, 11.1V 4.2Ah Lipo battery, 2s 5000mah lipo, and 4.8V 2000mAh NiMh battery.

The 37V battery is responsible for powering the platform's main motor and is composed of two heat shruunk 18.5V 10Ah batteries. This battery fits into the frame of the Joker Maxi-2 and is secured from the rear by a small Velero strap. To supply the platform's Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) with the required 37V a small adapter cable was manufactured in-house. This cable puts the two 18.5V batteries in series and supplies the correct voltage to the ESC.

The 11.1V 4200mAh battery is used to power both the GPS recevier and the processing system which in turn is responsible for providing power to the remaining sensors. This battery is mounted, using Velcro, to the enclosure's mounting plate. It is placed just between the enclosure and the square tubing towards the front of the chassis. Due to the location of this battery a small extension cable must be used to reach the SSC interface board. For safety, a small low voltage alarm is wired directly into this extension cable. This alarm constantly monitors the battery and warns the operator when the voltage is reaching a critical level.

The 11.1V lipo battery 5000mah is solely used to power the SSC. This battery is equipped with a 3 pin male Futaba-J connector and is mounted to the top of the enclosure using Velcro. The battery is then connected directly to a HCAM2761 HD power switch. This switch is mounted to the chassis using two zipties. The power output connector of the switch is then connected to the SSC power connector on the enclosure's faceplate.

Last, the 4.2V 2000mah NiMh battery is solely used to power the servo actuators throughout the testbed. This includes powering the platform's control servos and the pan/tilt servos. This battery is plugged into the Futaba radio receiver via the Maxi Joker-2's servo power switch. Power is then naturally routed from the radio receiver to the SSC interface board where it is distributed to all servo connections. A complete assembly of the testbed is detailed in Figure 31.

Before concluding this section, it is noteworthy to mention that Lipo batteries can catch fire and explode if not handled properly. This includes insuring that the individual cells don not immediately be considered a fire hazard and disposed of properly.