How to integrate the SPECTRAN V6 Receiver into a Drone?
The SPECTRAN V6 is a very light receiver and that's why some customer like to integrate the unit into a drone.
Since a lot of questions came up concerning the integration, we have collected some FAQs to help you to setup your own "Flying RF-Detector" project:
Do you have customers who intergraded the V6 to a drone already?
Yes, but so far we can't offer more details that a SPECTRAN V5 integration on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiNQfSmwhh8
Can I use a ARM based systems?
No, please have a look at the ARM posting at https://v6-forum.aaronia.de/forum/topic/can-i-use-the-rtsa-suite-pro-with-arm-bases-systems/
Which CPU/PC would you prefer to use to run the SPECTRAN V6 inside the drone?
The latest AMD Ryzen 7 4800U (15W) looks like the best you can get if it comes to performance vs CPU power.
This is the best choice we can think of.
What is the power consumption i need to calculate for an integration?
The SPECTRAN V6 needs around 15W only, the Mini-PC around 25W, so in total we are speaking of about 40W.
How do I send data from the drone to a base station?
This is a bit tricky since you might want to measure the exact frequency to use to transfer the data to the ground station. Of course you should use directional antennas for the measurement to reduce the influence of the transfer signal.
A 5G modem looks like the best choice for the data transfer since the phase antenna offers great directionality, but a WiFi modem or a 4G modem might also work fine, depending on the antenna position and the output power.
Which data can I send from the drone to the base station?
You can send SPECTRA or I/Q data. Sending SPECTRA data drastically reduces the amount of data.
How to reduce the data rate/load?
There are lots of possibilities.
Please take a look to this posting for further assistance: https://v6-forum.aaronia.de/forum/topic/how-to-reduce-the-data-rate-e-g-for-remote-rf-monitoring/#postid-313
Do you have an API so that we can communicate directly with the measuring device and are therefore independent of the GUI? ?
If so, are you able to provide the libraries for some of the necessary functions within your GUI?
Yes, please take a look at our developer threads e.g.: https://v6-forum.aaronia.de/forum/forum/javascript-support/ or https://v6-forum.aaronia.de/forum/forum/c-sample-code/
Is the JS API intended to create SCRIPT blocks within your GUIs, or is it be used from an external device for interfacing with the measuring device?
Yes, you can use a RTSA-Suite PRO software in the ground station and use it to communicate "live" with the RTSA-Suite PRO software in the drone via our HTTP blocks.
How many measurements can i get per Second?
At 120MHz RTBW (245MHz would be the maximum) you get 122 Millionen IQ Samples/s. If you would run a 1024 point FFT with 50% overlapping on that IQ stream you would have a time resolution of 25µs for the complete bandwidth of 120MHz. This would be you measurement timea and should be far enough to fly the drone at full speed without missing any data.
If you want to monitor the full 6GHz spectrum instead (sweep mode) we reach an update rate of 5ms for the full spectrum (1 THz/s) with 245MHz RTBW.
