Forward Operating Base In-a-Can

tim292stro · Nov 20, 2014

9U Hardigg case is on its way, just a hair under $200 (shipped) for a $2,200 case.

Also, I picked up another ToughBook mobile docking station, that I will "gene splice" into a sliding rack mount shelf to house the ToughBook running Asterisk, VPN, Web-Proxy, and the 2G/3G/4G modem. I'm probably going to pick up another Hardigg transit case to put VoIP phones and workstation ToughBooks in to make moving them more manageable, when empty it'll give me something to put the rack case on while it's being used so I can get it up off the ground.

In the mean time I'm also working on the package design for the 3U LiFePO4 UPS I'm building, this will be the stand-alone power source for the tent lighting, which can also accept 120/208/240VAC (single phase) and 12/24VDC charging input, as well as a solar input up to 110VDC.

Another Ahab · Nov 20, 2014

tim292stro said:
In the mean time I'm also working on the package design for the 3U LiFePO4 UPS I'm building, this will be the stand-alone power source for the tent lighting, which can also accept 120/208/240VAC (single phase) and 12/24VDC charging input, as well as a solar input up to 110VDC.

Cool to see a picture of THAT

tim292stro · Nov 21, 2014

Don't worry, it'll be documented with as good detail as I can manage. Similar to the engine tear-down/build for the XM1027.

The first post has an updated lighting spec for the tent lighting. The jist:

Each window and door section along the side of the Base-X tents are 5'
Take a 5-Meter roll of dual white color-temperature LED tape light, cut it into 4 even pieces (about 50" each).
One 5' section of tent gets four strips, in the center of each strip goes a single green LED (nightvision safe). A PWM chip controls the three possible LED colors per strip.
The whole assembly will be sewn in EMI mesh shielding, then heat sealed in vinyl, attached to velcro, and stuck to the inside of the liner at regular intervals.

Something like the orange lines I terribly drew in this picture [thumbzup]

.

The fun part of this assembly is making the lighting reconfigurable. An input and output cable that carries power and data allows daisy chaining (both). Somewhere in the chain power is pushed in to the power lines, and at the furthest part of the data-path it's looped back to the beginning. A special control line will lock out any white light, but will allow NVIS-GreenA no mater what. The controller can adjust each of the three channels with 255 levels of dimming (0 = off, 255 = all the way on). For a 305 tent this give me 60 channels of control. Two 305s and a 203 gives me a total of 156 channels of control. So many channels give me tons of options in reconfiguration and zoning.

Another Ahab · Nov 21, 2014

tim292stro said:
The controller can adjust each of the three channels with 255 levels of dimming (0 = off, 255 = all the way on). For a 305 tent this give me 60 channels of control. Two 305s and a 203 gives me a total of 156 channels of control. So many channels give me tons of options in reconfiguration and zoning.

tim292stro · Nov 21, 2014

Yeah, okay - not that many channels

, it won't be pixel strips, but each 4'2" section will get one pixel controller IC. I'm more interested in being able to control the white point (warm for relaxing conversation or sleep areas, cool for task lighting and critical work areas). Like this (single row version I what I'm getting):

Then the added ability to do low-level NVIS compatible lighting (I picked NVIS-A because it's the hardest).

tim292stro · Nov 22, 2014

Here's the first page... White Authorization Control - basically it's a control line and a supply line. When all of the white authorization switches are open, white is authorized. If any are closed, white is not authorized. This will let me put multiple control drops around the tent(s). If someone comes to a situation where white shouldn't be used, they can just close the military cover of the switch and it'll disable the white supply for all of the strips. This also means that all control points must agree that white is allowed before it is allowed anywhere in the tent(s).

View attachment WhiteAuthControl.pdf

For controlling color temperature and brightness, a simple software algorithm will do:

Per-Strip-Control:
(

WHITE[SUB]Color[/SUB] = 0-255
WHITE[SUB]Level[/SUB] = 0-255
GREEN[SUB]Level[/SUB] = 0-255
WHITE[SUB]Cool[/SUB] = WHITE[SUB]Color[/SUB] * ( WHITE[SUB]Level[/SUB] / 255 )
WHITE[SUB]Warm[/SUB] = ( 255 - WHITE[SUB]Color[/SUB] ) * ( WHITE[SUB]Level[/SUB] / 255 )
RED[SUB]Pwm[/SUB] = WHITE[SUB]Warm[/SUB]
GREEN[SUB]Pwm[/SUB] = GREEN[SUB]Level[/SUB]
BLUE[SUB]Pwm[/SUB] = WHITE[SUB]Cool[/SUB]

)

With 156 channels at 8 bit each, plus the 500uSec wait to latch the values (per chip spec), I should get a refresh rate of >800Hz - more than enough for a light show

Another Ahab · Nov 22, 2014

tim292stro;1632938 For controlling color temperature and brightness said:
WHITE[SUB]Color[/SUB] = 0-255
WHITE[SUB]Level[/SUB] = 0-255
GREEN[SUB]Level[/SUB] = 0-255
WHITE[SUB]Cool[/SUB] = WHITE[SUB]Color[/SUB] * ( WHITE[SUB]Level[/SUB] / 255 )
WHITE[SUB]Warm[/SUB] = ( 255 - WHITE[SUB]Color[/SUB] ) * ( WHITE[SUB]Level[/SUB] / 255 )
RED[SUB]Pwm[/SUB] = WHITE[SUB]Warm[/SUB]
GREEN[SUB]Pwm[/SUB] = GREEN[SUB]Level[/SUB]
BLUE[SUB]Pwm[/SUB] = WHITE[SUB]Cool[/SUB]
[/INDENT])

With 156 channels at 8 bit each, plus the 500uSec wait to latch the values (per chip spec), I should get a refresh rate of >800Hz - more than enough for a light show

rustystud · Nov 23, 2014

tim292stro said:
Here's the first page... White Authorization Control - basically it's a control line and a supply line. When all of the white authorization switches are open, white is authorized. If any are closed, white is not authorized. This will let me put multiple control drops around the tent(s). If someone comes to a situation where white shouldn't be used, they can just close the military cover of the switch and it'll disable the white supply for all of the strips. This also means that all control points must agree that white is allowed before it is allowed anywhere in the tent(s).

View attachment 528127

For controlling color temperature and brightness, a simple software algorithm will do:

Per-Strip-Control:
(
WHITE[SUB]Color[/SUB] = 0-255
WHITE[SUB]Level[/SUB] = 0-255
GREEN[SUB]Level[/SUB] = 0-255
WHITE[SUB]Cool[/SUB] = WHITE[SUB]Color[/SUB] * ( WHITE[SUB]Level[/SUB] / 255 )
WHITE[SUB]Warm[/SUB] = ( 255 - WHITE[SUB]Color[/SUB] ) * ( WHITE[SUB]Level[/SUB] / 255 )
RED[SUB]Pwm[/SUB] = WHITE[SUB]Warm[/SUB]
GREEN[SUB]Pwm[/SUB] = GREEN[SUB]Level[/SUB]
BLUE[SUB]Pwm[/SUB] = WHITE[SUB]Cool[/SUB]

)

With 156 channels at 8 bit each, plus the 500uSec wait to latch the values (per chip spec), I should get a refresh rate of >800Hz - more than enough for a light show

Tim, are you going to have a mobile RAVE unit with your tents ? LOL !

tim292stro · Nov 23, 2014

Hmmm, with two 100" rear projection screens, 8-speaker sound system, and centrally controlled lights...

All I need is a folding wet bar and I'll have a mobile club... :grd:

Another Ahab · Nov 23, 2014

tim292stro said:
All I need is a folding wet bar and I'll have a mobile club...

View attachment 528573

Then add one of these...bingo; you're all "good-to-go":

tim292stro · Nov 23, 2014

This work?

He's the one who provided the pic at the bottom of the first post - he's "family", and I expect our kids will end up in the same Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop.

IIRC there was a phase where he was indeed bouncing in San Francisco. :recovry4x4:

aczlan · Nov 24, 2014

tim292stro said:
(I'm also planning to get my HAM license, and will build higher-power/longer-reach mesh nodes, on the order of miles per hop).

Might look at the Nanostations for a long range mesh node... They claim 5-15KM ranges and are well built (they can also run on OpenWRT). I have a pair of NanoStation Loco M2s that have been running great (outdoors) for ~3 years now.

tim292stro said:
Did you know you can nearly completely run Windows 7 and 8.1 from the command line still? Just about anything that you can do with a mouse click has a command-line function (it's how Microsoft starts with an OS, then they make it sexy before selling it ). Linux is the same way, anything can be done from the command line, then they build a nice GUI on top of it to make it easier for the general users - the main difference I've seen with Windows and Linux is that Windows is more worried about protecting their IP (since they sell it) so the bare code is harder to decipher (obfuscation), while Linux usually has stuff in plain-text.

I would have to disagree with your thinking. IMO, Linux started as a server OS (UNIX, BSD, SYstem V, etc) which was text based and the GUI is an addon to make it more comfortable for people to use (not that they have done very well at it IMO, and the *NIX GUIs I have used (CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu and a few others) have NOT been friendly to running the GUI without a mouse (unlike Windows in which I can do almost as much without a mouse as I can with one and have been able to since 95 and NT3.x).
Windows (and OS2 which it was based off of) was built as a desktop OS that was designed for end users to use while retaining the ability for corporate IT to run scripts to do installs and such in the background.

Aaron Z

rustystud · Nov 24, 2014

aczlan said:
Might look at the Nanostations for a long range mesh node... They claim 5-15KM ranges and are well built (they can also run on OpenWRT). I have a pair of NanoStation Loco M2s that have been running great (outdoors) for ~3 years now.

I would have to disagree with your thinking. IMO, Linux started as a server OS (UNIX, BSD, SYstem V, etc) which was text based and the GUI is an addon to make it more comfortable for people to use (not that they have done very well at it IMO, and the *NIX GUIs I have used (CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu and a few others) have NOT been friendly to running the GUI without a mouse (unlike Windows in which I can do almost as much without a mouse as I can with one and have been able to since 95 and NT3.x).
Windows (and OS2 which it was based off of) was built as a desktop OS that was designed for end users to use while retaining the ability for corporate IT to run scripts to do installs and such in the background.

Aaron Z

Aaron, if you keep talking like that we'll have to wash your mouth out with soap and water, and send you to bed without dinner !!!
I hardly know what your talking about, but I know it sounds bad !

tim292stro · Nov 24, 2014

aczlan said:
Might look at the Nanostations for a long range mesh node. They claim 5-15KM ranges and are well built (they can also run on OpenWRT). I have a pair of NanoStation Loco M2s that have been running great (outdoors) for ~3 years now...

Thanks for the suggestion, you'll note on the Broadband-HAMNET page that they recently released firmware for Ubiquity APs, and it seems like they are focusing around that brand. For my Tent AP, I will be using one Ubiquity Outdoor AC AP for the local clients, but for the mesh nodes I'm planning on using Compex WPJ344's. These too can run OpenWRT - but the vendor has sold me a SDK for the Qualcomm chipset so that I can make it my own. I can do 900/2.4/5.8 bands in one package, add GPS and USB 2G/3G/4G modem(s), and package it with a LiFePO4 battery pack and large antennas inside a Pelican case. As a single system in that package, I wouldn't have to do a NanoStation or RocketStation for each band, and wouldn't need to have a PoE switch to power them and a separate embedded PC to bridge them. Better to just cut out the middle man, especially since the Compex system with the extra WiFi-NICs is still under $175...

aczlan said:
I would have to disagree with your thinking. IMO, Linux started as a server OS (UNIX, BSD, System V, etc) which was text based and the GUI is an addon to make it more comfortable for people to use...
...Windows (and OS2 which it was based off of) was built as a desktop OS that was designed for end users to use while retaining the ability for corporate IT to run scripts to do installs and such in the background...

You are free to disagree - however as a hint, I'll ask: Who here remembers having to type "win+[ENTER]" from the DOS prompt before the GUI would load?

opcorn:

It was back in the Windows 1/2/3/3.1/3.11/95/98/98SE days before they took it out of the autoexec.bat file and buried it in the bootloader when the NT and Desktop branches merged at Windows XP taking away the need to boot to the command line or the GUI (unless you hit "F8" and requested a prompt - just like what you can do with GRUB boot-loader in Linux). The command line in Windows is just that - they added the PowerShell tool to give better support to corporate users for scripting (better network remote capabilities, and native vb-script support instead of batch file only). The Server version of Windows is the same core OS as Desktop, but with different software switches turned on. It's basically the same tricks *nix-es use to differentiate Server vs. Desktop OS.

Read my disclaimer first, but my day job is here - where one of my responsibilities is maintaining the multi-OS boot-manager system for 1000's of test machines (Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu, RedHat, DOS, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.1 - all on a single hard disk). Trust me, anything you can do with a mouse in Windows you can do with the prompt - you just have to know where and what to type... When you get down to the core of any OS, it's nothing more than data in a structure, you just need to know how to get at it. :beer:

Drifting...

srodocker · Nov 24, 2014

I still rock a geforce 9600....

rustystud · Nov 24, 2014

tim292stro said:
Thanks for the suggestion, you'll note on the Broadband-HAMNET page that they recently released firmware for Ubiquity APs, and it seems like they are focusing around that brand. For my Tent AP, I will be using one Ubiquity Outdoor AC AP for the local clients, but for the mesh nodes I'm planning on using Compex WPJ344's. These too can run OpenWRT - but the vendor has sold me a SDK for the Qualcomm chipset so that I can make it my own. I can do 900/2.4/5.8 bands in one package, add GPS and USB 2G/3G/4G modem(s), and package it with a LiFePO4 battery pack and large antennas inside a Pelican case. As a single system in that package, I wouldn't have to do a NanoStation or RocketStation for each band, and wouldn't need to have a PoE switch to power them and a separate embedded PC to bridge them. Better to just cut out the middle man, especially since the Compex system with the extra WiFi-NICs is still under $175...

You are free to disagree - however as a hint, I'll ask: Who here remembers having to type "win+[ENTER]" from the DOS prompt before the GUI would load? opcorn:

It was back in the Windows 1/2/3/3.1/3.11/95/98/98SE days before they took it out of the autoexec.bat file and buried it in the bootloader when the NT and Desktop branches merged at Windows XP taking away the need to boot to the command line or the GUI (unless you hit "F8" and requested a prompt - just like what you can do with GRUB boot-loader in Linux). The command line in Windows is just that - they added the PowerShell tool to give better support to corporate users for scripting (better network remote capabilities, and native vb-script support instead of batch file only). The Server version of Windows is the same core OS as Desktop, but with different software switches turned on. It's basically the same tricks *nix-es use to differentiate Server vs. Desktop OS.

Read my disclaimer first, but my day job is here - where one of my responsibilities is maintaining the multi-OS boot-manager system for 1000's of test machines (Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu, RedHat, DOS, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.1 - all on a single hard disk). Trust me, anything you can do with a mouse in Windows you can do with the prompt - you just have to know where and what to type... When you get down to the core of any OS, it's nothing more than data in a structure, you just need to know how to get at it.

Drifting...

Alright you guys ! Enough with the computer talk. Just like I told my friend in the late 70's who went to work for a guy named Bill Gates who was trying to start-up some software company. "Computers are not going anywhere. You need to choose a career that has potential ! "
OK so I was wrong !

aczlan · Nov 25, 2014

tim292stro said:
Thanks for the suggestion, you'll note on the Broadband-HAMNET page that they recently released firmware for Ubiquity APs, and it seems like they are focusing around that brand. For my Tent AP, I will be using one Ubiquity Outdoor AC AP for the local clients, but for the mesh nodes I'm planning on using Compex WPJ344's. These too can run OpenWRT - but the vendor has sold me a SDK for the Qualcomm chipset so that I can make it my own. I can do 900/2.4/5.8 bands in one package, add GPS and USB 2G/3G/4G modem(s), and package it with a LiFePO4 battery pack and large antennas inside a Pelican case. As a single system in that package, I wouldn't have to do a NanoStation or RocketStation for each band, and wouldn't need to have a PoE switch to power them and a separate embedded PC to bridge them. Better to just cut out the middle man, especially since the Compex system with the extra WiFi-NICs is still under $175...

Looks like a nice setup.

tim292stro said:
You are free to disagree - however as a hint, I'll ask: Who here remembers having to type "win+[ENTER]" from the DOS prompt before the GUI would load? opcorn:
It was back in the Windows 1/2/3/3.1/3.11/95/98/98SE days before they took it out of the autoexec.bat file and buried it in the bootloader when the NT and Desktop branches merged at Windows XP taking away the need to boot to the command line or the GUI (unless you hit "F8" and requested a prompt - just like what you can do with GRUB boot-loader in Linux). The command line in Windows is just that - they added the PowerShell tool to give better support to corporate users for scripting (better network remote capabilities, and native vb-script support instead of batch file only). The Server version of Windows is the same core OS as Desktop, but with different software switches turned on. It's basically the same tricks *nix-es use to differentiate Server vs. Desktop OS.

I remember that, and exiting out of Windows to DOS before powering down the machine on 95.

tim292stro said:
Read my disclaimer first, but my day job is here - where one of my responsibilities is maintaining the multi-OS boot-manager system for 1000's of test machines (Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu, RedHat, DOS, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.1 - all on a single hard disk). Trust me, anything you can do with a mouse in Windows you can do with the prompt - you just have to know where and what to type... When you get down to the core of any OS, it's nothing more than data in a structure, you just need to know how to get at it.

And if you dont want to do it from the command line, its probbaly available through Group Policy...
My "running Windows without a mouse" comment was more aimed at Gnome, KDE and the other *NIX GUIs and their abysmal support for using the GUI without a mouse.
Yes, you can do it from the shell, but try walking someone through deleting a bad mouse driver (or manually kicking off "find new hardware" to find said mouse) from the system via the GUI over the phone. It can be done in Windows, but not so much in any *NIX I have used.

Aaron Z

tim292stro · Nov 25, 2014

I've ordered the first roll of LED strip to mock-up of the solution I have in mind. I'll post up the strip circuit tonight - I'm going to have it done in flex circuit to help with rolling up.

Another Ahab · Nov 25, 2014

I Got Ignorance

DieselAddict · Nov 25, 2014

I use a lot of the LED strips for any number of lighting tasks. One bit of advice I would offer is to make sure they are attached to something that can act as a heatsink. This is especially true if you are driving them near their current limits. Otherwise their white point will shift and their brightness will decrease. When properly cooled they can last a long time. If they overheat you'll see noticeable changes in their performance in less than 100hrs.

When attaching them keep the adhesive thin. Avoid foam based tape. A thin coat of industrial grade contact adhesive on the strip and on the mounting surface its has worked best for me. The special high tac adhesive tapes work but are costly (again, don't get the foam based ones).

Hope this info helps.

Forward Operating Base In-a-Can

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