YAHRC - Yet Another Ham Radio Cyberdeck

Details

This rugged and compact minicomputer was in a corner of my mind for too long with a 10.1 LCD screen laying around and few other components.
Luckily this Hackaday opportunity boost me up to remove this idea from the project waiting list.
Design in Solidworks then 3D printed and finally mounted with shoehorn, this Cyberdeck gave me a lot of satisfaction and is still work in progress but touching the final
I hope you will enjoy this project as much as I do and see it replicated for your hack, ham, maker or journey trip activities.
Have fun !

Hardware
- Rugged and compact minicomputer
- Regular laptop usage thanks to rpi 3B+
- 10.1 LCD screen
- LAN capabilities with 1Gb Ethernet port
- Low profil usb 3.0 4 ports integration
- 2.5 ssd capability
- Radio tx/rx capability with cheap dual separate sdr module
- gps module for getting precise time synchronisation and geolocalisation thanks to Galileo (EU), GPS (US), GLONASS (RU) compatibilities
- More than enough power autonomie, 2s7p battery pack 18650 1500mA lithium batteries type lgdahb21865 so equivalent to a 15000mA powerbank
- External emergency power supply through standard usb 2.0 A type port (solar, powerbank, etc)
- Internal battery power charging through standard usb 2.0 A type port (5v input power)
- internal small 12v cooling fan
- Storage Compartment : BLE keyboard/touchpad, 2 srd with wide range or sized antennas, connectors, rugged usb key

Supervision
- rpi led power status
- rpi led activity status
- Easy internals system voltage check (without injecting it in)
- Visual access to main power supply 5v & 12v

Features
- individually choose to power on or off modules such as screen, usb hub, rpi, internal battery pack or external power source
- 3-Position switch (ON/OFF/ON - up to down) : external power from 3.8vdc to 32vdc (solar, powerbank, etc), completly off, internal battery powered
- error avoidence feature when trying to recharge internal battery when using external power supply
- Microcontroler programming with rpi GPIO
- EMP proofed (not tested yet, must be grounded to be efficent)
- Printed modules can be reproduced easily

Soft such as
- awesome FISSURE repository
- GPSD
- SSTV Encoder
- etc

To be improved
- change for a rpi 4 (better performance and real use of usb 3.0 features)
- ~~try different connectors like JST SM~~ CHECKED
- ~~merge all connectors between 2 pelicase' side by one connector~~ CHECKED
- improve shielding by using copper tape (better than aluminium tape ? ) also with grounding point
- ~~visualy access to powerbank leds status to one of panels, actually the way is to mesure battery voltage on front panel (8.4v for high value and 5.2v for low voltage power pack)~~ CHECKED
- find a way to replace usb sound card and get access to the embedded rpi 3.5mm mini stereo jack plug (didnt find suitable solution due to compact design)
- ~~improve cooling system or remove it because not enough data (temperature mesurement) to analyse~~ CHECKED, custom NPN/PNP/MOSFET driver board with GPIO PWM drive
- Conductive foam between the 2 parts of the pelicase
- do small custom pi shield to minimize wiring
- Add small usb led light

Files

Schema de cablage simplifie.pdf

Adobe Portable Document Format - 647.14 kB - 08/20/2023 at 17:17

Preview

cyberdeck.zip.001

001 - 20.00 MB - 08/08/2023 at 21:27

Download

cyberdeck.zip.002

002 - 20.00 MB - 08/08/2023 at 21:28

Download

cyberdeck.zip.003

003 - 19.44 MB - 08/08/2023 at 21:29

Download

Components

1 × Pelicase 295x205x91mm 45.16 https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/33026660883.html

1 × 10.1 lcd screen (1024x600) with driver card

1 × rapsberry pi 3b+

1 × Mini HD 90 degree adapter compatible FPV A1/A2, FPC ribbon, 20 pin connector + 50cm ribbon 7,20 https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/10000308358123.html

1 × cable SATA 3 to USB 4.96 https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/4000823763208.html

Project Logs

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9/8/23 - off-road test

f4drj • 08/09/2023 at 18:21 • 0 comments

Absolutely great !

GPS, solar recharge, sound card and RX SDR are working like a charm on this first off-road benchmarking.

Troobleshooting time !

f4drj • 10/10/2022 at 18:11 • 0 comments

With great power comes great responsibility...

Yes ! I finally found this power issue and managed to solve it. Wiring was fine.

- First : Step up / step down module

In simple words RTFM (Read The Fine Manual) or at least translate chinese manual...

Those module need to have at least 2V between input and regulated output voltage. In the first attempt, my powerbank delivers 5Vdc and enter in a step up/down module and output a 5Vdc which is apparently bad for a raspberry pi. It rebooted permanently.

Change the input for a standard 2s 18650 battery pack 7.2Vdc and it works like a charm.

- Second : too smart powerbank module

This kind of module needs a "smart" device to communicate with and deliver needed power. Thanks to PD (Power Delivery) protocol or some kind.

Connecting a simple device such a usb lamp (+ & GND) will not work as you wish. With module I bought, you had to push the button on the powerbank and the lamp will light up for... 30 seconds. Too fast and totally useless for a rugged rpi computer. Holding the button for a bit longer and the "ON mode" is active for around 1 hour. Better but still useless.

So removing the powerbank module and replace it with a 2s BMS module and a step up/down module to be able to recharge the pack with something external (solar, cranking device or standard AC to DC source).

All module have been simulated and approved to work with lab bench.

Now waiting for items to be received.

Update with pictures soon.

Build Instructions

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Doing some simulations