yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 7 General] xdacuc:
How did you attach the tablet to the PS3 controller in one of the first pics?
[Nexus 7 General] davidoff59:
Read the comment above yours.
[Nexus 7 General] DronesToronto:
Any HTC Android suggestions

Hi, I have an HTC Amaze and the backing plate looks similar with several contact pin points. I am wondering if it also has the WIFI and if this hack stands a chance of being implemented similarly. Would the rest of the phone care or even know that the WIFI portion was replaced, any thoughts would be appreciated. Very nice job BTW, can not wait to get mine to that state, even if I have to go buy the Nexus.

---------- Post added at 04:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:22 AM ----------

HI, I live in Toronto, Canada and I have been flying my AR Drone 2.0 in below freezing weather and it works great! It actually seems to prolong the flight time but I have not had patience to do timed trials etc. I have had some great flights over powder snow where the snow gets whipped up. I have even landed into 4 inch powder and then had it dig itself out again, two tries and it was out of there in a big cloud of snow, just great. I would not recommend it really as there is so much exposed circuitry etc but I got away with it. Just dry it off asap and blow snow off gear assemblies and landing pads as it can build up and become heavy. Good luck you will have a blast, oh yeah this is an old post, doh

---------- Post added at 05:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:43 AM ----------

Hi, I just went through and read the whole thread and wanted to once again say great work. Can't wait to see your next post. :good:
[Nexus 7 General] pgsmith68:
Carry

Chuck,

I have been following your posts on XDA here and I saw some on another forum about weight. You had me hooked when I first saw your AR drone here and what you have done is nothing short of amazing!

Now I am a ham radio operator and I think the AR drone would be a great tool in a emergency situation, we as hams run a drill once a year it is county wide and includes Canada as well where we go to a empty field and set up a communications center then for the next 24 hours we see how many people we can contact with a basic information exchange.

Well enough about that what I see the AR drone being able to do is help put antennas into trees in the way of taking a small string (fishing line) up to the point of a tree that we want and draping it over to that we can then pull the wire antenna up. I am wondering what your thought on this may be.
[Nexus 7 General] Infobits:
b00mb00mchuck, absolutely awesome dude! You and the team of helpers that put all that together from a Nexus 7 deserve credit for all that hard work and engineering! Wow! nice work! Maybe Google company can refine it with you and turn it into a special product (and hobby) and sell it as a product or kit now!
[Nexus 7 General] _Variable:
Can you port this to the Galaxy Tab 2?

__________________

Sweet Devil >_<

GT-P3100 | Android 4.0.4 ICS | Sun Cellular

PM me if you need help
[Nexus 7 General] pgsmith68:
From what I see there is nothing to port. You will just have to figure out where your WIFI antenna is located otherwise the app is free on play.
[Nexus 7 General] mat helm:
FAA Grounds Local Aerial Photo Business
[Nexus 7 General] b00mb00mchuck:
Sorry I haven't checked back with this thread in quite awhile... But if you mean "can the mod be done on the galaxy tab 2?" Then my answer would be... I definitely think it would work ... BUT ... That tablet is a bummer to get into... Just tedious.

But the connection would be similar provided you are familiar with where the WiFi antenna is located.

The app on the playstore works on all android devices but it's not free... Costs a few bucks.
[Nexus 7 General] wolfking1981:
battery weight

finally read all the way through this post and saw b00mb00mchuck is using a 1500mah battery for your ar Droid 2. how much does the battery weigh and what is the make of the battery, because I have seen some 2000mah batteries (or 2 1000mah batteries in paralle) that are arround the same weight as a 1500mah and with the extra 500mah of power you could make it a fair distance further.
[Nexus 7 General] b00mb00mchuck:
Good call on that 2000mAh battery... I heard those are working well with the drone... But I went a different route with mine ... I've removed my battery tray on my drone so I can use any size battery more comfortably now... So I went with the Zippy FlightMax 2500mAh battery and it's been giving me crazy awesome flight times ... I haven't really gone out and tried a longer distance flight recently just because it doesn't seem like anybody is trying to break the record set in December... I've been doing other mods that don't involve the Nexus 7 so I guess I don't post over here too much anymore... But I should be getting geared up for a new distance record at the end of this month when this new booster arrives and I boost my ground station to a full watt .... That should be pretty epic... Especially with these flight times... Look at this screen shot... Just over 27 minutes
[Nexus 7 General] kieso:
Nice to hear from you again. I've been flying my drone a lot lately. I'm ticked about one thing though the original battery that came with it will only charge to about 50% and I've barely had it 6 months. I still haven't had the guts to modify my n7 either for better WiFi. You have any new videos of your mods?
[Nexus 7 General] chibois:
do you have any thoughts on a better internal antenna? I have no problem removing the nfc and gps antennas as i never use either, how would one go about replacing the wifi antenna with a larger one given that space?

and/or thoughts on how to attach an external without soldering to the pogo pins? like wire it to the pads they press into. I'd like to do any alteration experiments with a 2nd back cover and have it so i can just put the original back on and have it working as it originally did if need be...

basically i just wanna be able to mooch wifi offa the mcdonalds next to work better... graveyard shifts are boring and the wifi is too weak to connect as is.
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
Nice, doing sort of same mod!
[Nexus 7 General] Timmy_nation:
I need help!

Hi

I'm new in this forum and i registered to this forum in order to contact you. this reason is that I'm really amazed by your talent and creativity and about how you took the world record. The thing is I'm trying to upgrade my AR Drone too but not for as long distance as you did. only up to 1 kilometer. but the problem is that I'm not as creative as you are and and i don't know how to solder a RP-SMA cable to my nexus 7. As you showed in the picture that nexus 7 have a positive and a negative pin and the problem is that i don't know how to find out the polarity of RP-SMA cable. Normal electric cable has two sides but RP-SMA doesn't. Can you please upload a picture or a video to show how you solder you RP-SMA cable to your nexus 7 wifi connector pins. Or please contact me because i got inspired by your creativity and bought an AR Drone and a Nexus 7 and now i don't know how to do it as you did.

Thank you for your time.
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
The setup of the wires is in the picture, - shield is the cable for the outer side of the connector and the core is the +

Soldering my rp-sma connector today:)

My mod works fine on, shield on - and + core of wifi cable.
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
not sure about the result:( can test my flat antenna next week, normal external antenna drops single after 40 / 50 meters.. should been more.. or not:)

In other thread on ar drone forum boom boom talks about soldering the core cable to both pins.. so what the heck is the right way?
[Nexus 7 General] b00mb00mchuck:
Sorry I'm late with the answers... but here is the best pic I have from one I modded for an XDA member... the center core wire solders to the left pad (+).. and the outer braided shield solders to the right pad ( - )

Keep your center core wire as short as possible and try to avoid sharp bends or kinks in the wire anywhere
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
Thnx m8! then i did it correctly:)

except i will do it again, i soldered it on the 2 metal clips, will remove them.

First i will test with my flat antenna next week, normal external antenna range is not that good but that can also be my antenna:) old 3com antenna.

Edit: i resoldered it, removed the pins and soldered it to the mainboard and my signal improved 20 dbi.

so for everyone else who wants to mod, remove the pins and solder to mainboard.
[Nexus 7 General] surfpr101:
Great job
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
i just finished my Drone Station!

12Dbi antenna, ps3 controller on modded suction mount, nexus on a brodit nexus 7 mount, can be easily removed and re attached.

No damage to back cover, antenna wire goes out trough the microphone hole in the cover:)

Testing will be asap when the weather cleares.
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
first test 1.2KM range on 100% signal and -52dB strength
[Nexus 7 General] b00mb00mchuck:
Awesome results on a 12dBi antenna... looks like you could get quite a bit more there with your signal still in the 50s at that distance... great setup!!
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
New Setup !

Hi to all of you

First of all b00mb00mchuck you are a GOD !

Could not stop my self to do same as you ! xD

Like you I have purshase the itElite SRA24019 !

After opening my Nexus 7 i've soldered a really small diametre coaxial cable ( i removed the original pins and soldered directly on the motherboard ) and make it come out from the tablet and attached a SMA connector to it.

So I'am able to fix a small antena for home use or the flat itelite panel for drone flight.

Here some pics of my stuff !

The only probleme I have is that my signal range is not so good.

With the flat panel I dont have more than 100 - 150 meter range.

I use ArDroneFlightPro to pilot the drone, so I have the wifi information on the screen that shows me the signal strengh and quality.

After 100 meter I have juste -70 -75 dbms and the signal quality go to 50 % 40 % after just a few meters (like 8 - 10 meters).

So do you have any idea why my range is so poor. I'm using the same stuff as GOD b00mb00mchuck ! Why i can't have the half range he got ?

I'm I doing something wrong ?

If it could be helpful i could open my nexus again and take some pic of my soledering job and the coax cable.

Told me if you need any more informations about me set up.
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
could be that the soldering did not make a good contact or there is a a cable breach some where.

i had the same issue when i soldered on the pins and not on the systemboard, resoldered and works fine now.
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Hi,

Ty for your reply.

In fact, first time I have soldered the wire on the pins directly. But after reading the reply of someuser, I have open back my nexus and soldered the wire directly to the motherboard.

I will make some picture of the inside of the nexus like that you could see.

I'll verify the cables to see if there is any breach, but I dont think so cause I have made the cables myself and I have verified the continuity of the cables with a multimetre.

Any other idea ?

This make me crazy. I have a better signal with the flat panel that is sure. cause with the panel when I am in front of the drone (less than 10 cm) the signal is -6 -7 dbm, but with the normal antena I have -30 -35 dbm.

What I do not understand is why my quality signal is so poor after just 2 metre betwen the drone and me I have 80% quality while other user always have 100% quality.
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
stripped the core wire correctly? maybe accidently soldered shieldwires with the core?
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Hi !

Here is some pic of my soldered wire.

I think it's ok, am I right ?
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Hi !

Tonight I am going to make these test :

1 - Set your multimeter to an ohms scale around 100 ohms. A higher scale works, but avoid moving into a scale close to 1k ohms or higher. Coaxial cable is typically rated to operate at 50 or 75 ohms so the scale should be at or greater than these ratings.

2 - Disconnect both ends of the cable from their connections.

3 - Test the length of the cable by placing a multimeter probe on each end of the cable, touching the center wire emerging from the coaxial connector.

4 - Read the multimeter display. A reading around the 50 ohm or 75 ohm rating of the cable indicates that the cable is working properly across its length. A reading of infinite resistance indicates a break somewhere along the the inside of the cable. A reading of zero indicates a potential short between the inner cable and its shield.

5 - Remove the cable connector to expose the cable shielding.

6 - Place one multimeter probe on the cable shielding and the other on the inner cable.

7 - Read the multimeter display. A reading of infinite resistance indicates no short between the shield and the inner cable. A reading of anything below infinite indicates the shield and inner wire may be touching somewhere along the cable. If this is the case, the reading will be closer to zero.

Hope this will help me to find out if the problem comes from the wire or the solder.
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
any results m8?
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Hi to all of you.

So I have made some test that lead me to say I have broke something in the Nexus 7 while soldering ...

I have test my coax cable.

The one soldered on the tablet have 0.3 ohms and no breach. (test made with the cable unsoldered from the tablet).

The one going from the flat panel to the tablet have 0.4 ohms and no breach to.

Here is the test that make me think I have broke something.

See this pic :

When I am doing continuity test like this my multimetre Biiiiip !

Is this normale you think ? I think no ! It must be no continuity between the + and the - shield cause the antena is not pluged so the circuit is open.

Is some one able to made that test ? No need to open the tablet to do so just made use your multimetre as in this pic :

Do not forget to turn OFF your tablet before !

So If your tablet is biiiping that mean that I have not broke anything in the tablet, but if it don't biip I think I am good to by a new Nexus 7 ....

I hope it's the first case and your tablet is going to biiip to !! ^^

Any way, to do the test I have insoldered the cable from the nexus 7. So I have made a really clean soldering after my tests.

Made some test with the drone, no changes... Same as before the quality is so poor, can't go far more than 100 metre ... After that I have loss the signal and the drone goes away .... He fall from somethink like 20 meter from the ground ! Two propellers broken ... Gonna buy new ones today .

Hope you could help me !

Thank you
[Nexus 7 General] bigbop:
Here is the output circuit for the Nexus 7 WiFi/Bluetooth antenna.

Note the coils...that is why your meter is showing no DC resistance

Please remember this is a 2.4GHz tuned circuit. You can't measure its impedance with an ohmmeter.
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Hi !

I think you miss understand me.

I didnt measure the resistance of the antenna circuit but its continuity.

And as you can see in the picture posted before when i am taking my multimetre in testing continuity mode with the nexus 7 turned off.

I take the Red cable on the + shield and the Black one on the - shield . Then my multimeter make BIIIIIIIIIIIP that mean that there is continuity between shield + and - . Is that normal ?
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Thank you a lot for this.

I understand a little bit more now.

But this not helping me find out whats the problem with my setup.

I have bought new propelers and I just come back from some new tests.

Note that I have made the soldering again with a really short connection.

So I have a little better range now something like 300 metres but the quality of signal still so poor after few meters.

Can't figure why ...

If you need any information that could help you to help me I am there !! :)
[Nexus 7 General] bigbop:
Are you using this setup in an urban (built-up) area with lots of homes?

If you are, there may be interference affecting your range - although 300 metres is pretty good!!

BoomBoomChuck is in a wide open area - very little wifi interference.

If you have a laptop, install inSSIDer and do a site survey of the number of access points in your area as well as past the 300 metre mark where you're flying the quad..

It's available free for Android, Mac & PC.
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Hi !

No I fly only in wide areas with no wifi disturbing the drone connection. Need to take my car and go far away from paris ^^

So I have downloaded the application you told me its amazind and much better than Wifi Analyzer that I used to use.

But my 300 meters range is in a wide area with no pertubation or other wifi acces point. So do you think my range is good in this conditions ?

May I go further with some 2watt booster ?

How could booboom and Xenox have better result with approximatly same setup ?

Any idea about this ?
[Nexus 7 General] bigbop:
In your WiFi setup on the nexus, make sure that under the advanced menu, the optimization is unchecked and disabled.

Other than that, you need to remember that the transmitter on the ARdrone is a lot less powerful and has a much smaller antenna that what you have on the tablet. Chuck used a modified antenna on his drone for more gain. That is probably your problem.
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Hi !

Ty for your reply.

The optimisation was already disabled on my tablet.

I now chuck used an ampli on the drone to get more range.

But without the booster he got a range > 1km

XenoX said too that he got 1.2 km range and he is not using any booster on his drone.

How to explain this ? What do I must do to got the same range ????

( XenoX used a 12 dbi antenna while mine is 19 dbi (itelite like chuck's one))

ty
[Nexus 7 General] bigbop:
Sorry, don't know what else to suggest. Try other AR Drone forums and maybe YouTube.
[Nexus 7 General] Xenn0X:
HI,

Im on vacation now but i have my nexus 7 rooted with a custom rom which also has more wifi optimisations.

I thought i've red somewhere that chuck has his one rooted too with a light weight rom.

My AR Drone is unmodded.

Maybe the quality of sma cable matters?
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Hi !

ty for your reply.

Could you tell me witch rom do you use ?

I was using the last Cyanogene Mod Rom, but I have some issue with ARFligthPro.

After reading some post of chuck on ardroneflyers, I found a discution between him and the develloper of ARFligthPro who says that is recommended to use stock roms.

And what do you mean by : Maybe the quality of sma cable matters?

the cable are all the same ? no ?

ty
[Nexus 7 General] b00mb00mchuck:
Dammit... I've been missing the best parts of the conversation here ... sorry ... I don't check as often as I used to because this thread dies out sometimes for weeks... anyway

Many if the questions have been adressed correctly by bigbop so we're still on the right track... dude knows what he's talking about but I don't think there was to much going wrong with your solder job... just the misconception that you should be flying farther...

Your ohm meter was beeping for continuity because of inductors in the nexus circuit - correct - no way to test that with a multimeter...

I had been using a custom rom back in november of last year but now I run stock 4.3 with many apps disabled... this is not for wifi performance but rather for app performance using ARDF Pro... don't want any force closes or glitches while in the air...

When my drone was UNboosted , my farthest flight was 460meters using the same antenna you are using...

My progress went like this...

16dBi antenna - unboosted drone................................................................... 300meters

19dBi antenna - unboosted drone................................................................... 460meters

19dBi antenna - boosted drone (installed wrong with cheap equipment).... 732meters (500mw boost)

19dBi antenna - boosted drone (better install , still cheap equipment)........ 1082meters (500mw boost

19dBi antenna - boosted drone (correct install , still cheap equipment)...... 1372meters (500mw boost)

19dBi antenna - boosted drone (correct install , all new equipment)............ 2250meters (500mw boost)

19dBi antenna - boosted drone (correct install , high power equipment)..... 4989meters at 915meters altitude (1000mw boost on both drone and tablet) {this last entry was the flight where I lost my drone on the return trip approx 750meters from home base... also lost the video file that proves the flight so I don't claim this distance but I'm throwing it out there to show what is possible}

So anyway... looking at your numbers... you are getting around 300meters with a 19dBi antenna and having link quality problems... the one thing that immediately comes to mind is polarity... the drone's antenna is horizontally polarized so you should have your panel antenna set up to match that polarization... the sticker on the back should have arrows and they should be horizontal... <-------> ...

Looking at all your pictures and description I think you got your tablet wiring correct... but I don't think you'll get a kilometer range from that setup unless you do Garrock's wheel antenna mod on your drone... you can find that on the flyers forum (I saw your message there a few minutes ago and came here... good thinking)
[Nexus 7 General] pool0513:
Ty ty ty ty ty ty Chuck

Can you tell me what is the equipement you did use to do this :

19dBi antenna - boosted drone (correct install , high power equipment)..... 4989meters at 915meters altitude

Was that Sunhans ampli ?? (i am planing to buy one ^^)

Is there any tutorial or post about this ?

About the garrock mod, I have talked with him yesterday ^^ and I am going to order one wheel !

Hope I'll get better perf with this ^^

About my antenna you are right I am vertically polarized, just done like you on this pic :

so this week I am gonna go far away from Paris. I'll do some test with my antenna horizontally polarized and I'll post results.
[Nexus 7 General] b00mb00mchuck:
That complete mod is posted HERE...

that's a pretty expensive booster I was using at $150 each... and they won't sell them to consumers... you have to have a business purchase for you... and you need to use two of them to get that type of range... one on the drone and one on the tablet... and then it has the drawback of being too powerfull at close range so you can't point the tablet antenna directly at the drone untill the drone is 15 or 20 meters away or it will drop the signal by oversaturation...

Also... a 1000mw booster connected to a 19dBi flat panel antenna is very illegal in populated areas... it will run over other peoples wifi signals and cause all kinds of interference... use at your own risk

1000mw booster and nexus 7 mounted to 19dBi flat panel ready for flight

1000mw booster mounted in stripped down AR Drone 2.0

Garrock's wheel mod hanging below clear bottom plate

Last photo taken of "Brick GT" before she was lost ... that was one cool little drone
[Nexus 7 General] b00mb00mchuck:
Bumped for the girl I was just talking to on hangouts... This mod WILL work for your coffee shop idea for sure

the one I have left over is a 16GB so just make me an offer :cool:
[Nexus 7 General] Nullstring:
Did you ever have to change something on your ar drone hardware?

please ignore... LOL.
[Nexus 7 General] Lim Wee Huat:
Instead of drone, what if it's running aircrack? As far?