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Academy Edition

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Linar Yusupov edited this page Dec 10, 2021 · 30 revisions

Academy Edition is a variant of SoftRF technology which is recommended for use by aviation education facilities, such as Flight Academy or Akaflieg.

This SoftRF model is based upon an award-winning and world famous Arduino (Zero/M0) hardware platform:

Arduino M0 or Zero tech specs:

  • ATSAMD21G18, 32-Bit ARM Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 Mhz
  • 256 KB FLASH, 32 KB SRAM
  • 3.3V operating voltage
  • Arduino standard 68x53mm form factor

License free ISM band radio receive/transmit and GPS location features are provided by the Dragino Lora/GPS shield:

Dragino Lora/GPS Shield tech specs:

  • Semtech SX1276 Long Range Low Power RF Transceiver
  • Quectel L80 (based on MT3339) GPS Receiver
  • operating voltage is 3.3V, but the board inputs are 5V tolerant

Compatibility 1

Type Protocol FLARM OGN tracker PilotAware Skytraxx SoftRF
Radio FLARM AIR V6

 

OGNTP

 

P3I

 

FANET+

Data FLARM NMEA

  Garmin GDL90

 

Dump1090  

1 - it is necessary for a reader to distinguish the difference between statement "compatible" and statement "fully compatible".
     SoftRF implements only a reasonable minimum of the protocols specs. No "bells and whistles" so far.

Disclaimer

In general a lot of Chinese DIY electronics manufacturers are known to behave this way:

  • sometimes they may not apply necessary Q.C. before releasing of a product from factory ;
  • they may arbitrary change schematics and electronic components from one batch to the next one ;
  • they may terminate manufacturing of a board just few month after initial production.

Because of that, author of SoftRF:

  • will reject any hardware related claims associated with Dragino Lora/GPS Shield. Ask for support from seller or manufacturer ;
  • reserves the right to suspend or terminate support of Dragino Lora/GPS in the firmware at any time.

For the time being ( December '21 ) there were no critical hardware issues reported for current version (1.3) of the Dragino Lora/GPS Shield. However things my change over the time...
If you have issues with bringing up your new Lora/GPS Shield or just not happy with the board - be prepared to execute your Purchase Protection plan.

Bill of materials

Number Part Qty Picture Source
1 Wemos Arduino m0 or Zero 1 AliExpress 1 2
2 Dragino Lora/GPS Shield v1.3 2 1 AliExpress 1 2
Seeed Studio

2 - 868 MHz variant is applicable for these world regions: EU, RU, NZ, SA, IN ;
     915 MHz - US, CA, AU, IL, KR ;
     433 MHz - CN .

Optional

Number Part Qty Picture Source
1 GNSS antenna 1 AliExpress

Quick start

  1. plug the Dragino board on top of your Arduino Zero; connect antenna to the LoRa sub-module ;
  2. use an USB cable to connect the Arduino to a PC ;
  3. follow these instructions to upload SoftRF sketch into your Arduino board

Settings

Procedure of settings change is very similar to that the Dongle Edition has.
Settings description is located there.

Additional information

  1. Dragino Lora/GPS Shield wiki
  2. Dragino Lora/GPS Shield schematic and GitHub page
  3. Arduino m0 schematic

Hardware

SoftRF

SkyView

Flight Recorder

Adapters

Software

Firmware

Tools

Protocols

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