"Jason Bleazard" <dml@bleazard.net> wrote:
: Michael Maskalans said:
:>
:> Definitely could be done, and pretty quickly. Just not quite as easily
:> as you first might think <g>
: Are you thinking of actually trying to pull this off, or is this just a
: theoretical exercise? If you're thinking of actually trying it, I'll make
: a small suggestion... START SLOWLY (one computer, one router), then see if
: it works when driving the truck around. Then try adding a repeater to
: increase the range. Then build up from there.
: If you go ahead and install a network of repeaters and take a truck down
: to the falls to see if it works, I can almost guarantee that it won't,
: then you'll be stuck with a debugging nightmare.
: That said, it does sound like a pretty cool idea. If I could get more
: time off work, I'd say let's work on it during the week before everyone
: else shows up.
Obviously we won't be able to put together anything resembling what we
actually want to do :-) but I do have an old Primestar dish lying around
here, which I have heard can be used to make a long range wifi antenna.
We could possibly play around with seeing how far down the runway we could
get that to reach. :-) Might be good enough to get to the mud pit anyway,
if that would be of any advantage. I've never played around with trying
to build one of these long range antennas, pringles can, etc. If
nobody else has either, that might be a fun project just to play around
with that a little bit. :-) (Of course, if we want to do that we'd
have to plan in advance to make sure we have all the supplies we'd need.)
The next goal after that might be to get at least one truck up and
running with some GPS telemetry, even if it would only work near the
mud pit area. :-) That part would probably require some programming,
unless there is already something out there do do that. (very well might
be?)
Streaming video from the trucks sounds cool, but I think it
would quickly overwhelm the bandwidth considerations we need to
deal with here to actually get it out to the 'net. "Streaming
telemetry" might be more attainable, possibly with an occasional
"image push" if in-cab pics were desired. (Personally, I think
watching little blips moving around on the map with each
truck labeled would be more fun than trying to figure out what
you're looking at from a video feed anyway.) Of course, taking away
the bandwidth considerations, it would be cool to use the blips
to jump from truck to truck and view that vehicle's video whenever
you wanted. :-) Could also have info on each truck such as
current altitude, speed, direction, etc. Perhaps even some
time/altitude calculations to try to figure out what the current
slope of the terrain is. :-)
Lots of possibilities, limited time and even less money. ;-)
But maybe if I switch the DML BBQ donation can do a 55 gallon
drum and we manage to fill it up we might be able to do SOME
of this stuff. ;-)
: As long as we're spending theoretical money we don't have, I like the idea
: of putting the repeaters up on weather balloons to increase their range
: :-).
That might actually be a decent way to go. :-) At Carlisle this year,
DC had 4 helium "blimps" tethered to their trailer (Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler,
Mopar). I commented to Ed at the time that they would be cool to have at
the BBQ, but I wasn't even thinking of wifi at the time. :-) A tethered
balloon or two might actually do the trick, for most of the property,
anyway. Assuming there is a way to allow the antenna to see a wide enough
tract of land, it might even be possible to do it with one balloon. (Still
doesn't sound cheap though.) ;-)
--
-Jon-
.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --.
| 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota |
| 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD |
`------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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