Know about Electronics?

[georgebushmoron]

I have a business and a personal interest in electronics. In both aspects of my life, I have come across a curiosity for knowledge and also a need to understand and put together electronic components. The applications are both in security, robotics, automation control and vehicles. One day, I would love to design viable circuits and create my own components, as currently I rely on some very rudimentary knowledge in order to choose which components go with what to make things work. I need a deeper understanding, however, I feel I am not far off from realizing my dream. But I don't have the requisite time these days to throw myself into courses.

Is anyone here knowledgeable in the field of electronics engineering that could field some basic questions? Perhaps some tips?

 

[luvsemall]

Go professional

Some years back I was involved with a 'project' to design a new piece of equipment. When we discussed this item with non-professional but supposedly knowledgable electro-freaks, all we really got was 'opinions'.

We finally had to bite the bullet and get an electrical engineer involved, at a substantial cost, but the design worked and worked well. I have been able to bank about 500G from that little project.

 

[sdw]

I have a business and a personal interest in electronics. In both aspects of my life, I have come across a curiosity for knowledge and also a need to understand and put together electronic components. The applications are both in security, robotics, automation control and vehicles. One day, I would love to design viable circuits and create my own components, as currently I rely on some very rudimentary knowledge in order to choose which components go with what to make things work. I need a deeper understanding, however, I feel I am not far off from realizing my dream. But I don't have the requisite time these days to throw myself into courses.

Is anyone here knowledgeable in the field of electronics engineering that could field some basic questions? Perhaps some tips?

Why not contact a manufacturer of ROVs? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROV The reason we use a tether in the water isn't applicable on the ground or in the air. The spy planes that are flown over Afghanistan and Iraq are flown by remote control. The pilots are located in a facility in California.

The biggest problem with using open radio channels is that someone else may use the channel and disrupt a procedure. That's why the tether and why the military ROVs and UAVs run on military band radio frequencies.

There are several companies in the Lower Mainland and Seattle areas that have extensive experience with ROVs and UAVs.

Some links
http://www.rov.net/pages/eqrov.htm
http://my.fit.edu/~swood/rov_pg2.html
http://curry.eas.gatech.edu/UAV/UAVmanufacturers.pdf

Control of a Remote Device is really only limited by your available communications channels. The planes, boats, cars, etc. that are toys or built by hobbyists only use 5 channels. The channels are public.

I have a trencher that uses almost 600 channels that are all fed through the tether. It's the visual, sound and tactile sensing that eats up communications channels.

 

[therealrex]

Why not contact a manufacturer of ROVs?

Because he wants someone to give him their hard earned knowledge for free

 

[sdw]

Because he wants someone to give him their hard earned knowledge for free

I think that's a little harsh. Many people look at what a ROV/UAV can do and don't realize that it's all possible because of the communications spectrum available.

Commercial stuff tends to use tethers because that way we don't have to pay to license the necessary channels.

The military stuff uses radio because they have whole spectrums reserved for their exclusive use. The military also likes to be able to deploy devices at a distance.

The public stuff is very restricted in how many channels are available, therefore the device will be restricted in it's capabilities.

There are a whole batch of "budgets" associated with running a device:

You have a budget for the necessary communications channels. Some devices attempt to cheat on communications by using html pages to talk to a database that loads appropriate functions. This makes the device very stupid and incapable of being backed out of trouble.
You have a budget for mobility that restricts size and weight. The transport motors must be able to move and maneuver the device.
You have a budget for power that restricts size, weight and function. Your power supply must be able to provide the necessary power to start and run any motors, hold and release any manipulators and run any cameras.

What appears simple becomes complicated.

The good thing is that a great many functions are available as standard modules. Any company that builds ROVs/UAVs will have an assortment of modules that can be attached to a standard chassis.

 

[mick_eight]

As in all products that provide actions a prototype on CAD would be helpfull. A lot of problems can be worked out. The electronics can be worked out by reverse flow which will give you parts reguired. Then depending on volume and finished cost , a profit margin is fixed. Quality depending on parts cost versus brake down numbers is a huge question. You can produce a item at low or high cost depending on parts quality. hope things work out GBM. I did a cost versus return study once on a 450,000 dollar machine and a repair call cost 300 dollars. A electronic part was failing. I found that warehousing was saving 50 cents on each unit by buying cheaper units but failure rate was much higher. So some thing to remember is that various dept look at things from different views, both make sense to each of them. Its a pitfall you should beware . Good luck

 

[georgebushmoron]

Because he wants someone to give him their hard earned knowledge for free

Aaah, we always have a crass one in the bunch. Someone in a highly skilled profession unwilling to share basic information has got to have a pretty tenuous grip on their career, or are at least highly selfish. I take a different tact, one that most professionals do: we give a lot of free advice, we believe that the world is a better place through the sharing of information, and we are not threatened by giving advice to people outside our profession because we know it takes a long time to get to the caliber where we are at and free advice is not going to work against us. I've not only given advice, but tutored others and even given them a head start in my profession. I believe such activities benefits all of us and perhaps myself eventually, as a neophyte will eventually become skilled and perhaps be able to offer me different insights in the future. Plant a seed and it will one day become a tree and perhaps bear fruit.

I must thank those who felt compelled to contribute. If it were not for the highly skilled and generous bunch here on Perb, I might not have gotten great advice on other matters such as fitness, diet, photography, medicine, and of course pooning.