I have been helping some mechanical engineering students from the side-lines with a project to make an open-source rapidly-erectable communications tower, with internal space for comms gear and batteries.
I hadn't caught up with them for a few months, but today was student expo for the department, and so I went down to see what they had created.
It was very pleasing to see a nice that they had indeed managed to make a 6m high tower that can be assembled in less than 10 minutes, and consists entirely of common hardware and a few 3D printable parts, as you can see below:
And again with one of the students who designed it for scale:
The design uses three guy ropes for stabilisation, and was designed to accept an 85m/s static wind load. The practical limit would be less than that under realistic dynamic wind conditions.
Following my suggestion, the entire tower when broken down is small (<140cm total linear dimensions, approximately 1m in longest direction) and light enough (19kg) that it can be included in checked luggage on a normal commercial flight.
By using only common plumbing components and a few 3D printed components, it could in principle be manufactured (or repaired) in relatively infrastructure deprived settings, provided you had a 3D printer, of course.
Think you'll have trouble finding 3D printer filament? Then you might want to make use of one of the other student's projects, turning plastic milk bottles into 3D printer filament. That project has a bit more work to do, but the general concept is there and working. There are also some other projects around the world working on the same kind of resource scavenging approach.
It is not formally part of the project, but we had input into their design process on a number of points.
ReplyDeleteHi Kevin,
ReplyDeleteI'll talk to the students about getting the details published. I know they want to anyway. But do expect some delays, because they have exams and things over the next few weeks.
Paul.
Hello folks I'm trying to mount a mesh network here in street and I would like to know better details on an antenna for it! I'm thinking to put it in top of my house. I'm a also mechanical engineer and I'm used to frequent Hackaday.com good DIY articles! Could you make some information available on the antennas and a way to mount a network here. Just information for me to read and start!
ReplyDeleteThanks in Advance,
André
Hello André,
DeleteI suggest you join the village-telco-dev and serval-project-developers google groups so that you can discuss what you are doing there and ask for any help that you need.
Paul.
Why not just use a ballon? Works 90% of time and better coverage.
ReplyDeleteHello,
DeleteBalloons are not great in windy weather, and cannot last for months. This tower is designed to last a long time, and withstand 85m/s static wind loading (about 300km/hour). Also with a balloon there is the challenge of running the antenna cable up to the balloon, and keeping the antenna orientation constant if using a non-isotropic antenna. But you are right, there are situations where a balloon is fine, and we have worked with balloons in the past (there is a post showing us using a balloon elsewhere on the blog).
(balloon :$) Some commercial light (or background) stands for photographers extend that high. They may be lighter and much faster to construct, too.
ReplyDeleteHello,
DeleteThere are probably an option in some situations, but again the challenge of high winds, and also of being able to source them (and spare parts for them) in disaster situations is a bit interesting. Also, for getting them into a disaster zone it is important that they can fit in standard airline baggage (<23kg and 140cm linear dimension) so that you don't have to wait for a freight plane. But again, different solutions are fine for different situations and this new design is really about giving one more option to help people get the best solution for their needs. It is pleasing when people ask useful questions and offer alternatives, as you have done, because it helps everyone!
Paul.
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this info, me and a couple of friends are planning on creating a community mesh network in a University in Nigeria leveraging serval based App and commotion wireless,please could you help us with contact of any team that have successfully implemented this.
Thanks
David
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteIs this project still active? Interested in building android apps for use over a serval mesh.
Brian
Hello,
Deleteyes, we are very much busily working actively on Serval still. See the latest couple of blog posts to see some of what we are up to. As well as the Serval Mesh Extender work, we are preparing for a pilot in the Pacific, adding the ability to use HF radios to carry Serval Mesh traffic over long distances, overhauling the Android Serval Mesh application, and also doing initial work towards and iOS version.
Paul.