Wire Directional Radios!

[-=Fox=-]

Ah.... this is turning out to be better than expected

Have you gotten a concept system up?

What kinds of Inputs and Outputs will the transmitters, receivers, and antennas have?

Will we be able to adjust the output power (from 0 - Server Set Max) using a Wire Setup?

[philxyz]

Ah.... this is turning out to be better than expected [/b]

I want to do a good job but of course it will take some time. This weekend, I've been working on sRGB texture support for wine and I'm balancing things a bit. Later this week, I'll make some more models (hopefully the rest)

Have you gotten a concept system up?[/b]

Not yet, however I have a pretty clear idea of what I'm going to be implementing code wise

What kinds of Inputs and Outputs will the transmitters, receivers, and antennas have?[/b]

All frequencies in MHz, all Power in dB (maybe also watts but definitely dB)
8 channels per link, 5MHz per channel, going up from the chosen base frequency

Transmitters - 10 inputs, "Channel 1" to "Channel 8", "Base Freq" and "Tx Power"
- 1 output for an "Signal" (antenna)

Receivers - 2 inputs, "Antenna" and "Base Freq"
- 8 outputs, "Channel 1" to "Channel 8"

Antenna - 1 input, "Transmitter"
- 1 output, "Receiver"

Transmit and receive at the same time on 1 antenna? maybe. Or I'll enforce either wiring transmit or receive but not both per antenna (if supported)

Will we be able to adjust the output power (from 0 - Server Set Max) using a Wire Setup?[/b]

Yes, using the "Tx Power" input on the transmitter

[uuh52]

So, here's a scenario:
A skirmish has broken out between rebel and cop aircraft over a city in rp. Both sides are usin separate frequencies to communicate. The cops find out the rebel frequency and jam it, but the rebels change frequency with an algorithm. Meanwhile, newscasters are filming from the ground and air, relaying their views through an antenna to all the viewers watching at home. Sounds cool .

[tomb332]

then the rebels acidentally go onto the news frequency and broudcast there plans around the world

[philxyz]

There's a possiblility of having cable TV by wiring in-line amplifiers togeter but the danger is, they'll be misused with antennas in order to beat the transmit limit on the server and the end result is that Mingebags just fry everyone on the map with an Omni-directional pole and some cable amplifiers. I could restrict the amplifier to only working when the gain has dropped below a threshold.

Anyway, this stuff is still in the works. I know I've been quiet on here this week... it's because I'm trying to complete a patch for wine that I've been working on (on and off) for months. When I've done that (this or next weekend), I'll carry on with Radio Mod

I've always wanted wire radios and hopefully, in a few weeks or maybe a month or 3, we'll have it

[field_medic]

I have to say this is looking pretty cool, and since it is all input and software wise the CPU people are going to have a field day. There was on thing I wanted to add though. Is the frequency that you transmit at going to impact the range? Think the 900 mHz portable telephone and the 2.4 gHz telephone as your example. If I recall correctly the higher frequency, the more line of sight you have to be to get a good connnection.

The other thing, since a lot of focus is on the electronic warfare side of things, there is a danger that people will put up so many jammers that no one can talk to anyone . I am curious as to what you are going to show a "jammed" signal like, or a lossy signal. If you are sending digital you can do byte shifts -> 01101011 becomes 11010110, or analog could get random data. Send 5500 and it comes out 5601 out the other side.

[tomb332]

i think a jammed signal should act like normal wire radios on the same channel the last singnal gets through.
Maby with a bit of variation (Signal + ((math.random()*2)-1))

[philxyz]

Frequency and distance:

I hadn't decided about this one yet but seeing as frequency is a part of the distance calculation, it's certainly likely I'll do it that way


Strongest signal received on a given frequency wins.

HOWEVER!

The interference is the [background noise] + [strongest interfering channel on same frequency]

when these 2 are subtracted from the desired signal, you have to hope the desired signal is powerful enough for the sensitivity of the receiver (which will be fixed / svar)

[field_medic]

Another thought on noise. Have you ever taken something on fire and held it close to radio? The amount of electronic interference is incredible, easily enough to overwhelm a high quality radio.

It may make things more complicated than they need to be, but it would be cool if certain events caused trouble on the reciever's end. (thinking spacebuild for a moment) Being in the atmosphere would cause a certain amount of noise to be detected (ambient), but once you went into space it would get quiet, that is unless you got too much in the line of sight of the sun, then you're talking MAJOR interference.

[philxyz]

Another thought on noise. Have you ever taken something on fire and held it close to radio? The amount of electronic interference is incredible, easily enough to overwhelm a high quality radio.

It may make things more complicated than they need to be, but it would be cool if certain events caused trouble on the reciever's end. (thinking spacebuild for a moment) Being in the atmosphere would cause a certain amount of noise to be detected (ambient), but once you went into space it would get quiet, that is unless you got too much in the line of sight of the sun, then you're talking MAJOR interference.[/b]

I think you have some excellent ideas here but I just think it may be a little too much. I agree we don't want to generate too much CPU work or extra lag.

That said, it could be done later by creating a radiation matrix which is a file containing map coordinates for sources of interference (which drop off over distance) etc, etc.

Then burning objects would have their co-ords taken and set as sources of EM radiation.

..hmm I'll see how far I get with what I've already committed to