Hi,
Starlink mini is indeed pretty resilient I’d like to come up with a design where I’d be confident it can resist pretty rough seas.
I have used the Starlink extension a bit but have not really used it to compare a survey route as i’m going with a rtk heading system.
Right now I use the BB for MBES survey which doesn’t need all that but my goals for the vehicle is to come up with a version able to handle multiple day deployment to conduct environmental surveys in coastal waters. It would entail fitting it with a winch, starlink + solar panels.
I’m having an issue with my BlueBoat setup when using Starlink Mini for internet. When I connect my Mac to Starlink, QGroundControl and Cockpit both fail to load maps or connect properly, even though everything works perfectly when I’m on my home Wi-Fi. The Starlink Mini is connected directly to my computer wirelessly(not mounted on the boat), and I can access the internet fine otherwise. It seems like QGroundControl can’t pull map?
I even went to the car and used my hotpot for my computer and the maps loaded in QGC.
When you connect your Mac to your Starlink, are you remembering to set you WiFi adapter back to DHCP, instead of the static IP it is configured with when connecting to the BaseStation network? If QGC can’t load map tiles, but you can still load webpages I’d be quite surprised, and suspect your QGC installation has a strange issue… Remember, you can always save offline maps in QGC so that you don’t need internet to have the maps displayed!
As for your StarLink on the BlueBoat - as this thread details, the best way to connect the Pi is via it’s built in WiFi, leaving the ethernet configuration untouched - you’d connect via the Mikrotik, and then join the StarLink network in BlueOS, via the WiFi icon in the upper right. If you wanted to connect both the Starlink and Mikrotik to your Ethernet switch, you’d need to adjust the Starlink network configuration to be on the same subnet as the Pi running BlueOS, or modify both the Mikrotik IP configuration and Pi IP to be on the Starlink’s subnet….
Yes, I understand this. Thank you for the clarification. I recently purchased a Windows computer, and it works ten times better.
Here’s what we’re trying to figure out:
Can I connect Starlink via Ethernet to the Pi on the boat? We’re trying to remotely operate the boat without having to maintain line of sight with the base station. If yes, how can I achieve this with the side scan sensors connected to the Pi’s Ethernet port?
In answer to your question (1), again, yes you can, but it is easier to connect the BlueOS Pi to the Starlink Wifi network, and only connect it to power in the BlueBoat. That way you don’t need to reconfigure your Mikrotik radios and BlueOS IP addresses, and you can still use the BaseStation in parallel. It’s worth mentioning that the cellular modem is a cheaper way to operate BlueBoats when out of range of the BaseStation!
Yes, I understand. However, we’ll soon be conducting demos in remote regions of Malaysia, and we’re concerned that a 4G modem may not be reliable in those areas.
Our plan is to operate the boats remotely from anywhere in the world using Starlink for connectivity and Tailscale (VPN) for secure control — for example, having our team in California operate boats deployed in Malaysia.
Our thinking was: *why rely on a base station limited to a 0.5-mile line of sight when Starlink provides global coverage wherever service is available?
Our plan is to have the blueboat operating 2-6 miles off shore. Is that possible ?
Please review the post the started this thread. It details how to accomplish your goals, albeit without tailscale as ZeroTier is equivalent, and already supported via BlueOS extension…
Each boat would need a starlink, but you could conceivably connect a single starlink to a base station and configure all vehicles within range to reach the Internet with it, when in range, and still be controlled remotely via this Internet access.