Multiple base station in the vicinity and different network topology

Blue Robotics Software
1

Hi there,

I have few scenarios I hope I can get help with

What procedure do I need to make to run:

  1. Two vehicles (two BlueBoats) on two base stations, specifically: One BlueBoat with it’s own base station and 2nd blueboat with its another own base station?
  2. BlueROV connected (tethered with x-fathom) to usb connection to laptop AND BlueBoat connected with it’s own BaseStation that connected with type C as wired interface to the same laptop.

Thanks for assist

Nurjan

2

Hi @nurjan14 -

You’ll likely get better performance with one BaseStation and two BlueBoats, unless you’re operating the vehicles very far apart from each other? In answer to your question… it’s going to take some radio and IP reconfigurations!

  1. You can leave one BlueBoat and BaseStation in default configuration, and the other will need its mikrotik radios configuration updated. To reconfigure the Mikrotik radio in the BaseStation - reach it at 192.168.2.4, and change the network name from BaseStation to BaseStation2 for example. You’ll then need to directly connect to your second BlueBoat, and pair it to this new SSID. You will then have two separate WiFi networks, each with the standard IP address structure, and each requiring a control computer to be connected to it. Take care not to place the BaseStations close to each other, so they don’t interfere!

  2. Your BlueROV2 uses the same default IP as the BlueBoat. You could leave this in the default configuration, and make sure to set the IP address used on your BaseStation network adapter (USB-C or WiFi) to something that isn’t 192.168.2.1, (192.168.2.10 for example.) You’ll then want to connect only the BlueBoat initially , and change its IP address from the default 192.168.2.2 to something like 192.168.2.12. You should then be able to have both ROV and BlueBoat connected, assuming you’re using Cockpit for both. If you’re using QGroundControl for the BlueBoat, you’ll want to disable the MavLink endpoint on the ROV pointing to 192.168.2.2, and update the MavLink endpoint on the BlueBoat to point (UDP client) to your new IP on that network (192.168.2.12)

    Let us know if you have success with that!

3

Hi @Tony, thanks for reply,

I’ve tried to connect them together on the same network from one laptop (ROV + boat) while the boat has 192.168.2.5 ip (changed from the blueos), the interface (USB Type C) on the laptop configured static ip to 192.168.2.10,

and the didn’t change anything on rov side.
I noticed a problem with connectivity once I connect the usb cable (from the tether - fathom x bluebox- usb b cable - computer) to the laptop I loose my connection with base station and boat. Trying to figure out where is conflict might be

4

So @tony-white what the generally procedure to switch between vehicle are you running two instance of cockpit or there is something like toggle between vehicles in one app

5

Hi @nurjan14 -

You probably lost connection because you can’t have two network adapters setup with the same subnet - my apologies! You’ll need all the vehicles to be on the same network - you may be able to achieve this by “bridging” the two networks, or simply using an ethernet switch they all connect to.

You’ll want to change the SYS_ID_THISMAV parameter to be a different value, so both vehicles don’t report / respond at the same time.

Cockpit doesn’t support using multiple vehicles at the same, but QGround Control does! You can simply toggle between the vehicle ID at the top of the app.

6

Hi Tony, This is 1st thing I changed simply put SYS_ID_THISMAV for 1 - boat, 2 - rov

What I believe is culprit is somewhere with xfathom interface. Here is scenario:

  1. Connected to base station with wifi

  2. Connected to the boat, so the boat, both routers can be ping from the laptop, raspberry pi can ping both routers and laptop.

  3. Now, once I connect any xfathom bluebox that not even connected to ROV with tether, just pure box, after the plugging the usb cable to laptop from the xfathom, I lost connection to the 192.168.2.3 (basestation) and 192.168.2.4 (router in the boat) and 192.168.2.5 (boat).

So something is off with the fathom or with my interface setup on ubuntu 22 or windows 11.

Trying to figure out…

7

Another walk around to ditch the idea of using the basestation and simply connect with the wifi extension for better range (any way all test doing in the vicinity of 50m radius to laptop) and connect directly to the router on the boat (initially put it in the access point mode).

8

Hi @nurjan14 -

The culprit is not the Fathom-X!

It is your network configuration, for sure. You need to make the ROV or BlueBoat network on a different subnet, as mentioned. This means the ROV would have a static IP like 192.168.20.2, and the BlueBoat would stay at default address. If all the hardware was connected to the same network switch, this wouldn’t be necessary as you’ve de-conflicted the IP addresses, but most computer operating systems don’t like having two different adapters (like ethernet, usb to ethernet, or WiFi) with the same address range…

9

Found a problem,

Fathom x is not an issue.

Apparently even if they in the same network linux doesn’t understand which interface to use and one claim network over another.

Bridging those two interface helped.

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