PilotAware ATOM Station, Manual, Page: 6 / 25

Building and installing a PilotAware ATOM Station to detect and re-transmit glider and
Mode-S MLAT locations and provide Virtual RADAR SERVER December 2020.
Page 6 of 25
Installation High Level Diagram
The above diagram is provided as a normalised visualisation of the hardware installation which can be
modified for your specific installation. Active power over ethernet (PoE) is now the popular choice for
powering the unit.
Installation
The installation consists of
1. Selecting a dry location for the electronics with access to 240V and Internet. †
1. Installing the external antennas at a suitable location as high as possible.
2. Making up and running low loss coaxial cable from the antennas to the electronics.
3. Connecting the parts together
4. Configuring the software for the specific site.
5. Power up and test.
Location for the Electronics
•
The location for the electronics should be as close to the antennas as practically
possible. The co-axial cable run should be as short as possible. However when using
high grade low loss HDF 400 or RG8 co-axial cable up to 10M is OK..
Note up to 16
metres has been shown to work using the recommended HDF 400 coaxial cable.
•
Mains power is usually required within 2 metres of the Raspberry Pi for the
Raspberry Pi mains to 5.2v 1.2A dc/dc converter or PoE injector.
•
An Ethernet cable is required to connect the Raspberry Pi to the router.
•
If the installation is a long way from the router, then the LAN can be extended over
the mains using a power line carrier device such as
Devolo or TP Link units which has
been used successfully on several locations. https://www.devolo.co.uk
•
Active Power over Ethernet PoE has also been used very successfully.
OGN-R Raspberry Pi
and PilotAware Radio
Bridge Combination
Antenna 1
PilotAware Tx/Rx
869.5MHz
HDF 400 Coax
HDF 400 Coax
HDF 400 Coax
N-Type
Connector
N-Type
Connector
N-Type
Connector
N-Type
Connector
N-Type
Connector
Pigtail †
Pigtail †
Pigtail † SMA to MCX
N-Type to
SMA
converter
N-Type to
SMA
converter
Antenna 2
1090MHz Rx
Antenna 3
FLARM 868 MHz Rx
RTLSDR RPi
Top Left SMA
socket
RTLSDR RPi
Bottom Left
SMA socket
N-Type to
SMA
converter
N-Type
Connector
PilotAware
Bridge
SMA
connector
RJ45
Connector
Ethernet Cable
Router
Power 5.2V 1.2 A
Typical OGN-R
Installation Diagram.
(individual installations
may vary)
Voltage
Converter
240V AC