[0.20] RemoteTech: Relay Network – V 0.5.0.1

[JDP]

Question, is there a way to keep the 'Killrot' flightcomputer command from turning on when I turn on SAS? I find it really annoying when I just want to use my SAS modules to dampen my rotation and it starts firing all my RCS thrusters.

RemoteTech killrot works exactly like regular ASAS (albeit a lot less wobbly due to it using the old MechJeb PID controller in stead of the stock one). The flight computer will only fire RCS if you have actively enabled RCS.

[MR4Y]

A tutorial would be nice. There are a lot of antennae and things in this that makes things harder. Also, why the same functionality is not implemented on the stock parts as well? For some of my designs(that I tried), all Remote Tech parts are too big.

[Kimberly]

A tutorial would be nice. There are a lot of antennae and things in this that makes things harder. Also, why the same functionality is not implemented on the stock parts as well? For some of my designs(that I tried), all Remote Tech parts are too big.

If you have the compatibility patch, then stock probe cores will function as RemoteControl modules, and the stock antenna and dish will function as well.

As for a tutorial: an unmanned vehicle needs a RemoteTech part (or a stock probe part, with the patch) to be controllable. Additionally, it either needs to have an antenna and be in range of another craft with an antenna, or it needs to have a satellite dish and be in range of a satellite that also has a satellite dish, with the dishes pointing at each other.

Kerbal Space Center has an antenna with a range of 500km, but the signal is blocked by the planet, so you can't get a direct signal on the other side of Kerbin. Satellites can transmit a signal from the Space Center to other satellites, so a well-designed network of satellites (with antennas or dishes) can reliably provide coverage.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Kimberly

[MR4Y]

If you have the compatibility patch, then stock probe cores will function as RemoteControl modules, and the stock antenna and dish will function as well.

I don't use ModuleManager.

[Kimberly]

I don't use ModuleManager.

Neither do I (at least not to my knowledge!), but it seems to work for me.

[Senshi]

If you use the compatibility patch, you also use module manager. It is integrated within the compatibility patch (look at the archive, it contains a ModuleManager.dll).

[Gary_P]

ok i messed with this thing all afternoon and i can't get them all to stay out of the red. who is supposed to be pointing at who to keep this blue line going from point to point.

i'm frustrated. i have 6 of them puppies up there all pointed to each other.

[Read have Read]

ok i messed with this thing all afternoon and i can't get them all to stay out of the red. who is supposed to be pointing at who to keep this blue line going from point to point.

i'm frustrated. i have 6 of them puppies up there all pointed to each other.

Picture!

Using the imagery of my imagination, make sure to put Puppy A within antenna range of KSC, so 5000km. Syncronous orbit works well for this as it will remain directly above KSC. (Note: 2868km). Any Puppy Sattilite within 5000km of Puppy A will have KSC's signal transmitted through Puppy A's antenna. Put three or 4 Puppys in kerbin synchronous orbit - idealy with the 9Mm deployable antenna. Now if you have Puppy D in orbit around the Mun, point D's dish at kerbin and Puppy A, B, and/or C's dishes to the Mun. However while Puppy D is traveling to the Mun and not orbiting it yet, it needs to be in antenna range, or have 2-way dish pointing with Puppy A,B, or C.

[MR4Y]

I'm still not sure how to make the network.

[RKHVTC]

I've finally managed a 'basic' network by sending up what I've called Com-Cans (basic Satellite design with Control unit, dipole,and dish) in an equatorial orbit at 100 km.

To do this I first had to send a Com-Can* up to a lower orbit , 80km, and use it the give the next Com-Can up a signal boost so it could achieve the 100 km orbit.

then it was a simple matter of launching 7 more Com-Cans by targeting the previous Com-Can and using the target display on the artificial horizon to place the successive Com-Cans roughly 45 Degrees apart**. I have also just placed my first polar Com-Can.

*I named this 'ladder' Com-Can "JaKob" punning on Jacob's Ladder.

**For timing like this your window for launch is when the 'away' target marker is around the 30 degree mark on the right hand side of the artificial horizon.

[Kimberly]

There are three questions you need to ask for your communications network design:

Should I use satellite dishes or antennas? Antennas are usually preferably for when you'll have a lot of satellites in orbit, e.g. around Kerbin, but dishes are useful when you're only sending a probe or two, because they work over long distances and don't require much in the way of advance preparation. Remember that you can do both; if you're putting satellites with antennas up in orbit, you might as well slap some dishes on them for later use.

Where do I need the signal?

If you've decided you want to launch many satellites around a particular planet, e.g. Kerbin, you're going to want coverage with antennas. You want to do this with as few satellites as possible. Using strong antennas will help, of course, but the main challenge is to stop the planet you're orbiting from blocking the signal. Two satellites orbiting a planet can provide perfect coverage if they are exactly opposite each other in the same equatorial orbit, but they can't send a signal to each other (as the planet is right in between), which means you'll usually want to have three satellites space out 120 degrees, instead. To give you a better margin of error with satellite placement, consider use of four satellites. These designs will not cover the poles at very low altitudes (within the atmosphere, on Kerbin), but this is not a big deal for most purposes. Keep in mind that when you use dishes, a dish can still be blocked by Kerbin. If you have two satellites at opposite points in a rotation, one will always be clear while the other is obscured, guaranteeing a signal to a probe.

Where is the signal going to come from?

In most cases, your signal is going to come from Kerbal Space Center. To get it anywhere reliably, then, you will always need a satellite to be within range of KSC. The most efficient way to do this is to place a single satellite in geostationary orbit over KSC (there are guides on other parts of the forum on good ways to do this), so it will always be overhead and able to relay the signal to the rest of your network. For missions to far-off planets, you may consider having a manned spaceship with a RemoteCommand module in an orbit nearby. If this ship can form a shorter connection to the probe, it will do so, potentially saving use of satellite dishes and reducing the communication delay that results from the signal having to travel long distances.

You can do it in other ways, of course. RKHVTC simply has tons of communication satellites in orbit, which also ensures good coverage, but obviously takes more effort to set up.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Kimberly

[RKHVTC]

RKHVTC simply has tons of communication satellites in orbit, which also ensures good coverage, but obviously takes more effort to set up.

Hehe, I dunno if I'd call 8 "tons" , not counting JaKob, but all of the points you raise are valid ones

[Krisism]

I know you're never supposed to ask about release dates, but I am curious if RemoteTech is worth installing and setting up an interplanetary sat network (if you are just going to start it now)?

Or is it worth waiting until the next release and doing it then? My understanding is that the next release will be a complete reset.

This looks like an awesome mod that adds so much depth to the gameplay, looking forward to playing with it! I've been creeping this forum thread for a while now watching updates

[RKHVTC]

Far as I'm aware there's no reason to assume .21 will break anything that is .20.2 compatible. you should be 'safe enough' if you want to try RemoteTech out now.

[Gary_P]

RKHVTC, what did you point at what?

Read have Read, I just learned tonight about a Syncronous orbit. I never knew this stuff. I've learned so much just playing this game. I have a Satellite(A) sitting in a 2895 orbit, and the blue line is solid to KSC.

Tomorrow I'll place another( up there 1/4 of the way around. OK, do I point the new one( at the old(A)?

The puppies are whining. LOL. I was so ticked I couldn't get this concept.

Thanks everyone for the help.

[Tommygun]

RKHVTC, what did you point at what?

Read have Read, I just learned tonight about a Syncronous orbit. I never knew this stuff. I've learned so much just playing this game. I have a Satellite(A) sitting in a 2895 orbit, and the blue line is solid to KSC.

Tomorrow I'll place another( up there 1/4 of the way around. OK, do I point the new one( at the old(A)?

The puppies are whining. LOL. I was so ticked I couldn't get this concept.

Thanks everyone for the help.

They will point the blue line automatically.

You only need to point satellite dishes at far away objects that you can't normally reach, because you don't have the range to reach them.

Pointing the dishes doubles the broadcast and reception ranges to that object. (for game purposes and not in real life)

Edited June 30, 2013 by Tommygun

[Jasonhpickering]

So if I have dishes in orbit around kerbin, can I just set their target as Minmus to talk to the dishes there, or is it better to target specific Sats.

[Gary_P]

Ahhhh thanks!

[Krisism]

@RKHVTC, check the posts around here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/16347-0-20-RemoteTech-Relay-Network-%E2%80%93-V-0-5-0-1?p=438742&viewfull=1#post438742

ClipH is doing a complete rewrite which may not be backwards compatible. Since the release seemed to be relatively soon, I opted to wait - but this looks like such a nice addition that I'm wondering now if it's worth waiting for the update.

(edit: cliph does mention actually that he could use a python script for compatibility - I missed that before, but it makes a good case to try it now ).

[RKHVTC]

RKHVTC, what did you point at what?

.

Bear in mind my network is not Keo-Syncronous

while on the launch platform target the last satellite yo have put up, we'll call this "Can I" for sake of brevity, at some point the PINK retrograde marker for Can I will cross the artificial horizon ball at around the 30 degree west mark this is the ideal time to launch!*

*assuming a 100km target altitude with ~45 degrees of separation between Satelllites.

That's all assent, now assuming your Sats have dipoles and dishes there is good news.. you do not need to point the dishes anywhere. Dish point becomes relevant when relaying a stream to the Mun or beyond. the dipoles are effectively omnidirectional. Assuming you time your placements right with 4 KeoSynced sats the distance between them will be ~4549km, just under the 5000km limit of the dipole, so they should network just fine.

[RKHVTC]

So if I have dishes in orbit around kerbin, can I just set their target as Minmus to talk to the dishes there, or is it better to target specific Sats.

you can safely and reliably target Minmus and Vice versa

[MR4Y]

And what about the drone? This one, here depicted on top of my White Knight replica carrier plane.

[RKHVTC]

I have not used the drone, however I assume it's intended to the raised into LKO by spaceplane and released.

[Kimberly]

The drone is useful for sending to planets like Duna, especially in combination with something like Mapsat. You can put a Mapsat dish on it, get it into orbit together with your main mission, let it scan, and use its small fuel reserve to deorbit it and fly around Duna until you find a nice spot for e.g. a manned mission, which you can then mark by landing your probe there. I haven't been adventurous enough to use the drone as a skycrane for a light rover, but it might be able to do that, too. It's basically a convenient exploration tool that's much more compact than anything you could make with stock parts.

The unfortunate thing about the drone is that, should it ever lose connection, it stops functioning. Now this is true for rovers as well, of course, but rovers don't drop out of the sky...

[MR4Y]

The drone is useful for sending to planets like Duna, especially in combination with something like Mapsat. You can put a Mapsat dish on it, get it into orbit together with your main mission, let it scan, and use its small fuel reserve to deorbit it and fly around Duna until you find a nice spot for e.g. a manned mission, which you can then mark by landing your probe there. I haven't been adventurous enough to use the drone as a skycrane for a light rover, but it might be able to do that, too. It's basically a convenient exploration tool that's much more compact than anything you could make with stock parts.

The unfortunate thing about the drone is that, should it ever lose connection, it stops functioning. Now this is true for rovers as well, of course, but rovers don't drop out of the sky...

Maybe you could add the Lazor System to help?