BaseStation Plus

This information is modified from the Blue Robotics guide.

The BaseStation Plus is an enhancement to the Blue Robotics BlueBoat BaseStation, modified by Cerulean Sonar. The BaseStation Plus is a plug-and-play system that replaces a BlueROV Fathom-X tether box and/or a BaseStation BlueBoat controller. It doesn't require internal wiring and requires only the same PC configuration as is needed for the BaseStation or the Fathom-X tether box.

BaseStation Plus starts with the following features of the standard BaseStation:

• Long range Wi-Fi access point between your Wi-Fi devices and the BlueBoat, and/or a Wi-Fi radio on your Omnitrack buoy.

• USB connection between the BaseStation Plus and your laptop, for power and to connect to your PC-based software such as QGroundControl.

• Rechargeable battery for stand-alone operation.

• Front-panel stand-alone controls.

• Water resistant.

To this, we add:

• Fathom-X tether interface to replace your BlueROV Fathom-x interface box.

• Bridge between the long range Wi-Fi network (BlueBoat and/or Omnitrack on the BlueBoat's Wi-Fi or its own Wi-Fi) and the BlueROV network, enabling Omnitrack to talk to the ROV.

• Two hardwired Ethernet ports on the combined network for direct Ethernet connection to the Omnitrack in a tethered system, and/or to other Ethernet devices such as BlueBoat or BlueROV payload controllers.

Setup depends on whether you are operating the Omnitrack simultaneously with a BlueBoat or if you are operating the Omnitrack stand-alone.

There are two notable network differences between the Cerulean Omnitrack BaseStation Plus and the BlueRobotics BaseStation:

• The systems are assigned different IP addresses (unless the Omnitrack BaseStation Plus is emulating the BlueBoat BaseStation).

• When either the Omnitrack Wi-Fi module or the BaseStation Plus is the access point for the Wi-Fi network, the Wi-Fi dynamic address assignment will assign an address in the 192.168.2.x subnet. This simplifies access the default network by iOS devices like iPhones or iPads. You should still assign static addresses to your device if it has a standard role in the network (i.e., you should still give the laptop running QGroundControl a static address of 192.168.2.1).