I’m restarting the project and building a scaled-down prototype first to solve all the software problem on a cheaper model.
I’ve settled on
- STM32F4(46) for the mcu, because Chibios is well supported on it, unlike on Teensy 3.2 (and it’s very cheap)
- 433 MHz radio communication to be able to have free 1-10Hz data during tuning, something impossible with satellite communication. I’m hoping a 2-3 km range, because this is the size of the pond where I’m planning to do the tests
- 25 W solar panel (instead of 2x100W)
- Hull made of EPS polystyrene, with a plaque of acrylic to assemble the components
- About 120 cm length, to have at least a 1:3 ratio, beam to hull, but it fits in the car trunk (unlike the full-scale model which is 3 meters long).
- Cheap motors (needing maintenance between each test, but that’s ok)