Nexus 7 WiFi antenna mod CRUSHES WORLD RECORD!!! 12/16/2012 THE MAGIC MILE

UPDATE DECEMBER 16th 2012

We did it!!! Made 1.4Miles (2.25Kilometers) this morning on an unboosted Nexus 7 tablet antenna mod!!! SWEET!!!




UPDATE DECEMBER 8th 2012

We've now taken the Nexus 7 WiFi range out to 4550ft (1372meters) closing in on one mile... Should be soon
Here's the vid of the world record flight with AR.Drone/Nexus 7 and itElite PRA24014 on December 8th

December 4th 2012 update
we've taken a giant leap in range and set an all out world record for the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0... We even beat the record set by the manufacturer...
Parrot teamed up with Alcatel-Lucent Technologies to create a drone controlled by 4G instead of WiFi and they set a mark of 1000meters...

So I took a long hard look at those numbers and contacted some WiFi experts discussing range and connectivity... Did some new modifications to my drone and tablet and came out on top, beating the Parrot/Alcatel record by roughly 82meters and beating the previous WiFi-only record by over 600meters (set by a consumer flyer in Hong Kong at 470meters)

My reason for posting here is to show the awesome Nexus 7 at it's best... None of this could have been done without the Nexus 7's unique features

Easy to crack open and shut without damage
Easy to tap into Nexus internal WiFi components
Easy to flash new ROM's and kernels to achieve smooth running control software
Perfect size and ample screen quality to fly outdoors and be able to see on screen controls

Here's the video of the world record flight on December 4th 2012




As of December 1st ... The Nexus 7 antenna mod holds the AR Drone 2.0 world distance record for WiFi controlled flight at 2,400ft (732 meters)



Just thought I'd leave this here and maybe get some Nexii love

I use my Nexus 7 to fly my WiFi Drone with onscreen HD video live feed...
The drawback has been the range... with the drones weak signal and the Nexus 7 tiny antenna I was limited to 100/150ft at best

So I came up with this... Ladies and gentlemen... the Nexus 7 FlightPad

PremierTek 16dBi flat patch high gain directional WiFi antenna


This antenna setup increases my range by ten fold... now getting a thousand feet and more..

OK... I know... that antenna is huge... how bout a little smaller

Hawking 13dBi QuadPatch directional

How bout antenna and PS3 controller for flight control


Or just a simple multi polarized deal that will get full bars of WiFi internet anywhere in my house or yard from a cheap AT&T router


I know there will be haters for this setup because it ruins the flat back of the tablet making it less compact... but all this stuff just pops right off leaving the back "almost" flat... except for the PS3 controller slot mount at 1/8" thick... plus... I can jack open WiFi signals from over a mile away!!

Couple video examples of flight with the NexiiFlightPad


So anyways... go easy on me XDA... I'm 45yrs old but my mom didn't buy me the cool toys when I was a kid... so I'm overcompensating :-/

The external antenna is soldered to the motherboard antenna spring pins and the OEM WiFi antenna has been removed to eliminate interference... yes, I drilled holes in the back cover and even used epoxy and screws to attach the PS3 controller mount... but I have a spare back cover in case I want to return it to stock condition

Antenna solder points:

Thanks tkolev... I'm hoping I don't get stomped in here for the sacrilege of desecrating the OEM goodness of the stock Nexus 7... truly a wonderful device

e.mote said:

I'm curious why you're using narrow-beam ant for your drone. Those panel types usually have a 30-deg beamwidth, and are for point-to-point uses. Actually, a hi-gain omni probably wouldn't work either, since it has a "flat" beamwidth. Maybe something like the below, a 9dBi panel ant w/ 60-deg beamwidth for easy aiming. The compact 5"x5" can be mounted on the tablet with a clip mount.

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I guess the answer would have to be trial and error + results...

I've racked up quite a few different antenna styles while experimenting... these are just a few


Omni antennas came first because I had them lying around and they did wonderfully compared to the stock internal antenna... but then I ended up with one of those 5"x 5" patch antennas (center) and saw the advantage of directional (narrow beam , point to point... just point it at the drone) ... so I scrounged around and settled with the 7"x 7" because it gave the best range... to me, 30° beam width is big... by the time you get 100/150 yards away the error cone is huge... pointing my nexus in the general direction of the drone seems to come naturally so it's never an issue

Of course it's not the antenna I use when I'm browsing XDA on WiFi like the post I'm making right now from the little 5dBi omni (second from the right).... small and light and doesn't get in the way...

All comes down to single user preference... would be silly to market something this way because there's particular rules to follow to get the best results with that particular antenna... but it suits my style and requirements the best... I'm even thinking about going up a notch to an 18dBi patch that only has 20° beam width... just to see how far I can actually fly this thing

lithium630 said:

That's pretty sweet. I would love to add an external antenna to my (planned) car install. Having zero soldering skills, I don't know if I'm brave enough.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

That was my fear... I went at this with sketchy soldering skills also... but I watched some YouTube videos... and practiced a little and boom... came out just fine

bigbop said:

Yes! Another hardware hacker who's not afraid to 'play' with his toys.

I watched the videos and kept an eye on the battery gauge of the AR Drone. When you crank up the speed, it really sucks down the battery quickly.

Where did you get the main bracket?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

The main antenna bracket is a hacked up Motorola Droid Bionic windshield suction cup mount (car dock) with the suction cup removed, 4 holes drilled for the antenna connection, and some cutting and flattening for the tablet connection with epoxy and small screws...

The battery drain is partly from more aggressive flying and partly because I sped up certain parts of the video edit to keep it more interesting... that was actually a 17 minute flight compressed into 7 minutes of video without dropping any frames... just speeding up the slower moving, boring parts

squbel said:

This is incredibly amazing. Now... where is the step by step mod guide with pics?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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Click to collapse

I could probly pull that off here pretty soon (this weekend?). I have a new SMA connector coming with thicker, low loss, RG174 cable... (the coax i got on there now sucks)... and I'm making a stronger SMA mount... I made the first one kind of like a kickstand to keep the tablet tilted when I set it down, but I keep feeling like I'm gonna break it off sooner or later

So yeah... I'll be sure to take pics... maybe video I guess? (Which would be better?)

khaytsus said:

Google "ar drone flyaway" before you do that. The folks who make it still haven't figured out that "wifi connection loss" should mean "gentle descent" to the ground. Apparently it means "go off in some wild direction, sometimes gaining great altitudes".

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Not a problem for 99.99% of users... when mine loses WiFi connection it stops and locks on a target on the ground and hovers... giving me time to walk closer or aim my antenna better and reconnect... you really don't want it to auto land on a disconnect... what if it's over water or power lines or trees etc... the hover and wait feature works very well... the flyways are usually freezups in the onboard software getting hung up on the last command received ... or navigation board faults

but look at the numbers... with over a million units sold... and doing a YouTube search shows less than 30 flyaway videos... searching the drone forums with thousands of members, shows less than 30 or 40 posts talking about flyaways... and they're all old posts

With my friends and myself as a group we have over a dozen of these things and had one flyaway... Parrot warrantied that and sent a new unit... but that WiFi thing doesn't happen... they always just stop and hover and wait for you

kieso said:

I'm so jealous. I was just looking at the ardrone website a couple days ago and have been trying to think of how to tell my wife that I need it to function as a human being.

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My wife was way harder to deal with when I told her I needed the Nexus 7 more than air

And then she woke up one morning and saw me drilling holes in the cover and just about stabbed me with a back scratcher

But then she saw all the results and comments I get on the drone forums ... and she started thinking it was pretty cool

Then, all excited, she sent me this pic at work and I realized she was totally down with the DroneLife
My drone made the Parrot AR Drone Facebook page