singalongthetower2 t1_jdbatu7 wrote on March 23, 2023 at 3:53 AM

Reply to comment by NinjaMoreLikeANonja in Hi! I am the Chief Engineer of SBUDNIC, a 3U cubesat which is deorbiting itself via drag sail, AMA! by NinjaMoreLikeANonja

If you had travel back in time, would you still use the RFM96 or used another module?

NinjaMoreLikeANonja OP t1_jdc9e2g wrote on March 23, 2023 at 11:18 AM

Hindsight is 20/20, and engineering hindsight is hyperspectral 20/20 so…

Honestly, there are not that many ham radio modules for Arduino. We were also supply chain limited (this was in the midst of the COVID parts shortages) and the RFM96 was usually in stock.

I just spoke with SBUDNIC’s radio engineer last night and we talked a bit about this because we are in the midst of creating a more formal conference paper that details the project. His feeling is that the board is likely fine, and that we just made some shit assumptions about duty cycle and link margin and the like when we were finalizing transmission protocols. I agree with him.

So yes- I would use it again.