Ground Station: Building Your Own Radxa Setup

When we talk about Radxa, it looks approximately like this:

Components for Radxa Zero 3W Ground Station

• Radxa Zero 3W (2 GB, no eMMC, with headers)
• Wi-Fi cards (2 units)
• RTL8812AU: compact, cheap, operates at 3.3V up to 40 MHz
• RTL8812EU2: more powerful, requires USB hub and 5V power
• BEC (voltage regulators): 5V and 3.3V adjustable
• USB hub: for multiple card connections
• Micro-USB → USB-C cable: for HAT
• microSD card: ≥ 64 GB (image ~1.5 GB + DVR ~1 GB/10 min)
• HDMI–mini HDMI cable or micro-HDMI→HDMI adapter
• 3D printed case (PETG)
• 25×25 mm fans
• Buttons/switches for DVR recording and AP mode
• XT60 (female) connector for power input
• 4 antennas (2 directional + 2 patch, LHCP or RHCP)
• RP-SMA extension/adapters

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Power Supply

There are two powering options:

• Via Type-C (Pow on the diagram)
• Via header pins — supplying 5V from the back, using Dupont cables

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Assembly Notes

A little soldering won’t hurt 😉
Here’s how Ostap did it:

1. Took an XT60 connector
2. Wired power from it to each BEC separately

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Power Wiring Diagram

Here's a rough sketch of the power scheme:

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Case + USB Hub Options

🔸 Option 1

Internal setup using USB-HAT

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🔸 Option 2
- No BECs needed for 8812EU2 Wi-Fi cards
- Just route USB + power to each card from USB hub

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Examples of Assembled Ground Stations

• Option 1: USB-HAT + 2×RTL8812AU → 227 g without antennas
  
  
  

• Option 2: USB hub + 2×RTL8812EU → 105 g without antennas
  
  
  

🔗 3D-printable case model available here

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Wi-Fi Card Wiring

🟣 8812AU

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🔵 8812EU2