Rocket fuelling sensor data transfer through raspberry pi ethernet with fibre optic media converter (300m)

Networking, Serial, Bluetooth
1

Hi everyone,

I’m Sergio from the University of Nottingham Rocketry Team, and we’re building a remote ground station (GS) for our launch operations. We need an affordable setup to transmit a 4K HDMI video feed and have two-way data communication (to control valves and a camera) over a distance of 300 meters.

Here’s our intended architecture:

To GS (video output + sensor feedback)
To Rocket (control data)

  • HDMI feed → Raspberry Pi → Ethernet → Media Converter → 300m link
  • 300m link → Media Converter → Ethernet → Raspberry Pi

We’re considering using the TP-Link TPMC100CM Gigabit Media Converters with fiber optic cable, and linking Raspberry Pis on both ends. Our questions are:

  1. Can the TPMC100CM handle the bandwidth for 4K video + data reliably over 300m?
  2. What’s the cheapest fiber cable option you’d recommend (multimode vs singlemode)?
  3. Any issues using Raspberry Pis on both ends for encoding/decoding the video and handling GPIO control over the same link?
  4. Are there better budget-friendly alternatives for this setup?

We’re students, so budget is tight — but we still need reliability. Any help, suggestions, or experience with similar setups would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
Sergio
University of Nottingham Rocketry Team :rocket:

2

Hello @ProjectCRES,

Thank you for posting on the Startech.com Community!

We aren’t able to answer anything regarding the media converter you had mentioned as we are only able to provide assistance or recommendations for Startech.com products. However I will do my best to address what I can with regards to your other questions.

Our most cost effective media converter that would support the 300 meter range you are wanting to connect over would be our MCM1110MMLC, which uses multimode fiber and is able to support up to a maximum range of 550 meters. Multimode fiber is typically going to be a more cost effective option for shorter fiber ranges such as this case.

I cannot confirm if our media converters have been tested specifically with Raspberry Pis and using the Raspberry Pis for encoding/decoding or control purposes would be outside of our expertise, however our media converters would be expected to work with any computer or network equipment and should work for most purposes as it would not be affecting the data being sent other than converting between ethernet and fiber.

If there is anything else we could help with, please let us know!

Lukas T

3

Thanks for the quick reply Lukas!

I’ve found the unit you’ve mentioned, would there be anything additional we should buy or are the units plug and play with Duplex LC-LC fibre cables?

4

Hi @ProjectCRES,

The media converters are plug and play, you should not need anything additional for them other than the fibre and ethernet cables.

Lukas T