Design Guidelines

Design Guidelines

This modular system is opinionated and adheres to several overarching principles. Future builds and iterations can be expected to obey these guidelines.

External power. The modular system is not responsible for battery power. All power must be supplied from an external source through a 12V Powerpole port. This provides more flexibility in the field since different deployments may require different power sources (battery, solar, generator).

Use of Powerpole connectors. All 12V power sources and devices use Powerpole ports and connectors. Powerpole connectors must be in the red-right, tongue top (RRTT) orientation. This is to promote interoperability with amateur radio and EMCOMM groups. Powerpole is durable and makes it easy to swap 12V equipment.

Panel and module dimensions. Normal module panels are 100mm in width. Center panels are 50mm in width. The height of all module panels must be a multiple of 50mm. The top panel is 3mm in thickness. This ensures modules are interchangeable across different builds.

Borders. Four borders are used to friction-fit the inner modules to a case. Only the borders are tailored to specific cases (Pelican 1400, 1300, etc.). Inner modules should instead be designed to a common, case-agnostic standard (fixed widths/heights and mounting points defined by the border system), so they can be reused in any case that has compatible borders without redesign. This decouples case fitment from the equipment layout. inner modules only worry about layout and mounting points.

No permanent case modifications. No drilling, cutting, or permanent alterations to the case. Everything mounts via friction-fit, borders, or non-destructive hardware. This ensures cases can be reused and a specific module configuration is not dependent on a specific case.