Hey everyone! I'm setting up some equipment at my company and could use your input. I've got 4 mini remote PCs (and I plan to scale this to at least 10) that I manage via RDP and Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager. Each PC is connected to two USB devices – a Keysight waveform function generator and a custom uP board. Since these devices are linked to a proprietary system via coax cables, I can't easily relocate them. My main question is if anyone knows of a USB transmitter/receiver hub that can provide wireless connectivity between each PC and these devices? My goal is to organize all PCs into a server rack with their corresponding USB equipment placed alongside the related proprietary device. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
Have you considered using RDP USB device redirection? You can try enabling it in mstsc, as some device classes aren’t active by default, but there are workarounds for those. I’ve heard it's especially useful for redirecting devices like Yubikeys. Here's a link that might help you get started: [Microsoft Documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/redirection-configure-usb?tabs=intune&pivots=azure-virtual-desktop#optional-retrieve-specific-usb-device-instance-ids-to-use-with-opaque-low-level-redirection).
I’m not sure about RDP redirection myself, but I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks for the tip! I'll follow up once I’ve had a chance to play around with it.
It looks like our uP communicates over USB to Serial, so this method seems promising. I'm just curious about how the Keysight device interfaces. We’re accessing it via a USB-A to USB-B connection through a Python script. Got any more insights on that?
A while back, I used Citrix for remote desktops, which has a similar functionality to RDP but with some extra features. For a specific case, we connected a USB dictation device using a USB over IP setup, where a USB hub connects to the network and a software on the client creates a virtual USB connection. I can’t recall the exact model we used, but check out this [Digi USB over IP product](https://www.digi.com/products/networking/infrastructure-management/usb-connectivity/usb-over-ip/anywhereusb). It worked for us even thousands of miles apart.
I actually made some diagrams to illustrate my setup. It turns out RDP redirection won't work for me because each proprietary device needs its own waveform generator, which are all connected through coax. Here are my diagrams: [Current Setup](https://imgur.com/a/avp9lF0) and [Revised Setup](https://imgur.com/a/6t82Jk9).