Dane.Kouttron
Imaging Balloon of Science
| Design and Hardware | Development Pictures | Images From Craft | Images From Ground | Who Built It & Conclusion |
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WHO?
Who made this mission possible? These awesome, super-dedicated folks.
 Andrew Armenia (RPI) |
 Andrew Tamoney (RPI) |
 Charlie Emala (RPI) |
 Dane Kouttron (RPI) |
 Emily Krupczak (Wellesly). |
 Jeff Chagnon (BU) |
 Eric VanWyk (DEKA) |
 James Streitman (RPI) |
We had a premature battery failure for the main CPU, operating at low pressure and low temperature was hard on the lithium pack and the CPU constantly craving 10W didst help either. Once our CPU power ended, the camera was no longer instructed to take pictures. Our failsafe mechanisms, namely the GPS being also transmitted at 433mhz by a microcontroller, continued to operate through out flight, and our camera still had power. The CPU was nice, but overkill and a half. Don't get me wrong, being able to ssh into a FRIGGING Balloon is badass.
As our chute system was purely mechanical, it didnt require CPU intervention. So the device landed unscathed in Vermont. After a quick retrieval, and grabbing of the data from the system's SD card, we were able to retrieve images up until 32 minutes into flight (based on the camera's internal clock). in hindsight we should have kept logs onboard of GPS data. Again, the craft was built in 28 hours, from the ground up. thats a functioning linux box, power supplies, usb communications, backup communications, landing gear, and many other intracies. There are ways of doing this cheaper, and quicker. Sure you could glue a smartphone to a balloon, however that isn't how we RPI folks roll.
Technically, Our Balloon Could Run DOOM.
Things we learned:
1. Ebay is a double edged sword. we ordered a 900mhz 119kbaud maxstream modem, got a 2.4ghz 9600 baud modem. This resulted in having to drop down transmitted image quality, and be stuck with directional 2.4ghz RF instead of bouncy 900mhz radio.
2. Feature creep
The simplest things work best, we had a lot of interesting ideas tested out in this project, however last minute changes to code ate time.
3. Tracking is way more important than transmission
retrieving the actual files was WAY more important than streaming down low res versions of said files. if more focus was pushed at the GPS subsystem and implementing APRS, we would have had a better idea about the vehicle's position
Thinkers' like challenges. Building a near-space vehicle in a weekend, launching and retrieving images is, a challenge. We rocked that challenge, had a blast, fended off sleep, soldered until the last second, communicated over radios, drove across 3 states and had wonderfully in-depth conversations, all on one of the nicest day's Troy NY has ever seen. Thanks to all who contributed. Thanks Deka'ns for your insight.
Special Thanks:
DEKA for donating hardware (CPU Board)
EE Profs (from circuits to signals) who explained some of the basics used in this project.
Charles Guan, (batteries)
RPI Electronics Club, hosting us
References:
Andrew Armenia, http://www.asquaredlabs.com/
miters, http://miters.mit.edu
| Design and Hardware | Development Pictures | Images From Craft | Images From Ground | Who Built It & Conclusion |
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Dane.Kouttron
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Electrical & Electrical Power
631.978.1650
