Wright State University High Altitude Balloon Tracking System Final Report 14 April, 2014 SENIOR TEAM PROJECT 2013-2014 Wright State University High Altitude

Wright State UniversityHigh Altitude Balloon Tracking System

Final Report14 April, 2014

SENIOR TEAM PROJECT 2013-2014

Wright State University High Altitude Balloon - Our lab is at 100,000 feet

Team Members: Bach le Cullen - Team Leader Naser Husain Mohammad Hassan

Advisors: John C. Gallagher, PhDJoseph C. Slater, PhD

SENIOR TEAM PROJECT 2013-2014WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOON

Bach le Cullen Naser Husain Mohammad Hassan

• Project Scopeo Objective o Key Capabilitieso APRS & GPSo High Altitude Balloon Program• Background• Launch and recovery

• Solutiono 5 Phases

• Divergence from Specifications

• Conclusion

OVERVIEW



Project Scope Objective

• Automatically track High Altitude Balloono Use existing antennas and control systemo APRS data from balloon and/or internet (APRS-IS)



Project Scope Key Capabilities

• Real time tracking using GPS information extracted from the balloon APRS-IS packet

• Real time data acquisition of:o Slow Scan TV (SSTV) on select flightso Analog Amateur TV (ATV) on select flights

• Secondary gateway for APRS-IS



Project Scope APRS & GPS

• Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) • AX.25 Packet Radio AFSK on 2 meters FM (Pos Frame)o # of Satellites Trackedo GPS Qualityo Temperatureo Battery Voltageo Altitude (Feet)o Speed (Knots)o Heading (Degrees)o Longitude (GPS module)o Latitude (GPS module)



Project Scope High Altitude Balloon Program - Background

• Started near-space exploration with the Temperature Satellite project in 2003 o Initiated by advisers, Kumar Yelamarthi and Ruby Mawasha o Funding obtained from the Ohio Space Grant Consortium o Freshman presented this project at a NASA meetingo Received outstanding feedback.

• Wright State University decided to move forward in the area of near-space exploration.

• The High Altitude Balloon team (HIBAL) was initiated in 2005o Advisers - Joseph C. Slater, J. Mitch Wolff, John Wu and Ruby Mawasha o Funding obtained from the Ohio Space Grant Consortium.

• Major goal:o Launch two senior design experiments each year o Growing sophistication and technology demonstration each time.



Project Scope High Altitude Balloon Program Launch & Recovery



Solution



Solution

5 Phases

• Phase 1 - Antenna hardware testing and calibration

• Phase 2 - Software Development

• Phase 3 - Hardware/Software integration

• Phase 4 - Testing

• Phase 5 - Track High Altitude Balloon in flight



Solution

Phase 1 • Antenna hardware testing and calibrationo Evaluate antenna controller

1. Functionality2. Calibration - Antenna Controller and RS232B3. Test and document RS232B software interface protocol



Solution - Phase 1

Calibration of Antenna Controller



Solution - Phase 1

• Calibration of Antenna Interface Controller RS232B• Test and document RS232B software interface protocol



Solution

Phase 2

• Software Developmento Core Modules

1. Distance2. Bearing angle from Russ to Balloon3. Elevation angle

o Interface to APRS-IS serverso Interface to RS232B antenna controller



Solution - Phase 2

Core Modules• Haversine Formulao Published by Roger Sinnott in Sky & Telescope magazine in 1984o Derives distance, bearing and elevation

Haversine formula: a = sin²(Δφ/2) + cos(φ1).cos(φ2).sin²(Δλ/2)



Solution - Phase 2

Interface to APRS-IS servers



Solution - Phase 2

• Interface to RS232B antenna controllero RS232 connectoro RS232 protocol



Solution

Phase 3• Hardware/Software integrationo Integrate overall system - GUIo Develop test data for system verification and debugging



Solution - Phase 3

Graphical User Interface (GUI) Main Screen



Solution - Phase 3

Graphical User Interface (GUI) Tracking Screen



Solution - Phase 3

Graphical User Interface (GUI) RAW APRS-IS Screen



Solution - Phase 3

• Develop test data for system verification and debugging

2014-04-06 09:16:49 EDT: N44VF>3Y5V3U,W8BI-9,WIDE2*,qAR,W8VFR-9:`oQG)>='/"?s} type: location format: mice srccallsign: N44VF dstcallsign: 3Y5V3U latitude: 39.93916666666667 ° longitude: -83.8905 ° course: 33 ° speed: 246.316 km/h altitude: 1093 m symboltable: / symbolcode: ' mbits: 010 posresolution: 18.52 m posambiguity: 0

http://aprs.fi/?c=raw&limit=&call=N44VF

http://aprs.fi/?c=raw&limit=&call=W8BI-9

http://aprs.fi/?c=raw&limit=&call=W8VFR-9



Solution

Phase 4 • Testingo Track

1. Land vehicle: Car, Truck 2. Light Aircraft



Solution - Phase 4

Track Light Aircraft



Solution - Phase 5

Phase 5 • Track High Altitude Balloon in flight• Verify data



Solution - Phase 5

High Altitude Balloon Launch - 5 April, 2014



Solution - Phase 5




Solution - Phase 5




Balloon Flight 35 - 5 April, 2014

Tracking

Launch Point



Divergence from Specifications

• Operating Systemo Changed from Linux to Windows XP, 7• Java RS-232 limited support (old)• Java RS-232 library for Windows 32 bit



Conclusion

• Successfully completed team projecto Valuable experience working on teamo Experience with hardware/software integration

• Hardware/softwareo Check everything, assume nothingo Manuals incomplete, inaccurate or missing information

• Unable to test SSTV and ATV, not used in balloon launch



Questions

Questions ?

Documents

Wright State University High Altitude Balloon Tracking System Final Report 14 April, 2014 SENIOR TEAM PROJECT 2013-2014 Wright State University High Altitude