ARBONET

1. ARBONET

2. ARBONET • “A poor man’s space program” • Primarily funded and spear-headed by: • Doug Loughmiller – W5BL • Michael Willett – K5NOT • With support from several enthusiastic individuals and clubs

3. ARBONET • Local Clubs Involved with ARBONET: • North Texas Balloon Project (mentors / chasers) • Red River Valley Amateur Radio Club (NE TX) • Fannin County Amateur Radio Club (NE TX) • Lockheed Amateur Radio Club – Ft. Worth • Richardson Wireless Klub (guest payloads) • Irving Amateur Radio Club

4. Adventures: GPSL-2009 Aka: Which way did it go?

5. ARBONET GPSL 2009 Arrived with payloads ready and willing to go flying, but…. Became “enlightened” by Bill Brown… “ The Copernicus GPS has issues and settings you need to address…” We did not drive all the way up here to sit on the sidelines…. So we flew anyway! We thought we would at least have Lat / Long… And…. After the radio batteries were depleted…..

6. ARBONET Our payload was found a week later in grazing land by ranchers in Redland, KS. After reward money and postage, the payload came back to Texas! During the recovery, Doug and I never laughed so hard, making fun of the female voice beacon who talked a lot and yet said so little!

7. ARBONET 29,616 ft Last Valid GPS Data Point Max altitude obtained estimated by Bill Brown WB8ELK as about 110,000 feet

8. ARBONET GPSL 2009 Flight Configuration Balloon Manifold Pressure Sensor Feed Electronics Valve (closed for this flight) Parachute (Intended to be closed for flight)

9. 6 Minute Video ARBONET flight at GPSL 2009

11. Interesting Data: Envelope Pressure

12. ARBONET P = F/A Where P = Pressure Where F = Force Where A = Area • If P is nearly static, F /A are not changing or equal in change • If P increases, F is increasing or A is decreasing • If P decreases, F is decreasing or A is increasing

13. ARBONET GPSL 2009 Flight Configuration Balloon Manifold Pressure Sensor Feed Electronics Valve (closed for this flight) Parachute (Intended to be closed for flight)

14. ARBONET Pressure Sensors: Measured Pressure = Ambient Pressure More Pressure Diaphragm Diaphragm Ambient Air Ambient Air

15. ARBONET P=F/A Balloon Balloon Rs Diaphragm Diaphragm Ambient Air Ambient Air

16. ARBONET Internal Temperature Of Payload Pressure

17. ARBONET • We tend to think balloons behave in a linear fashion since the ascent is nearly linear. Thus a balloon that is getting bigger should have equal or more pressure… • We found the behavior is not linear, but a balance of P=F/A that was not expected • Other factors also contribute – He impurities, point of measurement, etc. • The Latex stretching is not linear, and the “mechanical maximum” (ability to contain the gas within) has a limit that is recognizable just before burst!

18. ARBONET This area may actually become a vacuum per similar results from U of MN students ARBONET Envelope Pressure relative to ambient (not calibrated )

19. ARBONET To modulate the optimum envelope pressure, we need to detect and remain in this region Envelope Pressure relative to ambient (not calibrated )

20. Possible Flight Profile Phase 5 Hover Phase 6 Deflation and Return via Balloon Phase 4 Ascent 80K-100K ft Phase 3 Sense return of Positive pressure Trend and Modulate Pressure ALTITUDE Phase 6 Return to Hover (Dump Ballast) Phase 2 Ascent Phase 7 Recovery Phase 1 Launch RDF Tone TIME

21. ARBONET • How envelope modulation may be used: • Hang a balloon for longer-term, high-altitude experiments, re-call it when desired • A repeater in the sky for long periods of time • Controlled descents and with ballast, possible controlled landings by chase team • Gain higher altitudes, even though the ft/min is constantly decreasing after maximum expansion, you are still climbing for many minutes! • Note: Likely venting issue if in the zero pressure region!

22. ARBONET Project 1: New Voice Beacon Payload

23. ARBONET • The new voice beacon payload: • Same lost blonde-sounding women’s voice we all love. • Inventek GPS with Sarantel antenna • 0.3 PSI rated pressure sensor (higher precision) • Embedded repeater via 70cm and 2m radios • Built in USB for log retrieval and troubleshooting • DS1822 Digital thermometer Internal and External • Sensiron Thermometer and humidity measurement device • 2Mb to 4Mb logging memory capacity • Separate, controllable power busses for almost all electronics to reduce power consumption • All on a 3.8 x 2.5 double-sided board

24. ARBONET • ARBONET VOICE BEACON Design Team : • Patrick Whitfill, Firmware Guru / Operational Aspects • Michael Willett, K5NOT, Systems design, Hardware design and JOAT

25. ARBONET The new voice beacon main board:

26. ARBONET The new voice beacon main board: Voice Synthesizer (Backside) Analog In and Servos 70cm Antenna Pgm Hdr USB Hdr 70 cm radio (backside) Pressure Sensor CPU and memory USB Chip (backside) Power In GPS Open Tracker SMT 2m Antenna 2m radio (backside) Each section uses Power Control

27. ARBONET The new voice beacon main board:

28. ARBONET

29. ARBONET Project 2: Slow Scan TV Module

30. Doug Loughmiller, W5BL – ARBONET GPSL 2010 Hutchinson, KS July 23rd, 2010 ARBONET A look at the OE1RIB Embedded Mobile SSTV for use in High Altitude Balloon Flights

31. Design Credit ARBONET The concept, design and implementation of the Mobile Embedded SSTV System is 100% the result of the efforts of Richard Prinz, OE1RIB who has graciously made his design materials available to W5BL for use on upcoming ARBONET flights. Doug’s efforts have simply been to identify Richard’s work and to promote his design as a viable solution for a low power, low cost, portable SSTV solution suitable for use as a payload on High Altitude Balloon Flights..

32. Image Options for High Altitude Balloon Flights ARBONET • ATV • Platform Stabilization, limited ground stations • Digital Photography / Digital Video • Excellent Images, but can only be viewed post flight • SSTV • Excellent Image quality, downlink in near real-time, easy ground station solution with receiver, lap-top and shareware

33. ARBONET SSTV Activity ARBONET

34. What We Really Want To See! ARBONET

35. Commercial, Portable Off-the-Shelf SSTV Options are Limited ARBONET

36. A Novel Home-Brew Solution ARBONET • Original Article Appeared in “Funkamateur” 8/2007 • OE1RIB Web Site: http://www.min.at/prinz/oe1rib/SSTV/#Purpose

37. Features of The Universal Mobile Embedded SSTV System ARBONET Supports Black and White or Color Images Using Martin 1 with either 320 x 240 or 320 x 256 pixels Supports SSTV VIS code, Optional CW station ID Multiple transmissions of a captured image or single transmission of multiple images Battery backed Real-time clock for time and date display on image or via CW

38. ARBONET Built-in temperature sensor in image display or via CW In-circuit Programmable User defined Font Editor For Status Text Messages Configurable via RS-232 Port using HyperTerm-like serial programs Small Form Factor Light Weight

39. System Image Using Martin1 ARBONET

40. Circuit Details ARBONET Microprocessor = Microchip PIC18F458 Video Buffer= AverLogic AL422B Real Time Clock= Maxim DS1307 Temperature Sensor= Microchip TC74 Camera= Sander/ ETC CAM-C3188A Low Power System operates at 100 mA during image capture and transmission , 90 mA at idle.

41. Construction ARBONET • Almost all parts are readily available through catalog distributors (Mouser, Digi-key etc.) • Exceptions: Averlogic Frame Buffer, Maxim MAX1818 and Sanders Camera • Boards can be obtained through ExpressPCB • Software downloadable from the Web site • Some surface mount components

42. Conclusion ARBONET Ideal Solution for BalloonSat Operations Thanks to Richard, OE1RIB for Sharing his design Stay Tuned for Images from Upcoming ARBONET flights. www.arbonet.net

43. ARBONET