Here are minutes of our telecon Thursday Apr. 21 (apologies for the delay) -- please just reply with (or let me know) any corrections -- thanks!:
Attendees: Yorke Brown (Dartmouth), Arnold Gaertner (NRC)
Yorke and students are continuing to test out the Meade telescope (with its new mainboard) and put it through its paces, both in the lab and outdoors to check how it does with star alignment. The hardware for both 1) the pre- and post-flight photometry cross-check device (more on this below), and 2) a fully-propelled tethered balloon drop test dummy payload, have been sent to, and now have arrived, at Yorke's lab.
We have a draft initial contractual agreement from our colleagues at Globalstar Canada regarding 2 initial SPOT Trace devices for the educational side-project for the upcoming NATO SPS application, in which classrooms in elementary and high schools could launch company-donated SPOT Traces using party balloons, and track them to learn more about winds at different levels in Earth's atmosphere. The UVic contracts folks have now returned some comments on the draft, and we should be able to return a signed copy in some form to Globalstar Canada soon.
The 12" aluminum sphere (http://www.sharpeproducts.com/store/aluminum-12-dia-sphere) for the pre- and post-flight photometry cross-check device for which Mark Lenckowski (TRIUMF engineering staff, based here at UVic) has developed a 3D model and drawings, has arrived in Yorke's lab. This will be a field photometry check device to, in the field immediately before launch, and right after recovery, cross-check photometry information from the ALTAIR gondola (to an accuracy and precision of about 1% or so. Note that photometry checks which will be more precise than that will be done in the lab, most precisely at NRC, and/or NIST -- however we want to have the ability to do quick cross-checks in the field immediately before and after flight.) Some renderings (of the upcoming device) are attached in the attachment links at the bottom of the message. We also now have received all the hardware for (a completely separate) survey-tripod-mounted device to cross-check yaw-pitch-roll information from the gondola (e.g., on days before flights). That hardware includes both the survey tripod (http://www.cpotools.com/cst-berger-60-alwi20-o-aluminum-tripod-with-quick-release--orange-/cstn60-alwi20-o,default,pd.html) and two adjustable angle mounts (http://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=AP180).
Karun is working with a sample microcontroller board (with Microchip PIC18F87J50 microcontroller) from the UVic electronics shop, to use for testing motor control for an ALTAIR motor and propulsion control microcontroller board we will be designing this term. He has now gotten the pulse width modulation code for it up and running -- video at
https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/MotorAndPropTests/IMG_2136.MOV
and Karun has also solved the problem of simultaneous control of two propulsion motors, and of controlling a servo as well as propulsion motors. He's now working on monitoring the input from the on-chip A/D converters (which will be monitoring temperatures, motor RPM rates, and current flow). We just purchased a second little PIC microcontroller board: http://www.digikey.ca/product-search/en/programmers-development-systems/accessories/2621524?k=PIC18F97J94 with a more advanced version of the PIC18F87J50 -- the PIC18F97J94 -- so that we can test out that new one as well before we make our custom board with it. We also have the beginnings of a little mechanical test rig, the internals and externals of which can be found in the four attached photos, and in the following movie showing the lightweight but strong servo gearbox for rotation of the propulsion support axle:
https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/MotorAndPropTests/IMG_2145.MOV
and now the setup is all together, and just waiting for monitoring sensors (motor RPM, current, temperature) and microcontroller control:
https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/MotorAndPropTests/IMG_2198.MOV
As a backup / cross-check, we are simultaneously trying an Arduino-based control system (which uses an Atmel ATMega 2560 microcontroller). When within ALTAIR, the motor and propulsion control microcontroller board will logic interface with Yorke's main board (in a similar way to how the present cutdown-motor control board interfaces with the main board. Separate propulsion battery will of course be carried.) A screenshot of a propulsion system slow-control and monitoring program which I've been working on is attached.
Regarding simulation of the above, James Hartwick (senior undergrad here at UVic, who has done an enormous amount for ALTAIR, including much of the current projectaltair.org website, light source work, etc) has now written an ALTAIR flight propulsion control and simulation program, which includes GFS (global forecast system) file input, for both forecast and real-time information of winds at all points in Earth's atmosphere. We'll have plots, images, and data from his software coming up very soon. UVic undergraduate Tyler Makaro will be helping us with this very soon as well.
Houman will send Cordell and/or us updated sections of his master's thesis soon -- that information will be extremely useful to us going forward. Also, Susana and Nathan, it would be very helpful for us all to get the JHU students' final writeup when you have a chance.
Our next grant application will be a NATO "Science for Peace and Security" application, together with Australian colleague partners.
That's all I remember, please send things that I forgot. Next telecon *tomorrow* (Thursday, May 5), at 4 pm Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Thu, 21 Apr 2016 03:26:22 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi! > > Telecon tomorrow (Apr. 21) at the usual time: 4:00 pm Eastern (1:00 pm > Pacific, 10:00 am Hawaii, 22.00 European). Discussion items include: > flight planning; Meade telescope status and tests; light sources and > light source modelling; goniometric and pre- and post-flight > calibration; propulsion work; nanosat bus and payload solid models; > computing/website; grant applications; and recap of schedules. > > Here's how to connect: > 1) Open Skype on your computer (note that of course, you should first install Skype, http://www.skype.com , on your machine if you haven't already). > 2) In the "Contacts" menu, add me ( jalbertuvic ) as a contact, if you haven't already. > 3) Just wait for me to Skype-call you at the usual time (4 pm Eastern, 1 pm Pacific). > 4) If there is any trouble, or if you don't get a Skype-call for some reason and would like to join, just send me an e-mail (jalbert@uvic.ca). > > Here's the tentative agenda: > > I) Flight planning > II) Telescope tests, and current status > III) Diffused light source, and its modelling, pre- and post-flight calibration, and goniometric calibrations > IV) Propulsion & motor control work > V) Nanosat solid models & Houman's thesis > VI) Computing/website > VII) Grant applications > VIII)AOB > > Talk to you all tomorrow, thanks! > Justin
Attachments:
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/05/04/17.45-92797-opulsionMonitoringNew.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/04/06/16.53-58615-SideView.pdf
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/04/06/16.53-48539-TopView.pdf
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/04/06/16.53-13842-BottomView.pdf
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/04/06/16.53-64848-ingRestraintWoodenBox.pdf
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/03/09/17.24-54061-asseminternal9mar16.JPG
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/03/09/17.24-12762-assemexternal9mar16.JPG
