Here are minutes of our telecon Thursday Aug. 18, my apologies for the delay! -- as well as work done since then -- please just reply with (or let me know) any corrections -- thanks! :
Attendees: Karun Thanjavur (UVic) and me
We had a successful drop test of the parafoil and the dummy payload with cutdown/steering system, from a rope strung between two parts of the rooftop of the Elliott Building here at UVic, this past Saturday Aug. 27. Video and photos (thanks very much to students Bernadette Peterson and Nat Comeau) can be found at:
https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/DropTestVideo_27aug16_bpete95.MOV
and in
https://altairphotos.shutterfly.com/pictures/291
An attachment from the cutdown servo to the cutdown/steering arm became loose after that first drop, thus we decided to not do any further drops that day. That connection has now been remade so that it is more sturdy:
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/31/18.15-61669-newServoAttachment.jpg
Much thanks to multiple students as well as to Paul Poffenberger and Karun Thanjavur for their help that day.
Some issues with using that Elliot Bldg. location for future drop tests are 1) the glide ratio of the parafoil makes it so the landing is too close for comfort to the building (probably exacerbated by windy conditions, such as on Saturday), 2) the landing is on cement, rather than a softer or more natural surface like earth or grass, and 3) there are trees. We are thus investigating the possible future use of a university athletic field for future drop tests -- either from a tethered balloon, or from some sort of relatively tall portable temporary structure (perhaps made from long PVC pipes, and PVC pipe fittings), or both. Note that it would be good for us to do drop tests of our motorized, propelled dummy payload (our so-called "Moron" payload), and/or its cubical version (our so-called "Blockhead" payload), in addition to that one we did on Saturday with our vanilla dummy.
The hardware for the pre- and post-flight photometry cross-check device -- the 12" aluminum sphere (a photo of it is attached in a link at the bottom of this message, http://www.sharpeproducts.com/store/aluminum-12-dia-sphere) as well as the white "Avian-B" Lambertian reflective paint for its interior -- is in the machine shop here at UVic for machining and painting. 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 also attached in the attachment links at the bottom of the message. Student Tyler Makaro and machinist Jeff Trafton coated a small test hemisphere:
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-99000-AvianBTestHemisphere.jpg
The large sphere should be coated and completed in approximately a month or two.
The survey-tripod-mounted device to cross-check yaw-pitch-roll information from the gondola (e.g., on days before/after flights) is mostly constructed now, thanks to Mark Lenckowski -- photo at
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/31/18.15-24048-wPitchRollCalibDevice.jpg
and all that remains to be done is a small fitting between the device and the bottom of the payload. The purchased hardware in it 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), two adjustable angle mounts (http://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=AP180), and a rotation mount (https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=RP01). That last fitting to attach (temporarily, pre- or post-flight) the upper adjustable angle mount to the payload feet will be completed here in the next couple weeks.
We're currently revising the draft initial contractual agreement from our colleagues at Globalstar Canada regarding 2 initial SPOT Trace devices (and their service plans) 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 (or a more environmentally-friendly version thereof), and track them to learn more about winds at different levels in Earth's atmosphere.
Our next step, software-wise, is to establish telemetry communication between the main ALTAIR-Victoria board:
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-32651-ectronicsBoard17aug16.jpg
and the Betelgeuse test-box:
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-68004-Betelgeuse1.jpg http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-53104-Betelgeuse2.jpg
and to update the control and monitoring software to incorporate the telemetered info, and also implement onboard SD card data storage, and storage of the telemetered info. Also, we need to keep moving on simulation and flight prediction software..
Regarding simulation, 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. I am developing a visualization interface for this control and simulation program, which will be based on Google Earth or another comprehensive GIS viewer, but display the real-time (as well as forecasted) winds within Google Earth or another GIS viewer in a way that is somewhat similar to this site:
https://earth.nullschool.net
I'm working on a streak-vector display of winds within Google Earth that is reminiscent of the above site, and you can see a first attempt (with a single streak) here:
https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/GoogleEarthWindMovie.mov
and an attempt with multiple streaks here:
https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/GoogleEarthMultiStreakWindMovie.mov
Google Earth, while wonderful, is not open source, and does not presently have a programming interface (it can only be scripted with .kml files, which cannot, for example, loop over multiple lines of code in the way a programming interface could). I am thus working on versions of the above using NASA World Wind, which is an open source and programmable Google Earth alternative. I have a start on that which can be seen here:
https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/NASAWorldWindWithWindsTest_20jul16.mov
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 (Sept. 1), at 6 pm Eastern time.
cheers, thanks very much all! justin
On Thu, 18 Aug 2016 00:22:51 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi! > > Telecon tomorrow (Aug. 18 in North America, Aug. 19 in Australia) at the > regular time: 6:00 pm Eastern (3:00 pm Pacific, noon Hawaii, midnight > European, 8 am Eastern Australia). Discussion items include: flight and > telescope plans and tests (including next week's 10 meter drop test here > in Victoria and other planning for flight testing outside of New > Hampshire); 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 and telescope plans and tests, including next week's planned drop test -- see plan for that at http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/17.21-74532-tSetup_draft11aug2016.pdf > II) Diffused light source, and its modelling, pre- and post-flight calibration, and goniometric calibrations > III) Propulsion & motor control work, and the new motorized dummy payload > IV) Nanosat solid models & Houman's thesis > V) Computing/website > VI) Grant applications > VII) AOB > > Talk to you all tomorrow, thanks! > justin
Attachments:
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-32651-ectronicsBoard17aug16.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-99000-AvianBTestHemisphere.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-30898-TopPlate.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-7894-CutdownSystem.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-38576-tdownAndSteeringSetup.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-68004-Betelgeuse1.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.30-53104-Betelgeuse2.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.32-41770-DropTestSetup1.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/20.32-76024-DropTest4.jpg
http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2016/08/17/17.21-74532-tSetup_draft11aug2016.pdf
