Here are minutes of our meeting on Thursday -- please just reply with (or let me know) any corrections -- thanks!:
Attendees: Yorke Brown (Dartmouth), Arnold Gaertner (NRC), Cordell Grant and Houman Hakima (UTIAS-SFL), and Sri Krishna Uppaluri (JHU)
Yorke has finished his design of the latest diffused-LED-based light source -- http://altair1.dartmouth.edu/design/CDR-DiffSource.pdf -- and it looks perfect to me for the initial levels of precision we'd like to get from this type of source (i.e. O(5%) or perhaps better -- and then together with our quite-a-bit-more-pricey integrating-sphere-based source we can get more precise than that). He and Cynthia are still watching the skies for decent weather before the Hanover area soon becomes snowbound. The SPOT Trace for backup tracking has arrived at Dartmouth: http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=128 , and Yorke and I will set it up with its service plan ASAP and test it out.
Houman and Cordell are progressing well with the 3-D modelling of the nanosat payload, and of the multicolour laser module. Houman has some new solid-model renderings, and now is working on an initial design for a microwave source on the science payload (thanks very much to Keith V.), a thermal radiator for the satellite, and a light-tight shroud to go around the light path between the laser and the integrating sphere.
The JHU group, together with Susana, are making excellent progress on their return-to-home model aircraft balloon payload, and are nearing a point at which their first initial flight tests will be done. They are making sure to stay solidly on the correct side of FAA regulations by having their first tests involve releasing the aircraft well below 400' altitude (initially from a tethered balloon, then from a launched balloon when the former is consistently successful), and always keeping the aircraft within visual sight (and, of course, well away from any known aircraft flight paths near airports etc). When an FAA waiver for their hybrid ballooncraft is received, the aircraft will then be able to be released from the balloon at heights above 400' altitude (e.g., up at 20 km), but until then, testing below 400' altitude will keep the JHU folks very busy.
Buoyant Aircraft Systems / Peerless Garment in Winnipeg has finished the design of our superpressure balloon and will be sending their formal quote this week (we already have a ballpark quote from them, but they will be sending me a formal one this week).
I've found that a Bayes' theorem based trick allows the analytical calculation of the output of a diffused light source at angles nearly 90° from normal to the diffuser plane -- see some rough analytical calculations (which I'll work on getting into nice LaTeXed form) at https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/RoughAnalyticalCalculations.pdf, and some toy Monte Carlo output with which to compare these analytical calculations can be found at https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/photontoymc.pdf. I'll be sending more very soon on this: comparison between the two methods, and a brief LaTeXed writeup.
Regarding the concept for very long-range (up to 100 km and beyond) optical transceiver communication with the balloon in nighttime flight, we decided to hold off with Ericsson, primarily so that we could test out the idea around December 18-20 in Hanover, where essentially all the equipment needed for a long-range ground-based test of the idea is present. Assuming that test works, we'll certainly include the construction of such a system in a Google proposal which is due in April of this coming year.
That's all I remember, please send things that I forgot. Next telecon in two weeks, on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 1:30 pm Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Thu, 20 Nov 2014 01:14:30 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi, > > Telecon tomorrow (Nov. 20) at the usual time: 1:30 pm Eastern (10:30 am > Pacific, 19.30 European). Discussion items include: flights and weather, > light source modelling, goniometric and pre- and post-flight > calibration, nanosat and new laser module design, computing/website, > grant applications, and recap of schedules. A reminder of the CSA > project timeline is attached. > > 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 call you at the usual time (1:30 pm Eastern, 10:30 am Pacific). > 4) If there is any trouble, or if you don't get a call for some reason and would like to join, just send me an e-mail (jalbert@uvic.ca). > > Here's the tentative agenda: > I) Progress toward next flight > II) Light source studies and modelling, pre- and post-flight calibration, and goniometric calibrations > III) Nanosat, new integrating spheres, and multicolour laser module designs > IV) Computing/website > V) Grant applications > VI) AOB > > Talk to you all tomorrow, thanks! > justin > > Attachments: > http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2012/11/12/18.02-43361-Schedule-20120702_hqp.pdf >