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), Karun Thanjavur (UVic), Houman Hakima and Cordell Grant (UTIAS-SFL)
Yorke and Cynthia are continuing to prepare payloads for our upcoming flight campaign this spring. Cynthia is improving the mechanical mounts for both the diffused-LED-based light source http://altair1.dartmouth.edu/design/CDR-DiffSource.pdf and the SPOT Trace http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=128 for backup tracking http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2014/12/22/16.45-60425-lineTracking21Dec2014.png .
On the evening of Sun. Jan. 25, Karun, undergrad Nic Loewen, and I did a test of 532 nm laser atmospheric scintillation over the 10 km path between Mt. Tolmie and Observatory Hill here in the Victoria area. A nice movie of the scintillation (taken by Nic) can be found at https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/LaserTolmieObservatoryHillData_25jan15/P1000438.MOV , with a couple other photos and movies in that folder https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/LaserTolmieObservatoryHillData_25jan15/ . If we were to attempt to encode (backup) communication data over that optical channel, we would have to modulate the signal (much) faster than the characteristic scintillation frequency, which should max out at around 1 kHz due to its physical origin from clear air turbulence and resulting refractive index changes. The next step in these tests is to take a photodiode and get an oscilloscope trace or two to show that, indeed, the frequency does max out at around a kHz, and to get a better idea of the amplitude. We'll try to do that as soon as possible, so that this concept is ready for the Google proposal which is due in April.
Progress continues on the LaTeX of the handwritten analytical calculations (https://particle.phys.uvic.ca/~jalbert/RoughAnalyticalCalculations.pdf) of the output of a diffused light source; a recent version can be found at http://projectaltair.org/HyperNews/get/AUX/2015/02/01/18.56-69981-PhotonScattering.pdf . In these next 2 weeks I'll also work with Stephenson Yang on getting a new "ALTAIR Technical Note" upload facility added to the projectaltair.org website.
Houman is putting finishing touches on the solid model design for the nanosat, which is effectively complete and is in his master's thesis, and he'll be sending info and pictures of that ASAP. He might have to slightly move the LEDs which will input into the optical source integrating sphere (in addition, of course, to the inputs from the laser diode sources) but that should not be a problem.
That's all I remember, please send things that I forgot. Next telecon in 2 weeks, on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 1:30 pm Eastern time.
cheers, thanks all! justin
On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 01:37:09 GMT, Justin Albert wrote:
> Hi! > > Telecon tomorrow (Jan. 29) at our usual time: 1:30 pm Eastern (10:30 am > Pacific, 19.30 European). Discussion items include: planning for > flights, new diffused light source and its modelling, goniometric and > pre- and post-flight calibration, communications tests, 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 Skype-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) Flight planning > II) New diffused light source and its modelling, pre- and post-flight calibration, and goniometric calibrations > III) Communications tests (possible backup optical and radio, etc) > IV) Nanosat, new integrating spheres, and multicolour laser module designs > V) Computing/website > VI) Grant applications > VII) 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
