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HighAltitudeBalloonBusfor

CubeSatTesting

Kiko

Dontchev

CubeSatDevelopersWorkshop

CalPoly

San

Luis

Obispo

4/24/09

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DevelopmentOverview

HighAltitudeBalloonBus

Integrates

1

3U

CubeSats fortestingReliabletrackingplatform

Providelaunch/flight

experiences

forstudents

ImproveGroundStation

operations StudentThermalVacuum

2x2x2

Meter

Helmholtz

Cage4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 2

1U Configuration

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BalloonBusOverview

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 3

FTU Command

Microcontroller and SD

Sun Sensor

MAX 233

Camera Signal

Beeline

GPS

Temp Sensor

Accelerometer

Li-Ion Battery

Terminal NodeController (TNC)

Radio

AAAs

9V Batteries

Flight Termination Units (FTU)

SD Card

Camera

Buzzer

GPS

MicroTrak

Data

Power

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BusTracking/Communication

3communication

systems

for

redundancy

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 4

Garmin 18 GPS9V

Byonics

MicroTrak

BeeLine

2M GPS

TX Only: 144.39 MHz

(APRS Network)

TX Only: 144.39 MHz (APRSNetwork)

TX/RX: Simplex 147.50 MHz

3 Orthogonal Half WaveDipole Antennas

Garmin 18

GPS

Rabbit Microcontroller Terminal Node

ControllerAlinco

VHF Radio

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CellPhoneTracking

Separatepackageprovidesredundancy

OpenGPSTrackerbuiltwithCOTS

components GPScommunicatestocellphone

throughMicrocontroller

Location/Altitudedataisstored

onboard

Retrievemostrecentpacketthroughtextmessagecommand

Operatorreadsonemailortext

Advantage:Noneedfordirectcommunication

between

systems

Disadvantage:Unabletotrackwithoutphonecoverage

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 5

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FlightTerminationUnit

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 6

FederalAviationAdministration Notifypriortoflight Providedetailsaboutlaunchand

system Terminateflightuponrequest

FlightTerminationUnit

Microcontroller

receives

uplink,

triggerscurrent

draw

from

9V

battery,

heatsnichrome

wirewrappedaround

line,releasesballoon

Codedtimestampactivation Avoids

prolonged

flight

from

neutral

buoyancy

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AttitudeDetermination

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 7

3AxisAccelerometer STLIS331ADetermines

payload

orientation

withrespecttogravityvector

SunSensor

MeasurespositionoftheSunrelativetotheballoon

(5)photodiodes measureangleofSun

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GarminGPS

Serial

RFDell

PWR

GND

PWR

GND

Serial

InternetConnection

Kenwood D-710

InverterInverter

Mobile GS Design

DevelopedTrackingCapabilitieswith2SoftwarePackages APRSPoint+MapPoint

BalloonTrack+

MapPoint

+AGPS

- Real time mapping capabilities- Flight prediction display- Displays user GPS position on map

4/24/2009 8UniversityofMichigan

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PermanentGSTracking

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 9

APRSRotatorController

RetrieveGPSdatathroughiGates

oromnidirectional

antenna

ParseAPRS

Packet

Data

CalculateAzimuthandElevationfromGroundAntennaReference

Changesrotator

automatically

to

point

at

balloon

location

iGates

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FirstFlightResults

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 10

Launch Spring Arbor,MI

Max altitude ~76,000 ft.

Landed in a tree

Minimum successcriteria met: recovered

payload Analyzing Data

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HardwarePerformance

ReceivedbeaconsfromMicroTrack

300butlostaltitude

dataabove27kfeet

Beelinenever

achieved

lock

Faultypatchantenna

TNCXandAlinco

providedfew

ascent/descentpacketsbutnone

above27k

feet

CellPhoneTrackerhadlockthroughoutflight Onlyabletoretrievedataunder

5kfeet

Attitudedatafailedtostoreonboard

Minimumtempof40Fatmax

altitude

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 11

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FlightDayLessons

HavebackupsforeverythingBalloon,Helium,subsystems,computers,

harness Doafulldryrunpriortoflightday

Clear/Easycommunicationbetweenchase

teams&

permanent

GS

Bepreparedforanylandingspot

Murphyslawalwaysapplies!

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 12

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BalloonFuturePlans

ContinuedeffortprimarilythroughStudentSpaceSystemFabrication

Lab(S3FL)Studentsalreadydedicatedfor

Spring/Summer

General

recommendations:Understandfailuresandmakeaccordingdesignchanges

Configurationalternativesandimprovements

DatadownlinkcapabilitiesFTUalternatives

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 13

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StudentThermalVacuum

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan 14

Dry ScrollPump

Turbo-Pump

Sorption Pumps

Vacuum

PC

Ion PumpTest Chamber

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SystemCharacteristicsSystemCharacteristics Baseline

Pressure

2*106

Torr

Approximately2hoursforpumpdown

PressureGauges

ThermocoupleGauge

Atmosphericto2*102

Torr

IonGauge 103

Torr

108

Torr

VarianMultigauge

TemperatureEnvironment TypeKThermocoupleProbe

TemperatureRange: 30Cto70C

Accomplishedusingliquidnitrogen

andpatchheaters

ElectricalInput DB9Interface

~Additional$15KCost

~15hoursoftrainingforproficiency

15

Varian

Multi-

Gauge

Patch

Heater

4/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan

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Helmholtz Cage

Operation: Matlab driven power supplies 60,000 feet of copper wire

Loops generate magnetic field Capability:

Calibration and characterization ofmagnetometers

Analogue-Orbit simulator with IGRF referencedmagnetic fields

Verification of magnetic attitude determination

Submitted technical paper to the American

Aeronautical Society to be released in August09

164/24/2009 UniversityofMichigan

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Thankyou!

Questions?

Kiko

Dontchev

CubeSatDevelopersWorkshop

CalPoly

San

Luis

Obispo

4/24/09