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Today we characterized our photometers. We took 3 photometers that were built by three different people outside and read the voltages from various angles to the sun for each. We got the following data.
Orientation is from the vertical to the sun in degrees.All voltages are in Volts. Orientation V1 V2 V3 O to SunVrichVmiloVreed 70 0.49 0.45 0.86 60 0.62 0.59 1.04 50 0.72 0.764 1.13 40 0.86 1 1.19 30 1.04 1.13 1.22 20 1.18 1.2 1.2 10 1.2 1.21 0 1.29 1.28 1.26 We had a great flight down south. We learned a lot about our video system and satellite tracker. We also established the nav aid identifiers for the area that we'll use for future launches. The actual flight was shorter than the predicted flight by a lot. I was able to run the prediction the night before but not in the morning because we didn't have internet service. Below are some of the pics from the flight and ground. OK, I'm lost on the radios again. I couldn't get a program to work correctly so I ran the program that I used in May, and it doesn't work either. I have checked the wiring, I have checked the program, I have tried using different BS2 boards. I ran the transmit program, and had a radio that wasn't connected to anything so i could hear the signals, but there aren't any signals being transmitted. The transmitter goes into transmit mode and the orange light that show that it is transmitting comes on, but the receiver doesn't pick up anything but static, no bleeps and blips that area supposed to be there. I made a list of troubleshooting ideas in May and have gone through that, and I have tried different radios, and I have researched what a modem is supposed to do with signals so I have a pretty good understanding of what it should do. Nothing is working, does anyone remember anything I did before that made it work?
Well, we just go done with an intensive ballooning workshop. Hats off to Montana State University. As a high school team we were totally overloaded each day of the 5 day workshop. The tracking station build and payload builds were not too bad but when we got to the programs that ran everything, oohh. We don't have much programming experience on our team so while we get the mechanics of everything we miss out on the underlying processes. Anyhow, we have a lot to learn and develop. Here are some pictures from the workshop. Hi Katie. We just got the approval of the phase 2 grant so we'll be ordering some SD writer/readers for the BS2. That should give you additional memory to the variables and such. I'm not sure why you're getting issues. Do you think the RF interference could be a source of trouble? Try placing the BS2 in a tin foil cover. It's called a Faraday's Cage. Be wary of any electrical shorts that could happen with the foil. Have you tried taking your issues to Parallax's Forums? I've used them in the past and they are great places to get help when you're having problems.
This is the fourth set of programs I have written for the launch in August. This set of programs will use what my dad referred to as a "forward checking system," which may be what it is called, i haven't really looked into what other people have done with it. What this set will do for the data checking portion is send the same data from the balloon twice, and on the ground the data will be compared and checked that way. If both sets are the same, a "1" will be sent back up to the balloon, signaling that the next set of data should be collected. If the two transmissions are different, then a "0" will be transmitted up to the balloon signalling that the data was corrupted and needs to be sent again. I haven't really looked into what to do about resetting the system every fixed amount of time. I have been testing the controllers I have, and I think I fixed the one that was faulty, but I don't know what I did. 
The gimbal mount needed more support so we reprinted a more robust outer housing.  I am currently unable to test my system because I have a faulty controller. I am working on writing the code now, but I have a new problem: When I do a syntax check, an error message pops up the says "EEPROM full". It originally popped up and a highlighted a line that had the command PAUSE 200, and I deleted the line to see if that would solve the problem. On the next syntax check, the line below where the PAUSE command was got highlighted with the same message. There are about 20 lines below the PAUSE command, and all of them are important. We may need have more than one board, or possibly a larger, external EEPROM or memory drive of some sort to have some room to save data. Also, I'm out of RAM space for variables on the balloon end. Since I need about 5 more variable to really make the program work correctly, that is another reason to have another board on the balloon. Below are the EEPROM and RAM Maps from the programs.   Here is our first attempt at a gimbal mount for the SPOT tracker.  This set of programs is designed to have a data checking system for the GPS, and I also added a temperature sensor just for the fun of it. At some point I would like to add the accelerometer and altimeter. These are not the final programs, As I'm sure more stuff will be added in the coming weeks. Both of the programs are made up entirely of subroutines. I think I have everything working correctly with the subroutines, though I haven't had much time to test the programs. The only problem I may have with this set up is all the subsubroutines. In the data checking portion of the programs, it is set up with IF...THEN statements which kick the program out to other subroutines depending on what happens with the data. I am having significant trouble with one of the microcontrollers. When I go to run the program, I get a message that there is no usable port or that there is no device on the port. On the board itself, the light that comes on when it is connected to the computer is red, and blinking quickly, probably 7 or 10 times per second (I didn't specifically time it though). The light that comes on when the battery is plugged in comes on green, as it always has. The battery is new. I need to play with it and figure out what is going on with the thing. Until I do figure it out, I can't test the system. Milo and Ari: if you guys hurry up and get your radio licenses, you can set it up and test it for me, since I think I will need a new board. HOW IT SHOULD WORK: - The balloon end will collect data. - The data will be transmitted from the balloon to the ground. - The ground end will receive, save, and resend the data back to the balloon. - The balloon end will receive the data checking signal and compare it to the original data collected. (Here the system gets complicated) - If the data that is resent from the ground to the balloon matches the original data, the balloon end will transmit a "2". -- On the ground end, the 2 means that the data was received correctly and it will then be displayed. - If the data that is resent from the ground to the balloon does not match the original data, the balloon end will transmit a "1". -- On the ground end, the 1 means the data was received incorrectly, and the program will kick into another subroutine to clear the first data and receive the original data again. -- Once the original data is sent again, the system will restart the data checking portion of the program, and continue to to go in this loop until the data is received correctly. - When the data is correctly received, the balloon end will collect the next set of data, send it, and the data check system will kick in again. At this point, I have only set up the data checking system to work with the GPS data. Assuming that it works in the primary testing, I will add it to the temperature data system. Also, I found a free online program to draw circuit schematics: Schematics.com It has all the symbols and everything for drawing the circuit schematics; it's great.  
I brought home some parts today to play with over the summer, and I really didn't know what they were. The ones that have datasheets are listed below.
Here's where you type. This is way cool. I finally have a platform to rule the world from.
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