Project - sending a Jeb figurine into stratosphere

[Skyler4856]

Unless I'm missing something, there's still not a Arduino which can run Linux (or at least for the price of a RBP).

With RPB you can just connect anything you want without having to solder anything and it can actually handle alot more data than an Arduino.

700Mhz vs 16Mhz.

Or in other words; you'll need to have an Arduino for every sensor.

You don't need Linux to run the board seeing as we have an open source coding software available on the the Arduino website.

And we really don't need as much internal memory space as the Raspberry Pi offers, the memory could be based on a USB flashdrive, and then use the analog connection or even the micro-USB's the Arduino offers, for sensors.

Regarding your qualms with soldering, I made my first Arduino board when I was 13, and that wasn't too difficult...

Edited September 26, 2014 by Skyler4856

[TheFlyingPigs]

See, this is why I love the community

Im researching the RasberryPi as we speak

Edited September 26, 2014 by TheFlyingPigs

[TheFlyingPigs]

Does anyone know if Yoctopuse parts can be detected by the Rasberry Pi? I'm looking at this right now, it's perfect!

http://www.yoctopuce.com/EN/products/usb-environmental-sensors/yocto-3d

EDIT: Now thinking if we should have a Yocto and a Pi

http://www.yoctopuce.com/EN/products/extensions-and-networking/yoctohub-wireless

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/processor-microcontroller-development-kits/8111284/

Edited September 26, 2014 by TheFlyingPigs

[TheFlyingPigs]

I need your opinion, Do we want a Raspberry Pi or a Arduino? If you can give me Pro-Con for both then that would be awesome! BTW Do we need Yoctopuse or just a Raspberry Pi?

[Skyler4856]

I need your opinion, Do we want a Raspberry Pi or a Arduino? If you can give me Pro-Con for both then that would be awesome! BTW Do we need Yoctopuse or just a Raspberry Pi?

Arduino is cheaper, and easier to program, only problem is that most only have two digital inputs, with the rest based on analog

[TheFlyingPigs]

Arduino is cheaper, and easier to program, only problem is that most only have two digital inputs, with the rest based on analog

Thanks, BTW, do you know which one is easier

[TheFlyingPigs]

Yep, Definitly having a Yocto For Science!

[linkxsc]

Arduino is cheaper, and easier to program, only problem is that most only have two digital inputs, with the rest based on analog

Honestly both are almost the same price (35-40 for rpi vs 20-30 for arduino) i can point out though that the arduino is much less power hungry than the rpi.

Ive messed with both units extensively. When it comes to interfacing with other chips (accelerometers, gyros, gps) i can certainly say that its significantly easier to do with an arduino than an rpi.

In any rpi projects that ive done that need to read or control other things, especially screens, i have the rpi stream the commands into the arduino for execution because its easier to control things directly from the arduino.

Honestly if you gave me a list of the kinds of sensors you wanted to use, i could probably throw together a base datalogging program for them in an afternoon on arduino. But sensors themselves can get kinda expensive.

On the note of only being able to use 2 digital inputs, this is incorrect. However i am guessing that you are meaning theres 1 I2C bus and 1 SPI. Yes you can only read from 2 chips at any particular instant. But in many cases you can read and store values from several sensors several times a second.

Many drones that run off of arduino are pulling from a gyro, compass, barometer, accelerometer, and sometimes the gps chip, all with the same spi wires (just with a different control line)

Also on the note of gps shutting off at an altitude... i cant really help with that part, ive never tried to get an unlocked gps chip. But at the same time, do you need full gps tracking? Or only when it starts to come back down?

[FleshJeb]

There's some excellent information here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Low-cost-Near-Space-Without-HAM-Radios-or-Cellphon/

FYI, Hydrogen is half the price, and provides 7-8% more lift.

[andrewas]

You can read from far more than 1 chip via SPI, provided you have a spare GPIO pin to use as slave select. On your basic Arduino Uno, thats up to .. 14 GPIO, minus three for the SPI interface, 11 slave select lines. There are ways to push that further, and if you really need to, you can use a bigger Arduino. I'll be impressed if anyone runs out of GPIO on a 'Mega. Its also possible to build Arduino-like boards, so once you've prototyped it, you can produce a single PCB with only the components you need, eliminating the bulky stack of shields and inevitable unused connectors.

[linkxsc]

You can read from far more than 1 chip via SPI, provided you have a spare GPIO pin to use as slave select. On your basic Arduino Uno, thats up to .. 14 GPIO, minus three for the SPI interface, 11 slave select lines. There are ways to push that further, and if you really need to, you can use a bigger Arduino. I'll be impressed if anyone runs out of GPIO on a 'Mega. Its also possible to build Arduino-like boards, so once you've prototyped it, you can produce a single PCB with only the components you need, eliminating the bulky stack of shields and inevitable unused connectors.

Honestly a while ago i built a temp data logger for some ovens for a company using 32 spi temp sensors (8 per oven, in different spots). Needed 3 pins for the spi, and then for the trigger lines to the different sensors, i had 4 shift registers set up in series (3 more pins), they'd just kick out a single 1, followed by 31 0s and as the 1 would get shifted through, and trigger 1 of them at a time.

Set it up just right with your data logger program, and you never need more than 6 pins to control "infinite" amounts of spi chips (you will run into clockspeed problems with the shift registers though)

Also as far as this balloon project, most of it could be hand prototyped on a small board oneself, or if you want a full sensor package. The 100-200 of a several sensors in 1 shield, might actually save you money and time in the long run. (3in1 sensor chips are always helpful too. Could rig up your sensors on a prototyping shield easy enough, and then youd just throw an sd datalogger shield on top to save the data)

[Nicholander]

Ah, interesting to see another project inspired by the KSP Community CubeSat, I do wish you guys good luck!

Though, I'm really annoyed when people talk about the KSP Community CubeSat (KSPCC) like it's stupid, impossible, or just plain dumb. And also, why did you say: "...was the KSP Community CubeSat?" It's still going on, so I don't see any reason to talk about it like that. I'm not trying to say that this project is stupid, all I'm saying is that I disagree with the criticism of the KSP Community CubeSat.

[Skyler4856]

You can read from far more than 1 chip via SPI, provided you have a spare GPIO pin to use as slave select. On your basic Arduino Uno, thats up to .. 14 GPIO, minus three for the SPI interface, 11 slave select lines. There are ways to push that further, and if you really need to, you can use a bigger Arduino. I'll be impressed if anyone runs out of GPIO on a 'Mega. Its also possible to build Arduino-like boards, so once you've prototyped it, you can produce a single PCB with only the components you need, eliminating the bulky stack of shields and inevitable unused connectors.

Hmm, thanks for the information!

[megatiger78]

why dont we launch the cubesat of this? think about it!

[Skyler4856]

why dont we launch the cubesat of this? think about it!

It's easier to purchase a latex balloon and some helium, than to convince a cubesat launcher to send the satelite up. And besides that, who says the two cant work in a symbiotic manner; We offer them research from our flight, they contribute expertise to our mission.

[dharak1]

We couldn't launch anything to space off of this balloon, let alone a cubesat. Japans first orbital rocket had a payload of 1 Kg. Japan, a rather wealthy country could launch just one cubesat on their first rocket. Putting the rocket on the balloon wouldn't help very much and we wouldn't be able to carry an orbital rocket with a balloon. We aren't even launching the cubesat ourselves. It would cost so much more than a launch provider using a P POD.

[astropapi1]

Well, 1kg isn't the smallest you can go. Actually, there's this thing called the N-Prize, where teams are trying to put a <20g satellite in orbit and track it for a minimum of 9 orbits... for a total cost of 1500 dollars. It's not impossible, but not child's play either.

[linkxsc]

20 grams... lesse an ATmega chip off of an arduino weighs in the ballpark of 2g... So basically you're putting an unprotected PCB in space with some sensors on it and a couple tiny solar cells, and calling it a satellite. (Though theres always those ping pong ball "sats")

[astropapi1]

20 grams... lesse an ATmega chip off of an arduino weighs in the ballpark of 2g... So basically you're putting an unprotected PCB in space with some sensors on it and a couple tiny solar cells, and calling it a satellite. (Though theres always those ping pong ball "sats")

It "only" has to survive for 13.5 hours in space, and I'm sure you could get some cheap and light insulation for it. After all, it doesn't have to perform any experiments. Just give it solar panels/batteries for power, a little antenna for transmitting signals, and a little computer to control the whole thing.

[megatiger78]

why dosent the systems test of the cubesat be it gets carried up to spaceby the jeb zeplin and is taken back down again to be reoverd

[linkxsc]

Could always try to do the balloon project inside the 10cm form factor of a cubesat. Or a 20x10x10 (less need of custom pcbs for the electronics) dunno though what people would want this rig to do though?

Like what is the actual design goal of this project?

[lajoswinkler]

Well, you could've just continued the original thread which already has tons of neccessary information like needed materials, designs concepts and goals, so no time is needed to be spent on repeating the known stuff.

I'm not actually sure why did the idea die. Several people expressed the will not only to conduct parts of the process, but also to fund it by money or actual materials.

Meanwhile, the CubeSat thread, which really isn't going anywhere (let alone to Phobos, lol) is still active.

[TheFlyingPigs]

linksxc: Dude, subscribe to this thread and be active as much as you can. We will need your skills in the future, stay active!

fleshjeb: Thanks for the idea, but I lean towards helium as it is less "Burny"

andrewas:do excactly what I said to linksxc, stay active as much as you can, we need you

Nicholander: I did not mean any disrespect, by all means the reason I made this was because the community was so strong on the Community CubeSat. I read all 126 pages and I became infatuated with the idea (fancy word!)

[TheFlyingPigs]

megatiger: This project was based on simplicity, and it would just seem like a lame tag of the CubeSat

dharak1: The idea was only theoretical and I thankyou for your criticism. I'm smart enough to know that criticism is what you need, not praise

astropapi1: If all goes well, we might have a second "Light-headed" mission...

Lagoswinker: I had no idea you had another thread!

[Vanamonde]

Since it looks like this a resumption of an existing project, the threads have been merged to keep all the info in one place.