15 June 15

-
Last Thursday we were able to complete the connection between the beagle and the protoboard. We also were able to test it and verify that all sensors were working properly. We had to re-calibrate them to compensate for the additional resistance in the ribbon wire and the beagle cape connector. After we were able to finish that we soldered together an external thermistor onto a 4-wire ribbon cable and soldered it down to the beagle cape connector. The whole assembly is just a 1k ohm resistor in series with a thermistor, with both ends soldered to the red and black wires respectively. The center of the two, where we read the voltage was soldered to the green wire and connected to the analog to digital converter. This was also able to read temperatures accurately which we tested by using a cup of ice water.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Camera Field of View Test

-
Image
Objective: To test which GoPro field of view if most optimal for the side camera to record the tray opening and closing. Gaining footage of the horizon is also a secondary goal. Method: GoPro Hero 3+ Silver, the camera that will be used for the sides, was mounted in its casing and payload box to simulate recording on the day of the flight. A previous model of the petri dish assembly will be positioned at various distances on the side. A ruler was used to measure the distance of the payload from the petri dish assembly to record different distance possibilities. The camera was recorded at 1080p and 60fps.   Camera mounted into the new, lightweight casing.  Using a standard ruler to measure distance. Below is a diagram of all the possible frames of second and fields of view for each resolution within GoPro Hero 3+ Black, the camera that will be used for the top.  It has been determined for the side camera to record at 60fps at 1080p, in which the possible fi
Read more

Camera Test in the Sun

-
Image
Last week we were able to test the GoPro cameras outside to see at what temperature the GoPro cameras fail, especially the top camera that would be directly facing the sun. The high was 83F in the afternoon, with several clouds in the sky. The thermometer cord was attached to the back of the top camera to record its changes in temperature. Attaching a thermometer to back of GoPro Inside Payload (Top camera connected to one power bank, side cameras connected to another) Setting up pole and payload so that the camera can record changes in thermometer. Results: 38900 Lux of Sun on Roof Top Camera (#1, Gopro Hero 3+ Black, 720p at 120fps): 98.2F - Initial Thermometer Reading at 10:35AM 116.8F - Thermometer Reading at 11:57AM 108.7F- Thermometer Reading at 1:16PM 36.5GB of memory used, recorded for 2 hours and 52 min (172 min) Side Camera (#2, GoPro Hero 3+ Silver, 1080p at 60fps): Temperature data not recorded for this ex
Read more

1 June 15

-
During our last meeting we were able to get the Accelerometer and the Barometer soldered onto the protoboard, along with the Resistors that we will be using as voltage dividers. The sensors are being calibrated by placing the board into a position where only 1 axis should be measuring any acceleration from gravity. The voltage of that axis will be taken, and then the device flipped 180 degrees so the specific axis is now in the opposite direction of gravity. This will result in the voltages that represent 1g and -1g. The middle point will be used and the Zero Offset and the difference between the Zero Offset and 1g will be used as sensitivity. Peter is also debugging the program and is attempting to add an algorithm that will calculate velocity using the acceleration obtained from the acceleration sensor. We are also order some more parts in order to connect the protoboard to the beagle. We are ordering ribbon cables and connectors. Pin headers which we will use to create a connector t
Read more