Bergen STEM Amateur Radio High Altitude Balloon (ARHAB)

Now that you have your vnc server working on your BeagleBone Black you can connect to the school's wifi.  First you run: wicd-curses and scroll down to Bergen-Wifi and press 'C'. After the connection is made quit and start the vnc server on the BBB as root (as explained in yesterday's post).  Then launch your vnc client on your host computer and type in: 192.168.7.2:5900 Once the gui of the BBB comes up, point the browser to bergen.edu and follow the instructions to enter your credentials and register your device (your BBB).  You must reboot inorder for the wifi to kick in. Also, it is no longer necessary to enter your credentials.  The Bergen-Wifi will remember your device.  However, you still need to run "wicd-curses" to connect. See the June 13, 2015 post on how to get the wicd daemon to connect automatically upon boot up. http://bergenballoon.blogspot.com/2015/07/13-june-15.html There is one bug in this connection though, I could not get ping

I was able to set up a VNC server on the beaglebone black.  I followed the instructions for it here: http://inspire.logicsupply.com/p/vnc-connection.html x11vnc must be run as root.

The camera that is to face up towards the balloon, power on and start recording at a certain height, is experiencing some odd behaviour when it shutdowns through the wifi.  Basically what happens is that it powers up and starts recording, however, when it sends a signal to stop recording, it power downs the camera, and the video on the SD card is deleted.  In one test, it totally fried the SD card.  I would recommend that we buy a 32 GB SD card approved by GoPro for the Hero3+, and continue testing.  There may be something wrong with the api to control the GoPro through WIFI programmatically.

Powering the payload: Use two batteries on next launch. One for the horizontal GoPro and one for BeagleBone Black Best to use a battery eliminator for GoPro. http://www.amazon.com/Switronix-DVGP3USB-Battery-Eliminator-10-Feet/dp/B00JXNX6BU http://cam-do.com/GoProBatteryEliminator.html Also, use GoPro approved SD cards 16GB to 32 GB http://gopro.com/support/articles/software-update-release http://shop.gopro.com/accessories/sandisk-extreme-32gb-microsdhc/ASDMC-332.html#/start=1 Payload Box: Build and design Balso wood box for payload Have slots for cameras Have battery bay Solid mount for electronics GPS Receiver: E-506 SiRFIV GPS  Flip Tx and RX on proto board Solder pin5 to Pin1 (Check out data sheet for original GPS and E-506 Check to see if GPS device can be soldered onto board. The satellit signals should go through styrofoam and latex Runs at 1.6 GHz https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12751

These schematics are for our electronic and sensors:

A solution suggested by Professor Joe Sivo is to use a dummy battery, known as a battery eliminator, and replace it with the GoPro's battery. http://www.amazon.com/Switronix-DVGP3USB-Battery-Eliminator-10-Feet/dp/B00JXNX6BU Here is an article that explains that trying to run camera while charging causes overheat and shutdown: http://cam-do.com/ GoProBatteryEliminator.html Very important quote from this site: "The battery eliminator snaps into the battery slot of all GoProHero 3 and 3+ models and latches like the GoPro lid for a secure fit. Using a battery eliminator eliminates two sources of heat. The charging circuit in the camera and the battery itself, which gets warm while charging. Less heat makes the camera more reliable. Overheating can cause unexpected shut-down of the camera. A battery eliminator also bypasses the problems that some users have had with the GoPro charging logic causing the camera to freeze and require a reset." Also, we can look into a BacP

Launch Video