Bergen STEM Amateur Radio High Altitude Balloon (ARHAB)

9/21/18 Petri parameters; Wall thickness: 2.1 mm +- 0.1 mm Height including ridge: 20.0 mm Diameter: equal to fusion model but might need more clearance for easier inserting Old polycarbonate: 0.490"x0.400" Ordered full 1/2'x1/2" rods in polycarbonate and aluminum as well as a smaller size aluminum rod. 10/12/18 Materials came in and at the moment the smaller aluminum is appearing to be our go to rod-material. Reorganized the mess that came with moving rooms. All is now is in separate bins. 10/19/2018 The team met with Professor Balzarette and discussed materials and overall weight solutions. The idea of carbon fiber tubing came up for a possible more rigid and light material than the polycarbonate or aluminum. The batteries take up a lot of space and weight so we need to look into finding a solution for this.

We are almost finished with the payload. We finished the petri dish holders and cut holes in the box for the rods. We are did a mock assembly of the payload in order to weigh everything en masse. The payload weighs 8 pounds.

We finally have one of the compartments for the Petri dish. Unfortunately, it seems to be a bit too small, so we might need to either enlarge and reprint the model or file a few things down. The dish does fit if its pushed into place using a bit of force. Due to the way the holder was designed, the dish can only fit if its pushed in. The dish is essentially like a trapezoid (a bit like so \__/), thus in order for it to fit, the larger top side has to be pushed through the smaller bottom side of the holder. The motor mounts and the cover are being printed. We also finished the invitation form and sent it to Louis.

The components for the Petri dish holders are being printed and soaked. Zack updated the poster while Josh and Ian finished and submitted the AGU abstract. Joshua G. made the motor driver work. It is bidirectional and it was successful in driving a servo with the gear attached in both direction.

Zachary touched up the poster, Ian finalized the abstract, and Sadik is trying to graph the test flight data. We also measured the parachute-to-balloon cord and the parachute-to-package cord, which were 37' and 29' 4", respectively. In the meantime, the biologists took our remaining 5 Petri dishes to sterilize them and add agar for the launch. This leaves us with one Petri dish for testing. Yesterday, we finished rendering the payload in Fusion 360. This included two Petri dish assemblies, two Spot GPS holders, one APRS holder, one battery holder with two batteries and three camera casings (two in the box, one in the lid). The circuit board has not been included yet; we're still waiting for the digital pressure sensor and thermistor.

Today, - Zach added styrofoam shimming to one of the Hero 3 camera constructions to keep it in place - Ian continued work on box outlining - Still waiting for the rods, sheets, pressure sensor and thermistors to arrive.

Today, we continued work on the extras around our project while we wait for parts and prints to be delivered: - Zach continued work on the poster for the presentation on August 9th - Joshua R and Ian worked on another draft of the abstract for the Fall AGU Meeting - Ian started an outline for a complete rendering of the box with all parts included

Today all parts excluding the petri dish assembly have finished printing and can be used properly. All of them fit the parts that they were designed for. Kassem made a final review for the petri dish prototype and this has now been sent to professor Balzarette to be printed.  A rough draft for the abstract to be submitted for the AGU Fall Meeting 2018 is also in production, and work on the poster for the presentation on August 9th has also begun.

The next batch of payload components (battery, APRS, and Spot cases) are finished. On a less positive note, we may need to rework the net. The one we currently have doesn't quite fit the box we're using, so Ian sketched a new net design we could use.

The good news is that we have received three top pieces and one bottom piece of the camera casings. However, since we simply took last year's SolidWorks drawings for them, the dimensions of the bottom piece were incorrect, and it will not fit around the top pieces. Otherwise, the top pieces are fine. We had to transfer the SolidWorks models into fusion and make sure they actually fit together. Clearances had to be added and sides of the design had to be given the right dimensions to fit. Additionally, Zach weighed the top pieces as well as some of the other components of the payload, namely one of the Hero3+'s, the net, a battery pack, and two of the available boxes. The data for this can be found under the Tuesday July 17 post.

We are almost ready to print a first test of the petri assembly, but before we do that a few small changes need to be made. One side is still missing a locking mechanism a better way to attach the motor-holder We started work on a google form to start collecting volunteers for our launch day.

Today Joshua R. and Alejandro weighed the major components of the box such as the APRS, Spot GPS, circuit board and GoPros. APRS - 11.3 oz APRS Casing - 0.9 oz Hero 3 (with cable and housing) - 5.7 oz SPOT gps - 2.9 oz SPOT casing (Yellow) - 1.0 oz SPOT casing (Blue) - 0.7 oz CircuitBoard (fully loaded, but might be changed) - 1.4 oz Top Hero Camera Casing - 2.3 oz Bottom Hero Casing - 1.7 oz Netting - 2.8 oz Battery - 7.3 oz Battery Casing - 0.4 oz empty box - 9.5 oz - 9.7 oz depending on which box is weighed A full camera assembly (camera, Top, Bottom) - 9.7 oz We are also planning another test flight for the circuit board components such as pressure gauger, Altitude indicator, and GPS modules. Zach counted the nuts, bolts, and washer that were needed for the final assembly of the care package that will be sent up to fly. These numbers are added as comments into each Fusion design. Ian is preparing an abstract to be submitted for the AGU 2018 Fall meeting...

End of Week II of Summer 2 - 7/12/2018 Our beloved mentor Professor Griffo will be leaving us for the next two week to take a well-deserved vacation. When professor Griffo returns we will only have about two weeks before we need to be ready to launch. This means that we, as a team, need to come together and work hard to complete as much as possible. Alejandro and Ian sat together with the professor to come up with a to-do list for the following weeks; this includes printing at least one completed petri assembly that has been tested, printing all casings, and generally getting ready for a launch in August. Progress Today, Thursday the 12th, we had to present our progress to the rest of the groups working here during the summer. The presentation went well, but we clocked in 7 minutes and 7 seconds from an allowed 3 - 5 minutes. Below is the presentation, if needed for further reference. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1whJQM1j4RCveDmQKPiAkz8o1wdrj7RuAVJhWfwd0pDA/edit?usp...

Week 2 July 9 - 13 Today we fixed the designs of our for the camera fixtures as well as the fixtures for the APRS, Spot GPS, and batteries. We spoke to our 3-D printing advisor for revisions on the design and other advice we would need for the 3-D printed components. We continued working on perfecting the petri dish design based on the advice Kassam gave us.

Week 1: 7/3/2018 Today we: modified the GoPro Session inside casing to be fitted into the lid. (Ian) decided it will be lighter to use polycarbonate rods and sheet instead of the original aluminum that we had in mind. The sheet would carry an estimated weight of 0.50625 lbs One rod would carry an estimated weight of 0.08568 lbs This gives us an estimated total of 1.18386 lbs https://www.mcmaster.com/# 8574k243/=1djy9gy https://www.mcmaster.com/# 1753k63/=1djybyz These parts were ordered. Professor Griffo and Ian called the GoPro customer service with hope to receive a better answer for our failing cameras. However, this was not very helpful and they simply said to update the software. Professor Griffo also brought in 3-inch nuts, bolts and washers the bolts have a diameter of 4.94 mm and this needs to be modified into our designs. ( !!!!! )

Summer II - 7/2/2018 Week 1; Today marks the halfway point with the beginning of Summer II. A new member, Joshua Remer, will be joining us with the departure of Jennifer. Today, we: tested the cameras outside with the lenses in the shade, hoping to identify the problem of the cameras shutting off. (Team) Doing this gave us confusing data. We expected the cameras to run longer, but they all shut off before we picked them up at the end of the day. Camera #1 (GoPro Session) lasted for 2 hours and 5 minutes Camera #4 (GoPro Hero 3) lasted for 2 hours and 26 minutes Camera #5 (GoPro Hero 3) lasted for 2 hours and 58 minutes SP360 camera lasted for 43 minutes modified the covers for the GoPro Hero 3 (Ian) Made them smaller and and cut out the holes for the lenses and battery cables.

The front view drawing was corrected because there were hidden lines for the perti dish when it is suppose to be solid lines since it is sectioning.  Image 1. Top View Image 2. Front View Corrected The drawings still need to be dimensioned after it has been approved. However, Professor Griffo stated that he wants the poles with the petri dish assembly to be on the longer side of the box instead of the shorter side. Also, the petri dish assembly needs to be completely outside of the box instead of it being partially inside the box as it is drawn. Below are pictures of equipment that will be included in the final group report paper.  Image 3. Box View 1  Image 4. Box View 2  Image 5. Box View 3  Image 6. Box View 4  Image 7. Ruler  Image 8. Net  Image 9. Spot GPS  Image 10. APRS  Image 11. AA and AAA Batteries  Image 12. Petri Dish View 1 ...

We erased the testing footage of the cameras to free up memory space for the launch. That said, we are trying to figure out whether to place the circuit board on top of the APRS or the battery pack. Additionally, Jennifer has finished sketching the top and front views of the payload. We just need the to be approved. We are still trying to receive permission to 3-D print the camera casings and other components.

On June 21, 25, and 26 of 2018, Jennifer worked on the mechanical drawings for the project. Using her drafting kit and the drafting table in the college's library, Jennifer created a top and front view of the box with 2 petri dish assemblies, 2 battery packs, 2 camera (the other 2 camera will be installed into the lid of the box), 2 SPOT GPS, and the APRS. The lid of the box is not drawn yet. The front view drawing is not complete; but, the top view drawing is complete. However, both top and front views are not dimensioned. The scale is 1/4" =1". The drawings will be dimensioned after the positions of the equipment inside the box is approved by Professor Griffo. The dimensions for the following drawings are: Box Length: 14.75 inches Height: 7 inches Width: 11 inches Inner Width: 7.5 inches Deep: 5.5 inches Thickness: 1.75 inches Petri Dish Diameter (from outer edge to outer edge): 6.3 inches (approximately) Height: 0.75 inches Petri ...

We are testing the equipment for the high altitude balloon's payload. The two Spot's, APRS, and four cameras will be left powered in the box without the lid for five hours. We will later retrieve the equipment to check if everything is still functional.  We went over Zack's "Motor Shopping List" for a servo motor to use in the payload. So far, we agreed on the FS90R.  We checked the GPS devices on the computer and it stopped receiving data about forty-five minutes to an hour after deployment, so we needed to move the box around to recalibrate them.