Prock-1 Balloon Blog

Updated Prock-1 page

admin — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:40:08 +0000

I updated the Prock-1 page again this morning. Added some info, not much.

Prock-1 info page added

admin — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 11:45:39 +0000

I have been working on a better Prock-1 info page that is part of the Wordpress software that I am using. It looks much nicer than the info page at www.procknation.com. The page can be accessed by clicking the Prock-1 info tab at the top of the blog.

I am adding the content as I have time to and will post to this blog as I update it. I will include the sections that have been updated at that time.

You can access the Prock-1 info directly here.

Jason

It’s good to take a break

admin — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:15:45 +0000

Well sometimes it is.

It has been a while since I have looked at the schematic and I noticed something missing. Well actually something I have not considered yet. How to read the memory from the flight computer containing all the telemetry and instrument data.

I might use a memory dump switch like that of Earl Foster’s HAPB designs. Or just plug into the serial line and issue a command to dump the data to the terminal, then cut and paste it to a file.

I will most likely employ multiple methods for redundancy in case of a landing disaster.

Jason

Update 7-26-2008. Ordered some more parts.

admin — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:46:23 +0000

Well…my kid (almost 5) asked me today when am I going to start playing with my robot again. I told him it is hard to work on it when I am busy playing with him and stuff. He said that he would promise to let me have time to work on it and would help me if I said please.

So I am kinda getting the ich to get working on this again. I ordered the DS2450 A/D converter today. DS2450 info here. The one bad thing about this ADC is that is only comes in a 8-pin SOIC package, which is ok when I get the board fabricated. But for now while I am prototyping I need to get an adapter board to get it to a 8-pin DIP foot print. I’ll post again later when I find the adapter board I am going to use.

Hopefully more posts soon to come.

Jason

In a holding pattern

admin — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:11:43 +0000

Well I am in holding pattern. Between some uncertainty at work and a busy summer schedule at home there has not been a lot of time to work on the Prock-1. Hopefully soon I will get back on track and get this thing launched.

Jason

Blog moved

admin — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:57:00 +0000

Well I cut over my blogs to my procknation.com server using wordpress.
I am still in the process of customizing all the bells and whistles so
things might be a little rocky for a bit.

You can still access the old blogs at procknation.blogspot.com and at prock-1balloonblog.blogspot.com.

If you notice anything terrible wrong let me know.

HAPB-3 Successful Launch and Recovery

admin — Sat, 31 May 2008 09:03:00 +0000

Congratulations to Earl Foster and his wife on a successful launch and recovery (splash down!) of HAPB-3. Go to his HAPB-3 page to see the pictures and video of his recent flight.

When I first starting looking into this new hobby of mine described as high altitude ballooning I came across Earl Foster’s HAPB site www.hapb.net. It wasn’t till after I saw his pictures and videos of his first flight that I was real excited about ballooning. That day I downloaded ExpressSCH from ExpressPCB and started designing my first flight controller. I designed a piece o-crap the first time around. But since then I have learned a lot and I am on my fifth or sixth revision and am getting ready to build the first prototype. I keep checking out Earl’s page to remind me how exciting it will be to launch my first balloon.

Thanks again and congratulations to Earl Foster.

Updated Schematic

admin — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:59:00 +0000

Here is a new revision to the schematic. Had to add in a 1-Wire analog to digital converter. When I made the initial design I thought the BS2px had an ADC built in. The ADC converts the analog voltage output of the barometric sensor to an 8-bit digital value. I chose the DS2450 mainly for the I2C interface. The DS18B20 temperature sensors also use the 1-Wire interface which means the DS2450 and the DS18B20’s can use the same bus. I also chose the DS2450 because it has four inputs to allow future addons for experiments or extra sensors.

I also rearranged the design a bit. I didn’t fully read the docs on the BS2px and certain pins will only work for certain things such as synch and asynch serial, 1-wire, and I2C protocols.

Also, http://www.procknation.com/ is starting to come online. I finally found my old copy of Dreamweaver MX. As I get time I will be adding page content. But don’t expect to much. I follow the Google model of web page building, less is better. I don’t have a bunch of graphics or flash crap. Just the content.

Videos of Other High Altitude Balloons

admin — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:24:00 +0000

Here are some videos from other people that have launched high altitude balloons.

Making Progress. Update 4-20-2008

admin — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:51:00 +0000

Here is the proto version of the Basic Stamp 2px (blue chip), DS18B20 temperature sensors (little black things to the left of the blue chip), and connection to the GPS receiver (red and white wire on left to the top). The green chip on the right is a MAX1668 temperature monitor with 1 local and 4 remote sensors. Unfortunately I have not been able to get it to talk to the BS2px over the SMBUS, yet. After a little research I think I have figured out how to “bit-bash” the SMBUS protocol out of a synchronous connection from the BS2px but have not had the time to try to develop the code and test it.

There are some other components on there like the LED bars and resistors such that I am not using right now.

As for the main program code, things are going good. I got the DS18B20 sensors to talk using an I2C link. I also have the GPS data acquisition part working over a serial link. It took a while to figure out how to correctly parse the incoming data from the GPS receiver.

On Thursday I ordered the serial LCD panel, I2C EEPROM memory chips, and the atmospheric pressure sensor. I’ll update again after I get those components working and post some pictures and maybe some video.