show your controll room

Hi Iḿ Niels popping from the Netherlands,

do you have a control room at your home, or organization?
show your stuff!!!

I have made my own launch system supply in my computer.
with a relay switch mounted on the lpt connection of the computer.
that will activated the ignition of the rocket,
also webcams can be easy connected, so you can have a great view of your rocket, and easy to monitoring your mission.
payload can be activate, and reprogram, thankz to this connection to the computer, if you run a clock at your pc, the computer is taken over the job, en activate the payload system, armed the motor and launch it, by the second of time.


Iḿ using older monitor´s
cause I dont know why I need it all flat.
here some first pictures

Very impressive Neils. When I launch rockets I just throw them into my car and drive 5 miles to the park. I don't take any computers with me. How exactly do you use all of this equipment to launch rockets?

Way more than I've ever seen, but kind of cool. Do you have any information available about the machines themselves? From the task manager screen shot, it appears you have 16 processors/cores running. That interests me, especially if it is under a windows cluster of some sort.

Sandy.

the monitors you seeing are connected to four computers, 3 single cores, one with four quad cores, I´m using the 16 core machine also for video rendering, and virtual pc´s,
its easier to activate payload electronics inside the rocket, with a computer than do it by hand, turning an a onboard camera, or activate the ignition system, also with a timing program, controlling my LPT and com I/O connections your computer can take over the job,
only you have to do is program the launch and set the launch time, and the computer activate the rest.

looking at one display to the weather and airtraffic,
another siplay can show google earth connected with a wireless GPS,
you can follow your rocket,

a countdown clock for a display,

and a program, connected to each I/O ( lpt com etc) you can control anything,

ok I can do it by hand, but this looks more professional, so i used my computer collection to make a control room,
Iḿ still working on it, I want to have wireless video from onboard the rocket to the display, and when I have a RC plane, I just gonna buy it to connect with the computer joystick, so it looks like your just playing a game,

but first I need to make a launch tower, ( cause I blow up the last one)
when I see a video of the sojuz, I love the arms thats holding the rocket in place, and give me a good id for what I want to try.



and no its not a windows cluster, as you maybe can see i´m also using Linux,
its a suppermicro maynboard quad socket 771, each core running on 2,1 GHZ
with just one pcie8x and 24gb ddr677

So just to make sure i'm understanding this (and I'm certain that I am not) what I gather is that you've got your rockets outside connected to these computers. When you do your 3-2-1 countdowns, you're here and watch the flight on the monitors? Seems like that would be a little anti-climactic.

dragon_rider10 said:

So just to make sure i'm understanding this (and I'm certain that I am not) what I gather is that you've got your rockets outside connected to these computers. When you do your 3-2-1 countdowns, you're here and watch the flight on the monitors? Seems like that would be a little anti-climactic.

Click to expand...

Yeah I´m watching the flight on the monitors, and have the rocket connected with the computer,
but when the computer is taken the job over,

you can still watch the flight outside the room,

but to be sure, I´m always disconnect the computer with the Internet,
you never know , cause you can be hacked.

there is still a lat work to do, I need to make a wireless connection,
cause when the rocket leaves the tower, it is disconnected.

A few moths ago, I did just one test, if it was possible to launch just from the computer, it works almost fine.
only my power supply was damage,
so I need to fix that first, this powersupply was the source of the modules that translated the I/O (lpt com usb etc)into switches, and I was so stupid to use it also as unprotected source for the igniter's.


tomorrow when Iḿ back from vacation I ll post some drawings and how you can control your rocket with the computer,
its realy easy and you don't have to spent so much money,

and if you like DOS it can be more fun than using just windows.

Are you doing this for research, or just because you like launching your rockets via computer?

It's a cool idea, but myself and I'm sure many others prefer being outdoors and watching it go up. Besides building, that's half the fun! That's not meant as criticism, just curiosity. To each their own in the rocket world.

I can watch the flight, the computer can take anything over,
and yes I´m doing some research, I like to show,
but you just have to wait until my new PML 1/2 patriot arrived

I make the research as an hobby, so I just doing on my own,


but has some one transmitted their video back to the ground?
most of the cameras have just a range thats to short,

and making a video transmitter is not the easiest job in the world,


and believe me its so much cooler to setup the launch with a computer, and watch, than just puss the button to make it flight.

If you are inside how do you know it is safe to launch? Do you set the rocket up, scan the sky for aircraft, look around to make sure no one is approaching the rocket and then run inside to launch? Or do you have someone outside doing visual checks for you?

niels popping said:

but has some one transmitted their video back to the ground?
most of the cameras have just a range thats to short,
and making a video transmitter is not the easiest job in the world,

Click to expand...

Yes. This website can set you up, assuming they are willing to ship to your location.
https://www.boostervision.com/boostervision/default.asp
I believe at least one of the transmitting cameras from that site can be alternatively be acquired by buying wireless home security cameras. Likely available on eBay.

A patch antenna on the receiving side should help extend the range of the cameras. I think a rubber ducky antenna for the receiver may be rated to 800 feet, but the patch antenna may be rated to 1 mile.

Here are some of my videos captured from the cheaper Boostervision wireless camera:
[youtube]SsbQ6KXIPFc[/youtube]
[youtube]V23RQ0HO5P4[/youtube]
[youtube]dxDqdc3SD_s[/youtube]
[youtube]ixfHtSQKs9A[/youtube]
[youtube]DhVIf4fJnbI[/youtube]
[youtube]0uculj9yFD8[/youtube]

I use a patch antenna on the receiver side. Some of those launches reached a half mile up. The pixelation you see in the videos is due to compression artifacts in my recording device (an old 640x480 resolution Aiptek camcorder).
Some of the videos i have are more blurry, due to forgetting to focus the wireless camera before launch.


I think you should definitely attach a wireless transmitter to your rockets. It just makes sense, given your method of launching rockets.

Bob

Zeus-cat said:

If you are inside how do you know it is safe to launch? Do you set the rocket up, scan the sky for aircraft, look around to make sure no one is approaching the rocket and then run inside to launch? Or do you have someone outside doing visual checks for you?

Click to expand...

No if somebody is walking out there I can see it on the camera,
but the launch area, nobody is being there only me,
I live on the farmer,

it saver than doing it by hand, cause if something went wrong, you are safe inside,

I can still watch the launch outside my house,
the computer can run the launch automatically, by timer,

and if you need to abort, just a puss an a button.

bguffer said:

Yes. This website can set you up, assuming they are willing to ship to your location.
https://www.boostervision.com/boostervision/default.asp
I believe at least one of the transmitting cameras from that site can be alternatively be acquired by buying wireless home security cameras. Likely available on eBay.

A patch antenna on the receiving side should help extend the range of the cameras. I think a rubber ducky antenna for the receiver may be rated to 800 feet, but the patch antenna may be rated to 1 mile.

Here are some of my videos captured from the cheaper Boostervision wireless camera:
[youtube]SsbQ6KXIPFc[/youtube]
[youtube]V23RQ0HO5P4[/youtube]
[youtube]dxDqdc3SD_s[/youtube]
[youtube]ixfHtSQKs9A[/youtube]
[youtube]DhVIf4fJnbI[/youtube]
[youtube]0uculj9yFD8[/youtube]

I use a patch antenna on the receiver side. Some of those launches reached a half mile up. The pixelation you see in the videos is due to compression artifacts in my recording device (an old 640x480 resolution Aiptek camcorder).
Some of the videos i have are more blurry, due to forgetting to focus the wireless camera before launch.


I think you should definitely attach a wireless transmitter to your rockets. It just makes sense, given your method of launching rockets.

Bob

Click to expand...

Thankzz,

but they don't delivered in the Netherlands,



but they have some nice cameras
and they are not so expensive

It's a great concept, Niels! I am very impressed with the design and engineering of your set up. So you constructed this for your personal rocket range at your farm - is that correct? Awesome!

The safety code that we follow requires that a launch be initiated by a discrete positive action by the person controlling the launch. This is almost always met by having the Launch Control Officer physically push a button that completes the ignition circuit only during the interval when the button is being physically pushed down. If the LCO releases the button, the circuit is immediately interrupted again and no electricity is sent to the launch pad. A completely separate switch with a removable key must also be manually closed before the ignition button can even be activated. It is never permissible to initiate the launch of a hobby rocket from the ground by the use of a timer or other automated, unattended equipment without direct intervention by the person making the launch. (It is permitted to fire additional rocket motors or upper stage motors with an automatic device once the rocket has left the ground, though.) It is unclear to me whether your system includes these same safety measures. Does it incorporate anything similar to them?