What is "KATE"?

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Salvage-1

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I have been to a few launches where people stick a rocket up into the air and a nice voice comes over the tannoy talking you through the flight.

So... what is KATE, and what does one need to tame her and get her inside a rocket?
 
"Kate" is a system under development by Vern Knowles. It's a very high-end tracker that provides audible telemetry while the rocket is in flight.

As far as I know, it's not yet available for sale. It's a really cool system -- I got to see it, and talk to Vern about it some at LDRS.

-Kevin
 
My local club has a few launches per year that have KATE onboard. The club also broadcasts it's LCO/RCO stuff on FM. Everything stops when KATE gets launched. It IS awesome to listen to.

I found a recording I did of a flight earlier this year. Gives people a 'heads up' on KATE.

Sorry, my original post of "what is KATE" was a bit misleading, I know roughly 'what' it is, I was more wondering where I could get my grubby hands on one!!
Now that you have mentioned a name to go with the project, I am realising that he is a local flier....... Hmm... some major grovelling may be called for!

https://www.vernk.com/AngelfireTrajectories.htm

[video=youtube_share;LML5ggoFrrU]https://youtu.be/LML5ggoFrrU[/video]
 
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My local club has a few launches per year that have KATE onboard. The club also broadcasts it's LCO/RCO stuff on FM. Everything stops when KATE gets launched. It IS awesome to listen to.

I found a recording I did of a flight earlier this year. Gives people a 'heads up' on KATE.

Sorry, my original post of "what is KATE" was a bit misleading, I know roughly 'what' it is, I was more wondering where I could get my grubby hands on one!!
Now that you have mentioned a name to go with the project, I am realising that he is a local flier....... Hmm... some major grovelling may be called for!

https://www.vernk.com/AngelfireTrajectories.htm

[video=youtube_share;LML5ggoFrrU]https://youtu.be/LML5ggoFrrU[/video]

Don't shoot video sideways! That is a cool system.
 
I found an email from a couple of months ago from Vern, he shared it on our rocketry list, so I shouldn't think there would be a problem sharing on here.

Listen to them all, there are a couple of surprises!!

There were five Kate flights at NXRS. Data and streaming audio playback are available at the links below.

Kate did very well. All flights had a solid GPS lock and a solid RF link all the way up and all the way down. You will need to have Google Earth installed to view the trajectories. If the link does not automatically invoke Google Earth then you may have to save the file and open it from inside Google Earth.

The audio play back is real time.

Vern Knowles


Dave Hassinger’s “KCR” on an O5000
Kate Audio
Google Earth Trajectory
Plots

Dave Hassinger’s “Redemption” on an O5000
Kate Audio
Google Earth Trajectory
Plots

Dave Hassinger’s “Mostly Harmless” on an O4000
Kate Audio
Google Earth Trajectory
Plots

Rick Thome’s “The Beast” on an M1297
Kate Audio
Google Earth Trajectory
Plots

Rick Thome’s “The Beast” on an M2000
Kate Audio
Google Earth Trajectory
Plots
 
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One of our URRG members, Paul Gagnon went to Balls this year and returned with one of these, he flew it twice this past Saturday at our monthly launch, and I patched it through the P.A system.

Simply awesome! I love the vids on the website with "Kates" voice overlay up to 118,000 ft at Balls. What a product- pricey, but uber cool!
 
Since my sister is named Kate, I could imagine the guidance system telling me "you're getting warmer... warmer... colder... colder... ice cold" as I try to find my rocket in the desert. Knowing my luck it would be playing a "little" joke on me, and guiding me miles out of the way before a call to "Mom" would get things straightened out.
 
Since my sister is named Kate, I could imagine the guidance system telling me "you're getting warmer... warmer... colder... colder... ice cold" as I try to find my rocket in the desert. Knowing my luck it would be playing a "little" joke on me, and guiding me miles out of the way before a call to "Mom" would get things straightened out.

I believe the name is programmable to fulfill your every fantasy! :eek:
 
tumblr_mwfz4sjBwq1rosqy7o1_500.gif

Salvage-1 said "tannoy"! heh heh.
 
It's a fantastic system, although kinda pricey, and really showcases your flights when you broadcast the voice of the PA system.

Heard it, and spoke to Vern about it at LDRS33. I am assuming though that the "voice of the PA system" is a near term marketing promotion for the product technology versus a long-term process as full broadcast of flights countdown to landing would really slow larger launches.
 
I have gone a little cheaper to get my 'voice of the PA system'.
I recently got a Telemega with a TeleBT system and AltosDroid. The Android app 'speaks' to you almost like Kate, and I believe that I could connect the audio out to the PA system.
 
Based on the BALLS flight to 118k it appears this thing maintains GPS lock over mach 1, and apparently to mach 2.8. I didn't think that was permitted. I thought that maybe it was reporting back based on the accelerometer, but it did give a position at apogee, and also reported an altitude much closer to the recorded GPS alt than the accelerometer alt (about 1000' apart IIRC).

I'm not trying to be the rules police, I'm just curious how this thing does it's tricks because it is amazingly cool. 2K doesn't sound outside reasonable for this setup at all, especially given the $ these rockets and motors cost.
 
According to the website the GPS only stays locked up to 500m/s. Once the velocity drops below that threshold it will reacquire GPS data. It still has the on board accelerometer to keep track of velocity and altitude.
 
My understanding from talking to Vern at ROCStock was that it loses lock during boost and gets it back before apogee. Any reporting when out of GPS lock is accelerometer-based.
 
Proud to be part of the Idaho chapter of TRA and in Vern's club. I get to hear Kate frequently and I can attest to the crowd stopping what they are doing and watching a rocket with her onboard.
 
This is one thing I would love to have the skills to build. It is definitely top of the line.
 
This is one thing I would love to have the skills to build. It is definitely top of the line.
Forget the skills, I wish I had the money to get one. Met Vern (and Kate) at Airfest and they are the coolest!
 
One of our URRG members, Paul Gagnon went to Balls this year and returned with one of these, he flew it twice this past Saturday at our monthly launch, and I patched it through the P.A system.

Simply awesome! I love the vids on the website with "Kates" voice overlay up to 118,000 ft at Balls. What a product- pricey, but uber cool!
That was great to see and hear! that was also an amazing club launch!
 
According to the website the GPS only stays locked up to 500m/s. Once the velocity drops below that threshold it will reacquire GPS data. It still has the on board accelerometer to keep track of velocity and altitude.

Thanks much. Makes total sense. Admittedly I should have read more of the site. I'm impressed with how seamless the whole thing works. Just an increadibly cool piece of kit.
 
Available, and as mentioned, Paul Gagnon purchased on site @ BALLS. I spoke to Paul after purchase and he was enamored having heard Kate for the first time. It is a fantastic, top-shelf system. It uses the uBlox 7 GPS Engine running in the high dynamics mode. The velocity cutoff is for the uBlox7 is > 500 m/s. It's using 1W 900MHz ISM radios, but I don't know what model... The cross polarized yagi on the receiver works quite well as there was all-up radio downlink to 120K with said flight @ BALLS.
 
I have no idea how it works. For all I know there's a tiny chick sitting in the av bay with a radio reading an LCD screen. What I do know is it spikes the cool meter. Just about everything you'd wanna know called out. Very cool and I don't see it ever getting old.
 
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