philoarktiko
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2016
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[FONT=&]Friends!! I am part of a university competition to get a solid-fueled rocket to 10,000 feet carrying an 8.8 lb payload. I signed up to be a member of the team working on avionics. Although I'm a Mechanical Engineering guy, I love the idea of giving my rocket a brain and knowing much more about my launch than just "wow, that was loud and went really high! Oh, how high, you ask..? Well, um, judging by the angle of the launch as seen on my point-and-shoot camera
" etc. I want lots, lots, lots of data on this flight! -we're students and we need to be learning some real rocket science! I hope to do much analysis and writing reports on comparing this data with all our models and simulations.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I'm also a bit of a software guy, so that part isn't a problem. My main problem is the hardware. I GREATLY desire to have a ground station with real-time telemetry of maybe 20 Hz+. When I say telemetry, I don't mean just lat/long position - I also want velocity, acceleration, and (of course) altitude! I want to be able to see it as close as possible to real-time on my laptop through the rocket's ascent and descent. I know very little about the hardware needed for this, but I have an idea. I've done lots of reading on this forum (you guys are seriously all wonderful people and are truly an inspiration), and I have found a few things, but from several years past and many of the mentioned hardware is no longer being sold or is outdated. :/ It's October 2016 now - there must be newer stuff out, right?[/FONT]
[FONT=&]One thing I understand may be a problem is the range. I've seen a great deal of information on telemetry for smaller ranges (<1 mi) but I believe I will need a range of at least 5 miles in case the atmosphere decides to take our rocket on a great journey across the desert. I've seen this module and was wondering everyone's opinion on it: XBee-PRO XSC S3B RF Modules Expansion (https://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?Ntk=P_MarCom&Ntt=185906993). Is this sufficient, and is there anything newer? I know there are some pre-assembled devices out there like the Eggfinder, but I was kind of hoping to get something a little more DIY than that, I think. I'm new to this, but learning engineering skills and principles in multiple fields is the main point of this project, so I want to learn![/FONT]
[FONT=&]My team wants to make a flight computer using the Arduino UNO. We may have two for redundancy (all the measurement devices x2). We are planning on storing all the vel/acc/pos/alt data on board already, but as I said I want to transmit this data to the ground, also. Can this be done using the same hardware, e.g. will I need an altimeter for onboard data collection and a separate altimeter for telemetry, or can the same altimeter do both? Sorry, I'm not an electrical engineer!![/FONT]
[FONT=&]So far, I understand I need the following:[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Onboard transmitter[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Receiver (USB connection)[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Antenna for increasing range[/FONT]
[FONT=&]All the measurement devices for acc, vel, pos, alt[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Microcontroller (Arduino UNO)
What else is needed? I'm trying to assemble a FULL list of exactly what is needed to accomplish this. I'd like a medium level of DIY and I will probably be on a tight budget. This should all be compatible with an Arduino (probably UNO).
[/FONT]
[FONT=&]You guys are awesome! Thanks for the help![/FONT]
[FONT=&]I'm also a bit of a software guy, so that part isn't a problem. My main problem is the hardware. I GREATLY desire to have a ground station with real-time telemetry of maybe 20 Hz+. When I say telemetry, I don't mean just lat/long position - I also want velocity, acceleration, and (of course) altitude! I want to be able to see it as close as possible to real-time on my laptop through the rocket's ascent and descent. I know very little about the hardware needed for this, but I have an idea. I've done lots of reading on this forum (you guys are seriously all wonderful people and are truly an inspiration), and I have found a few things, but from several years past and many of the mentioned hardware is no longer being sold or is outdated. :/ It's October 2016 now - there must be newer stuff out, right?[/FONT]
[FONT=&]One thing I understand may be a problem is the range. I've seen a great deal of information on telemetry for smaller ranges (<1 mi) but I believe I will need a range of at least 5 miles in case the atmosphere decides to take our rocket on a great journey across the desert. I've seen this module and was wondering everyone's opinion on it: XBee-PRO XSC S3B RF Modules Expansion (https://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?Ntk=P_MarCom&Ntt=185906993). Is this sufficient, and is there anything newer? I know there are some pre-assembled devices out there like the Eggfinder, but I was kind of hoping to get something a little more DIY than that, I think. I'm new to this, but learning engineering skills and principles in multiple fields is the main point of this project, so I want to learn![/FONT]
[FONT=&]My team wants to make a flight computer using the Arduino UNO. We may have two for redundancy (all the measurement devices x2). We are planning on storing all the vel/acc/pos/alt data on board already, but as I said I want to transmit this data to the ground, also. Can this be done using the same hardware, e.g. will I need an altimeter for onboard data collection and a separate altimeter for telemetry, or can the same altimeter do both? Sorry, I'm not an electrical engineer!![/FONT]
[FONT=&]So far, I understand I need the following:[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Onboard transmitter[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Receiver (USB connection)[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Antenna for increasing range[/FONT]
[FONT=&]All the measurement devices for acc, vel, pos, alt[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Microcontroller (Arduino UNO)
What else is needed? I'm trying to assemble a FULL list of exactly what is needed to accomplish this. I'd like a medium level of DIY and I will probably be on a tight budget. This should all be compatible with an Arduino (probably UNO).
[/FONT]
[FONT=&]You guys are awesome! Thanks for the help![/FONT]