University at Buffalo GLADOS

SHOT II Balloon Launch Results Presentation

July 1, 2012

Andrew Dianetti, Alex Wende, Bryant Carlson, Joe Flannery

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Mission Overview• Test spectrometer data compression algorithm• Transmit compressed data to ground• Test ability to transmit and receive compressed spectrometer

data• Log data on payload and compare received data to actual

transmitted data• Test in sample satellite conops routine with health beacon.• Demonstrate an effective thermal regulation system• Successfully log health data throughout the balloon flight• Many Objectives were descoped due to a lack of RF

functionality aboard the payload

Expected Results

• Expect health data for entire flight• Flight computer to command PandaBoard based on

GPS• Transmitted data to be logged to SD card• Effective temperature regulation (never below 5° C)• Expect data error to increase with distance

– How does varying loss rates during downlink affect packets recovered?

• Flight conditions are better model than ground test

Actual Results

• Health Data was Received via SD card log over entire flight• GPS worked flawlessly• Thermal sensors worked and program executed properly,

however heater battery failed• Spectrometer algorithms run without issue

• COM: Detection scheme of pre-known header/footer & linear block-codes remains untested, but are testable in the future given the known hardware failures and how to fix them.

• Has checked out on the ground with success with simple hamming codes, but the interest will be the long distance benefit of this scheme.

Actual Results

Actual Results

Preliminary Failure Analysis• Temperature Data indicates that heaters were not functioning

properly during the flight.– Connector malfunction on battery pack during flight– Travel or flight conditions caused failure after test in

Buffalo

Preliminary Failure Analysis• COM: By inspection, Radio/Tracker failed to integrate with the

processor’s RS-232 shield and the Tracker only allowed for one-way communication of APRS-sized packets. • Cheap breakout boards will be easier to use and more

reliable, given pinouts of components, than modifying RS-232 cables.

• Ground-side radio had a short causing it to “scream” on the channel given no input. This was demonstrated by its Tx indicator being on and speakers in the immediate area resonating with the radio. This malfunction disabled communication with a PC to program its settings.• Bad radios = good counter weights.

Conclusions and Actions• Partial mission success – primary goal not accomplished, but

several secondary ones were– GPS and software worked flawlessly– Temperature regulation software worked, although

hardware failure prohibited regulation– Algorithms run correctly

• Action items: Rework COM system to transmit and receive successfully– Relaunch BalloonSat testing this– Verify thermal control with new battery pack

• Impact to UNP-7 Mission: COM design work and testing