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http://ddeville.com/derek/Qu8k.html

He appears to be using a pneumatic cylinder which is actuated by a small charge of black powder, rather than compressed air.

Black powder is very commonly used in high power rocketry for the deployment of recovery systems. The black powder is set off by means of an electric match or similar electric igniter, fired by the altimeter or flight computer.

The typical HPR hobby rocket would contain 2 independent charges, one which is fired at apogee, and another to deploy the main chute at a lower altitude.

The annotated ITAR indicates (121.1 Category XV (c)(2), pp50 in that pdf) that there is a speed and altitude restriction: "Designed for producing navigation results above 60,000 feet altitude and at 1,000 knots velocity or greater".

Hopefully they will get credit because their receivers worked at low-speed and low-altitude (on the way down), and they've already integrated their accelerometer data to get very reasonable velocity and position estimates.

Talk to the folks at the Civilian Space eXploration Team. They put an amateur rocket in space (not orbit, though) a few years back.

See:
http://the-rocketman.com/CSXT/default.asp
http://www.ddeville.com/derek/CSXT.htm