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Taking Linux to New Heights
JimDog writes "Literally. I've created a web site documenting the
construction and launch of a high altitude 'weather' balloon, with a payload that runs Linux. The project was a great success, reached an altitude of 80,000 feet, and took some really amazing aerial photos."
The point isn't that it is running Linux, the point is that he made a really cool project that floated to 80,000 feet and took pictures, AND he got the whole thing back to retrieve the pictures. To me that is awfully impressive. The fact that it runs Linux was just one cool part of the project.
I actually thought this machine would be more up to the task. It's a PIII-450 with plenty of bandwidth.
:)
I think it's the Perl CGI that runs the photo gallery that's killing it.
For the curious, the load average on the machine
is currently about 40
The article would have been far more interesting if it was titled "linux hacker flies balloon and joins mile high club."
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
Nice hack, but it can be done for much less money.
BG Micro sells Motorola OnCore GPS boards for about $20. They also have just the pigtail connector for a serial port, but who's complaining?
The single-board computer is nice, but you can find similar (and better) boards for much, much less than $200. Simply graze eBay for a few weeks, get a feel for what's there. I recently picked up a single-board for $40, comes with everything including four serial ports, and still retails for about $500. Same board that John uses in the Armadillo project.
And using Basic Stamps...well, let's just say I never liked the idea of paying $50 to $90 for the exact part I could buy from Microchip for a couple bucks. Nor the idea of writing slow code in Basic, as opposed to tasty assembler and absolute hardware control.
The chase description was great though; trucking down the freeway trying to log into a balloon that's well over any airline traffic, hoping it doesn't land in someone's windshield...or swimming pool. Makes the model rocket hunts of my youth seem pretty tame, even the time we found the rocket neatly draped on the front doormat of the mean neighbor lady's house....
...
HABET (High Altitude Balloon Experiments in Technology) is one organization that has been doing this for years (I believe there are many). About 4 years ago I helped on a project that used two cameras, one with color film and one infrared. The cameras were triggered based on GPS altitude data so we examine the resulting photos and determine the difference in atmospheric interference (the clouds and graininess you see in his pics) and potentially combine the data from the color and infrared film to eliminate the interference.
I don't know where the interference-correction went since I graduated and fled the state, but I do know that triggering the cameras based on GPS altitude worked because I wrote that portion of the PIC code. There's something very satisfying about lifting a payload a few feet into the air and hearing the cameras go *click* when you reach an altitude threshold. Kudos to this guy for making so many pieces come together.
-FF
SQUEAK, the Death of Rats explained.
I believe that most airliners fly much lower than 80,000 feet. It looks like the airport's airspace is Class B which only goes to 10,000 feet. Airspace over 60,000 feet is Class G uncontrolled. I wonder if he could have tracked his balloon using the spiffy java San Jose Airport Monitor? ;)
> What was the total cost of the project?
:)
:)
Right around the $900 mark I think. I had intended to keep a really accurate account of that, but I've misplaced some of the receipts now. I also resold some of the hardware that didn't work out on eBay.
> At the beginning you said that you would call
> the FAA NOTAM when you were going to make the
> launch, did you make that call? If so what did
> they say?
I did call them. I told them I was launching a
weather balloon. They asked, basically, when,
where, how big, what's your name? Once I'd
answered those questions, they said, "Okay,
thanks." and that was it