bookings?
so when will you be selling tickets for the first seats available on a manned version?
Our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) project reached a major milestone over the weekend with the completion of the first Special Project Electronic Altitude Release System (SPEARS) control board. Click here for a bigger version of the LOHAN graphic Neil Barnes, who put together LOHAN's silicon heart with the able …
You've just discovered there are jackasses on the internet? Rest assured that for every rude comment there will be at least 10 people interested to see it :-) I'm interested in your approach to compensating for drift on the accelerometers for example, having struggled with it over a year or so (on and off anyway!)
Pretty please, with sugar on top?
SPEARS is programmed to issue the launch command only if the current altitude is above 20,000 metres (to be clear of air traffic) and we achieve the desired launch height.
You said it before, too, but the "and" does not make sense to me. Presuming the desired launch altitude is greater than 20000m, the first part is redundant:
if ((x > 2) ∧ (x > 5))
is equivalent to
if (x > 5)
no?
Yes, but...
There's another couple of launch strategies, assuming it doesn't get to the target height.
1) if it falls more than a set height below its maximum altitude, we assume it's on the way down and launch.
2) if it goes into free fall, we assume the balloon burst, and launch.
Both of these require us to be above the safety height; they only run if they're above 20,000 metres.
Your NTX2 transmitter seems to be very susceptible to temperature variation - operating range of -10 to +60, and it's likely to die if it drops below -30.
This module is designed to function in lower temperatures,
http://www.rfmodules.com.au/rm/products/tx3h.htm
Though they don't give a storage temperature for it, the operating temperature alone beats the storage temp quoted for the NTX2 here:
http://www.rfmodules.com.au/rm/products/ntx2nrx2.htm
The TX3H is also handily pin compatible with the NTX2, and will push out a considerably more powerful signal (several orders of magnitude), though I'm not sure whether battery life will become an issue. It's on the higher wave band, but it's still unlicensed.