Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballooning. Hans Summers, G0UPL TIARA, 16-Oct-2015

Transcription

1 Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballooning Hans Summers, G0UPL TIARA, 16-Oct-2015

2 Contents Part 1: Introduction to ballooning Part 2: Long distance ballooners Part 3: Dave VE3KCL / QRP-Labs Part 4: Dave VE3KCL balloon flights Part 5: Plans for the future WARNING Ballooning can be addictive

3 Part 1: Introduction to ballooning

4 High Altitude balloons: Latex E.g. Typical weather balloon, 2m diameter 650,000 launched annually from 900 locations worldwide Very high altitude, over 30km Short duration, short distance balloon flies up, expands, expands more, bursts, comes down Latex degrades in UV anyway Several kg payload takes photos and maybe video Expensive, maybe $1,000 for balloon, gas, payload Typically a team activity Lots of fun, trying to chase the balloon and recover it

5 Examples of weather balloons

6 Latex balloons can carry several kg of payload!

7 Take nice near-space photos or videos! the Earth really is round, and space is black

8 Super-pressure balloons Made from mylar foil plastic Non-expandable material Reaches a float altitude and remains there Long duration, non UV-degradable, does not burst Therefore: Long distance Can be inexpensive and simple Lower altitude, e.g. typically 8-12km Can be inexpensive e.g. party balloons Payloads are very small and light

9 Example foil balloons

10 Circumnavigation, by Leo M0XER!

11 Gas: Helium vs Hydrogen Hydrogen Cheap, but not so easily available as helium Dangerous: can explode More lift than helium (higher altitude, but not much) Leaks less than helium Helium Easily available, e.g. party shop, supermarket Very safe (non explosive, etc) More prone to leaking Most abundant element in the universe BUT, scarce here on Earth, and precious

12 Safety Regulations vary by country Hydrogen (if used) can be dangerous! Avoid power lines etc. on launch! Typically NOT hazardous to aviation An aircraft or jet engine would not be damaged by a small balloon payload Anyway an airliner can fly and land safely after losing an engine No incidents recorded 1,800 large weather balloons launched daily from 900 locations worldwide, without incident

13 More safety 650,000 weather balloons annually Up to 4.5 times bigger than party balloon Which is 20 times more area to hit Radiosonde 20 times heavier too No issue since 1929! Millions of birds fly above 10,000m too! Ruppell s vulture: 11,300m (2.6m wingspan, 9kg weight)

14 Radio communications For tracking purposes, primarily! Airborne amateur radio is illegal in some countries e.g. UK APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) packet, on VHF or UHF Point-to-point UHF transceiver modules e.g. on ISM band Non radio hams can do it HF weak-signal techniques

15 Part 2: Long distance ballooners (prior art!)

16 Masters of the Art! Andy VK3YT 55 flights to date (and counting) Several circumnavigations, one almost 3 times Mostly uses 25mW HF TX on 20 and 30m, WSPR and JT9 Standard party balloon, flying about 9,000m Payload weight around 10-15g Leo M0XER 64 flights, culminating with three circumnavigations in July day flight, circumnavigated 6 times, 250,000km Self-made custom envelope, flying at 12,500m Mostly uses 10mW UHF transmitter Payload weight around 10-15g

17 Challenges of long-distance ballooning by Leo M0XER Latex balloons are too fragile to reliably float for extended periods of time. They usually burst in the morning following night float. Foil superpressure balloons are floating at much lower altitudes (3 to 10 km) and present their own problems. Too much free lift (5 grams or more) causes balloon to built extra pressure and rupture when heated by the Sun. Too little free lift (1 gram or less) makes it very vulnerable to icing and descending shortly after take off. Floating at lower altitudes (3 to 7 km) makes icing much worse. Higher levels (8 to 9 km) cause payload to suffer from extreme cold, down to - 60C and lower. Small radio coverage compared to latex balloons makes flight path planning more critical And most importantly there is this little inconvenience of wind not blowing in the required direction. But if you try long enough things might just work as planned.

18 Leo M0XER UHF tracker

19 Leo M0XER UHF tracker

20 Leo M0XER UHF tracker

21 Leo M0XER UHF tracker

22 Andy VK3YT tracker

23 Part 3: Dave VE3KCL / QRP-Labs

24 QRP Labs Ultimate3 QRSS/WSPR kit

25 U3S Features Multiple weak-signal modes, including QRSS, WSPR, JT9, CW, etc etc. ~200mW output power (band dependent) Standalone no PC required Covers 15 ham bands from 2,200m to 2m GPS interface for location, timing, and frequency calibration Optional multi-band relay-switched LPF board Optional aluminium case

26 Dave VE3KCL s U3S balloon payload Uses all off-the-shelf modules (unlike Leo M0XER, Andy VK3YT who use custom-made electronics) Approx 30-35g weight, needs two balloons Modules: LiPo battery Arduino Nano with QRP Labs U3S firmware installed (for light weight) QRP Labs Si5351A Synth kit GPS receiver module Boost voltage regulator Solar cells for battery charging HF antenna GPS antenna

27 VE3KCL payload block diagram

28 VE3KCL payload photo

29 VE3KCL payload solar panel

30 QRP Labs Synth Si5351A chip, synth with 27MHz reference crystal Output 8kHz to 160MHz 50 ohm, 3.3V peak-peak squarewave Directly connected to dipole antenna, approx. 20mW output No LPF Command any frequency by I2C

31 Arduino nano Atmel ATmega328 8-bit 20MHz CPU Popular development platform for makers Used here as a lightweight QRP Labs U3S Runs modified U3S firmware

32 ublox GPS Popular inexpensive GPS receiver Many other types would be suitable too Provides position, altitude, timing, and frequency calibration (1pps) Some GPS limit altitude to 18,000m

33 Power supplies Solar panel made from cheap ebay solar cells 5V boost regulator module also ebay, and cheap Batteries LiPo: Very high energy density, but doesn t like the cold! NiMH: Modern battery chemistry, high energy density, but also doesn t like cold NiCd: 60-year old technology, lowest energy density but maybe performs best in the cold temperatures?

34 Antennas HF transmitting antenna VE3KCL vertical dipole hanging from balloon Other possibilities e.g. end-fed etc GPS receiving antenna Patch: too heavy! 12-15mA consumed! Chip antenna weak performance VE3KCL used a wire dipole! ¼-wave vertical (45mm) works well! also

35 Tracking communications! Leo M0XER used mostly digital modes on UHF disadvantage is relatively short range. Andy VK3YT uses JT9 and WSPR on 20m and 30m. Long range, but: WSPR position reporting is only 4-char Maidenhead, not very accurate Andy created a special JT9 telemetry mode that requires monitoring stations to install special WSJT-X software version. Therefore needs to recruit volunteers QRP Labs develop special WSPR telemetry for Dave VE3KCL s balloons! Long range HF: 23,000km reported by Bob ZL1RS Huge receiving network, no special software needed

36 VE3KCL balloons communications Dave VE3KCL balloons tracked using: JT9 13-character messages which show the balloon parameters (latitude, longitude, altitude etc.) in plain text CW copied by the reverse beacon network WSPR standard WSPR messages (callsign, power, 4-char Maidenhead square Special telemetry WSPR messages (Maidenhead subsquare, altitude, speed, battery voltage, temperature, GPS status, satellite status

37 WSPR: Weak Signal Propagation Reporter Created by Joe K1JT Very popular worldwide, as a propagation tool! Powerful weak signal, narrow bandwidth mode, using forward error correction Encodes 50 bits of information: Callsign (4-6 characters, no prefix/suffix) Maidenhead square (4 characters) Transmission power Transmission has 162 symbols, each symbol is one of 4 tones. Tone spacing 1.46Hz, and the whole messages takes almost two minutes (1:52) to send

38 WSPR software for PC Connect to SSB transceiver, to transmit/receive

39 WSPR software decodes the audio, and uploads spots to the database at WSPRnet.org You can search for your callsign in WSPRnet.org and see where your transmission is heard

40 Also shown on a map: this is 30m

41 WSPR as position reporting tool Very powerful, because of huge worldwide network of receiving stations Excellent weak-signal performance Very popular on HF BUT very limited information is transferred! Position 4-character Maidenhead square e.g. PM95 has a size of 1 degree latitude by 2 degree longitude. So limited accuracy, 100 or 200km (depending where you are on Earth) Callsign you need this, to identify your station! Power specified in dbm, and only power levels 0, 3, 7, 10, 13 etc to 60dBm are supported (under 5W usually)

42 QRP Labs WSPR telemetry protocol Send rough Maidenhead square position with a normal WSPR message e.g. G0UPL IO90 23 Second WSPR message is of the form 0x0xxx xxxx xx where the x characters encode additional data! Callsign 1 st characters 0 and Q are NEVER allocated by the ITU. So we can use these callsigns, without interfering with normal WSPR users! There are 20 channels, 0x0xxx to Qx9xxx The worldwide WSPR reporting network logs balloon data, UNCONSCIOUSLY no special software needed!

43 QRP Labs WSPR telemetry protocol The WSPR messages of the form 0x0xxx xxxx xx encode telemetry from the balloon: 5 th and 6 th Maidenhead subsquare characters, giving a position accuracy of a few km Altitude, 0 to 21,340m, resolution 20m Temperature, -50C to +39C, with 1C resolution Battery voltage, 3.0 to 4.95V, with 0.05V resolution Groundspeed, 0 to 82 knots with resolution 2 knots GPS status (1 = 3D fix is Ok) Satellite status (1 = at least 8 satellites being tracked

44 Telemetry example 13:18 VE3KCL FN03 13 (normal WSPR) 13:20 0C0QQE RG74 43 (special telemetry data WSPR) Callsign VE3KCL Power +13dBm Locator FN03IQ Altitude 80m Temperature 36C Battery 3.8V Groundspeed 0 m/s GPS Ok Satellites >= 8

45 Balloon tracking spreadsheet Excel spreadsheet to parse WSPRnet Decodes data Writes google map and uploads to web Realtime tracking!

46 Special WSPR telemetry achieves: Excellent weak signal performance we could copy the balloon s 16mW signal on 30m, from Bob ZL1RS while the balloon was in Europe! 23,000km longpath Protocol rides on top of WSPR so can use huge worldwide reporting network, without special software, or relying on recruited tracking stations Callsigns e.g. 0C0QQE do not interfere with normal WSPR users, because the ITU does not allocate them Provides 20 balloon tracking channels

47 Part 4: Dave VE3KCL balloon flights

48 Tracking: flight log, updated every 12 minutes during daytime

49 Tracking: data charts Altitude, groundspeed, temperature, battery voltage

50 Tracking: live online map

51 Flight S-1: 03-Jun-2015 Toronto launch; 2.5 hours, 68km, max 4,233m Balloon burst Radios worked Ok!

52 Flight S-2: 22-Jul hours, 15 minutes; 91km, 4,120m altitude Burst again! Bad gas diagnosed!

53 Flight S-3: 28-Jul days, 5 nights; 4,300km, at 8,000m altitude Lost overnight in Atlantic

54 Flight S-4: 21-Aug-2015 Best flight! Flew over 10,000km at altitude around 8,000m Crossed Atlantic, then France, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Sweden (over Stockholm), Estonia, Finland, Sweden again, Norway Landed in Norwegian sea, we tracked it down to the sea level Reported thousands of times by WSPRnet

55 S-4 flight path

56 S-4 telemetry

57 Flight S-5: 04-Sep-2015 Latex balloon flight, with parachute 120cm diameter latex balloon Reached 11,040m altitude GPS failed after that, probably due to extreme cold

58 Flight S-6: 24-Sep days flight, 4,300km, 8,000m altitude Brought down by stormy weather, mid-atlantic Reached groundspeed 174km/hour (94 knots)

59 Lessons, improvements Communications worked fantastically! The payloads Dave VE3KCL launched weighed about 30-35g. This limits the altitude to around 8,000m with two standard hydrogen party balloons. Lighter payload, and custom-made balloons are needed. High altitude, e.g. 12,000m, would avoid most bad weather, and the flights could be longer Better power management is needed, to allow operation through the night Batteries capable of extreme cold temperature operation may be needed for night operation

60 Part 5: Plans for the future

61 Ultimate3B! Dave VE3KCL is investigating larger custom-made balloon envelopes to reach higher altitudes Design the Ultimate3B! The B is for balloon Integrate all modules onto one tiny PCB Try to make long-distance ballooning affordable and easier, so more people will be encouraged to fly it Manufacture for sale at $40-$50 much cheaper than any existing balloon tracking payloads

62 Ultimate3B two firmware versions Ultimate3B ready-to-fly flexible parameters to set up operation configured via serial interface Quite similar to the Ultimate3S kit. Ultimate3B Arduino-compatible Chip will be supplied with Arduino boot-loader Compatible with the existing very popular Arduino development environment Could be customised for many purposes, not just ballooning!

63 Ultimate3B block diagram

64 Ultimate3B Payload configuration All surface-mount devices, both sides of PCB 0.8mm (half-thickness) FR4 PCB Provide many I/O connections for customisation

65 Ultimate3B design Low Power Use processor sleep modes to conserve power Switch off Si5351A synthesiser when not transmitting Command GPS receiver into low power sleep mode, only wake it up to get a position fix High efficiency boost regulator, provides input range 0.5 to 5.5V and fixed 3.3V output Software will have a night mode that transmits position less often e.g. every 30 or 60 minutes May run from single AAA or 2/3 AAA size battery

66 Weighing Ultimate3B components

67 Flight configuration concept

68 Ultimate3B circuit diagram

69 Ultimate3B PCB layout Note antenna and power connectors at the ends, and lots of I/O interfaces along the edges, permitting customisation

70 Ultimate3B component placement Top Bottom

71 Ultimate3B example connections

72 Ultimate3B size comparison

73 Ultimate3B status 16-Oct-2015 Waiting for 10 prototype PCBs to arrive Started work on the software I will assemble 10 prototypes by hand Dave VE3KCL and several others will help with testing (and flight testing) THANKS FOR LISTENING!

74 Appendix 1 Flight updates We went on to fly more balloon flights, as of 29- Aug-2016

75 S-9 flight, 10-Apr-2016, 18 days An epic flight, which landed in a storm just hours short of circumnavigations With almost 31,000 visits, became the 3 rd most visited page of all time

76 S-11 flight, 14-Jun-2016, 24 days Despite GPS problems, completed circumnavigation! Only the 10 th amateur balloon flight to circumnavigate the world

77 Appendix 2 Ocean buoys Another use, is ocean buoys. Several Ultimate3S buoys are being planned Bob ZL1RS has a buoy in the south pacific, now at sea for 103 days and counting (as at 29-Aug-2016)

78 Appendix 3 U3B prototype Size is 33.8 x 12.7mm, PCB weight 1.5g Top side: CPU (centre), voltage regulator (right) Note pads along board edge for experimenters

79 U3B prototype (continued) Hand-assembled so a bit messy Bottom side: GPS receiver (left), Si5351A Synth/Transmitter chip (bottom right), LM75 temperature sensor (upper right)

80 U3B prototype (continued)

81 U3B prototype (continued) BASIC interpreter virtual machine developed for the U3B; the flight computer is configured by the program the operator enters over the serial port

82 U3B prototype (continued) Two versions planned: 1. BASIC virtual machine, with sample programs for typical flight configuration 2. Arduino-compatible version, with Arduino libraries and examples for the Arduino maker community to write their own operating systems for the flight computer