CygnusAlpha

XBee and the USB Interface arrived in the post today. The USB interface is FTDI based so I'll have to install the driver for MacOSX. Fun!

Ordered some 60mw XBee modules and a USB XBee interface from http://robosavvy.com for the Mashroc telemetry project. I'm going to be building a small PIC based board for the rocket end of the system and running some tests to check range and see if there are any doppler related problems. I did a few quick and dirty doppler calculations which came up with :- Source f = 2400000000 Hz Source Velocity vs = 118 m/s (Guessed) Medium Velocity v = 3000000 m/s (Approximately Light) Observed fo = 2399905603.71292 Hz Observed delta do = -94396.2870793343 Hz I found from a zigbee spec online (must find a better source) the frequency tolerance is 40ppm which I took to mean 2400*40 = 96 KHz. So we're just inside the tolerance. Bear in mind this is worst case doppler with freq source moving directly away from the observer.

I’ve just started fixing a ‘broken’ Juno from eBay. Unfortunately a UK postal outfit broke it some more so there was a bit of fixing of broken plastic and the bender control needed fixing as well. Here is my fix for the bender control .. enjoy. Useful stuff about Junos here .

View the beta launch attempt on YouTube. Apologies in advance for the poor on-board video. When we tested it it was a sunny White City day and it looked ok. But the sun in Alexandra Palace park was a different much brighter sun which over exposed the video horribly. This is what I managed to salvage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb7ufU533VQ

payload1 Originally uploaded by meeware1 This is the wireless camera that went up with MashRoc 1. It's very small and so doesn't have any focus or exposure controls. If we get another chance, we will wrap some Neutral Density Gel around the rocket covering the lens to cut out some light.

Off to Mashed '08 this weekend and more specifically MashRoc. Somehow, and I never really know how I get involved with this stuff, I have become involved with Ant Millers rocket project. At some point on Sunday we are going to launch a rocket fitted with a wireless camera in the grounds of Alexandra Palace. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=alexandra+palace&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=12.240319,25.883789&ie=UTF8&ll=51.597214,-0.116215&spn=0.006278,0.012639&z=16&iwloc=addr