Oct 3, 2010 – Danish Space Challenge (DSC) held a Rocket Festival at Borris Sønderland, Denmark, where five rockets built by German and Danish students were launched together with one of DSC’s own rockets. For the first time, the DSC rocket was flying an Arduino Duemilanove based flight computer which was responsible for releasing the parachute. This worked well. The payload in the rocket consisted of the digital video recorder built by yours truly, based on the Gumstix Overo Fire embedded Linux computer that I have been blogging about during the last few weeks, see here.
Arduino flight computer
In this video Esben Rugbjerg is demonstrating his Arduino-based flight computer. The flight computer is controlling the igniter for parachute deployment during the descent. After the computer is armed it waits until it registers a large acceleration that corresponds to the launch. After 12 seconds it fires the igniter.
Arduino flight computer
In this video Esben Rugbjerg is demonstrating his Arduino-based flight computer. The flight computer is controlling the igniter for parachute deployment during the descent. After the computer is armed it waits until it registers a large acceleration that corresponds to the launch. After 12 seconds it fires the igniter.
Rocket integration
Wednesday evening the Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 UVC camera and the Gumstix Overo Fire based video recorder have been integrated into the rocket. I will not have access to them before the launch day on Sunday. Shown below is the camera and video recorder integrated into the rocket.
Pre-flight mockup
Wednesday, the Gumstix Overo Fire-based video recorder was finally assembled and wired as it would go on the rocket.
Expected video quality during the rocket flight
We will be using the Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 for the flight, streaming MJPG video in 640×480 at 30 fps. Although the camera can stream even 1280×720 at 30 fps the USB interface on the Gumstix Overo Fire can not keep up with the required data rate. So here is a test video recorded as … Read more
Disabling the WiFi on the Gumstix Overo Fire
During the weekend I had some time to look at how to disable the combined WiFi and Bluetooth module on the Gumstix Overo Fire. The power source for the onboard video recorder consists of two 1 Ah LiPo batteries and although I did not have any measurement of the power consumption I knew this should be enough for at least one hour even with WiFi and Bluetooth switched ON during the flight (the wall plug adapter is 5V 1A). Still, I wanted to try to disable the WiFi and Bluetooth module since they are not needed during the flight.
A few bits and pieces for the onboard video recorder
Today I have received the last pieces that we are going to need for the video recorder based on the Gumstix Overo Fire. I took the opportunity to take some pictures.
Video recorder update
I have been quite busy since the last update trying various options for recording MJPG video using a Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and the Gumstix Overo Fire embedded computer. The good news is that there has been significant progress reported in the following sections.
Gumstix Overo Fire status and re-scoping the project
With only two weeks left until the flight opportunity it was time to make status and try to assess how much I can finish until the launch.