Monday 22 May 2017

First progress

The meetings of Jan Philipp and Damian were in order to continue working on a new and a much better version of their CanSat without a radio module. And the results of their work from the 17th to the 20th of May are :


  • They were able to save some space for other elements of the CanSat, in which they desoldered some unnecessary or unneeded elements of the Raspberry Pi 3.
These unneeded elements are one of two USB interfaces, the ethernet Interface and some Pins.

  •  They also built the orientation module and the camera/sensor module all over again, but the sensors of the camera/sensor module were left the same. However the camera/sensor module has gotten a new PiCam and a new order of its elements (see here).
  • The connection between the sensors is now more intelligible, because colored cables were added and the harness cables (wire harnesses )were knotted. 

Finally, no more chaos!

That is it till now, but it is not over yet.

We are back!

Finally, we have finished our exams so we can start working on our CanSat again! 

 

Our present plan foresees that we will keep our secondary mission, but we will improve it! Thus, individual technical components will be replaced. The Pi 2 B will be replaced by a Raspberry Pi 3, so more power is available for our software. As well, the current version (V1.3) of the PiCam will be replaced by the more recent one (V2).
Our basic concept of construction (boards with elements held together by 3mm threaded rods) has proven itself and will be therefore unchanged adopted.
As an innovation, we are currently testing whether we can replace the radio connection by a WLAN connection so that we can save the T-Minus radio module. To capture the signals we want to use a WLAN directional antenna. consequently, we are looking for a non-metallic shell for our CanSat, because our existing aluminum sheath would shield the WLAN.
The recovery unit should also be optimized. So we want to extend the joint between CanSat and the parachute (from 15 cm to> 50 cm) to counteract the pendulum movements during the fall.

That the current competition will take place internationally, so we will continue this blog in English.

More details / information will follow soon.