With his guidance, students design, build, and program instrumentation packages sent into the upper atmosphere via high-altitude balloons. He documents the missions in a dedicated YouTube channel.

The instrumentation packages, called Eagles, are sent to the edge of space and transmit back temperature, pressure, and GPS data, as well as live video. A 9-axis inertial measurement system also sends data on the Eagle’s orientation. In all, twenty different data channels are telemetered back to ‘Mission Control’ in the classroom. Some of the additional data channels include down range velocity, vertical ascent rate, latitude, longitude, elevation, system health, signal strength, downrange distance, heading, and trajectory.

A unique accomplishment of these student engineers is their development of an ability to stream live video from the edge of space back to the classroom. The students use standard 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi radios and reconfigure them to operate on the 2.39Ghz HAM microwave radio band. Each member of the program has a HAM radio license, so they can legally operate on this microwave band.

Since the instrument packages can reach altitudes over 115,000 feet and can travel 100 miles down range, maintaining a live video link is a formidable challenge. Technical and regulatory requirements limit the space-bound microwave radio to 1 watt transmit power. In order to communicate over these large distances at such a low power level, a high-gain antenna is required on the ground-based tracking system.

The challenge of using a high-gain antenna on the ground is that it must be pointed with precision at the space-bound instrument package. A pointing error of just a few degrees can lead to loss of signal. According to Mission Commander Jack Griffin: “The challenge becomes even more formidable since the instrument package can reach speeds of over 150mph, as the package ascends through the jet stream. Imagine trying to hit a target with one-degree precision that’s over 100 miles away, traveling at over 150mph.”
 

Griffin, who is a 17-year-old high school senior, continues: “We’re definitely solving real-world problems in this program. It’s more like working for a Silicon Valley start-up than being in a high school class.”

 
The ground-based tracking antenna is mounted on a Pelco Pan/Tilt platform. The position of this platform is controlled by relays in a closed-loop feedback system run on a Raspberry Pi microcontroller. The control system works as follows: A GPS on the space-bound instrument package measures the package’s latitude, longitude, and altitude. This data is then transmitted back to the ground- based tracking system. The system then takes these data points and applies the complex Haversine computation to calculate the necessary heading and elevation for the antenna to be precisely pointed to the instrument package. A feedback loop then moves the Pelco such that the antenna is precisely pointed at the target coordinates. In order to maintain the microwave video link, this feedback loop must constantly and quickly adjust the antenna position.
 

High school junior and Ground Tracking Specialist Benjamin McGee claims: “This is definitely a challenge and mission success depends on keeping the ground-based antenna pointed precisely at the package, no matter where or how fast it goes.”

 
The team is busy working on preparations for the launch of Eagle IX. Mission Commander Jack Griffin is confident that this will be the best launch ever. Griffin says: “We have our flight designed and expect to get our highest-quality images and most precise data to date, which we will live-stream on our YouTube channel so anyone on Earth can see it.”

The key element for this entire system to work is to have a reliable way to get the GPS data back from the space-bound instrument package to the ground-based tracking system.
 

Mission Specialist Christine Lindsey says: “Mission success depends on reliable transmission of GPS coordinates from the instrument package back to the ground, We’ve chosen the RockBLOCK modem and Iridium satellite network because it provides rock-solid connectivity. Initially we sent the GPS data coordinates over our microwave link, but if we lost connection, there was no way to regain it. With the RockBLOCK, we always know where the package is and how to point to it. With this system, we can maintain our microwave data link.”

 
This high-frequency radio beam has poor propagation, meaning it’s important to aim the antenna precisely at the Eagle. To achieve this, GPS data is transmitted via RockBLOCK to Ground Control’s servers. It’s then pushed via HTTP post to Paul’s own server which adjusts the high-gain antenna position accordingly, thus maintaining the video link.

Huth began his research into affordable open source alternatives, adopting the Arduino system and its wide variety of sensors. Huth built a solar powered prototype that sensed rain and water runoff and encased it in a waterproof kayaker’s lunchbox. A basic 2G GPRS modem was used to transmit sensor data to ThingSpeak, the IoT analytics platform that allows users to store, analyze, and visualize their data.

In order to deploy these remote environmental monitors (REM) in areas with no cellular connectivity, Hans worked with Sean Keane, an ADEQ intern, on reprogramming the Arduino to work with a RockBLOCK. For the purpose of monitoring discharges from a stocktank and to facilitate sample collection, a RockBLOCK-powered REM was successfully deployed at Horseshoe Draw near the border with Mexico. Given this success, ADEQ plans to deploy nine more cellular and RockBLOCK powered REMs throughout the state prior to the close of July, 2019. ADEQ is in the process of documenting time and money savings from respective deployments.

Huth documented his first environmental monitor’s development and deployment on YouTube to include links to source code for these inventions. Huth’s YouTube channel also includes chapters on building and deploying these REMs, and he is currently working on a new chapter summarizing code and deployment of RockBLOCK-enabled REMs.

The Peruagus is also unique in that it’s self-righting – that is, able to recover unassisted from a capsized position. The boat’s hull is made up of a solid foam core sandwiched between two layers of fiberglass. This makes the Peruagus robust, practically unsinkable while intact, and cheaper to build than most boats of similar size.

The Peruagus features an aluminum skeleton that functions as a heat sink to keep on-board equipment cool, and an epoxy keel that provides directional stability. The finished design is modular, allowing installation of weather monitoring equipment, different keels, even different superstructures and power systems.

Peruagus, meaning ‘roamer’ in Ancient Greek, will be using a RockBLOCK 9603 to send back telemetry data and to receive waypoint instructions as it makes its way west across the Atlantic with the help of a PixHawk Autopilot.

Read more about The Microtransat Challenge.

Our oceans are polluted with plastic. It’s not just strangling sea life or collecting in giant swirling patches the size of countries – tiny microplastics are also abundant in the water, making their way back into the food chain and, ultimately, our plate.

Cleaning up the world’s oceans from plastic isn’t a simple affair. There are three main issues that governments traditionally balk at when faced with a large-scale cleanup – cost, cost, and cost.

Thankfully, the minds behind The Ocean Cleanup came up with an ingenious – and cheap – solution. They designed a system that uses nature to help collect the plastic garbage floating in the ocean.

The system consists of a 600-meter-long, U-shaped float that travels along the water’s surface. Underneath the floater is a 3-meter-deep skirt. The system uses perpetual wind and wave energy to carry the float along at a speed ever so slightly faster than the ocean current. The result is akin to a giant ocean-borne squeegee scouring the ocean, collecting everything from massive discarded fishing nets to millimeter-sized plastic.

The garbage will be rounded up by the curved floater, making it easier for boats to come and collect every few months.
 

According to The Ocean Cleanup: “A full-scale deployment of our systems is estimated to clean up to 50% of the Great Pacific garbage patch in five years.”

 
Rock Seven (now trading as Ground Control)’s RockBLOCKs will be used by a number of open-source drifting buoys deployed to simulate plastic movement around the systems. These ‘maker buoys’ incorporate the 9603 Rockblock, interfaced with an Arduino-based microcontroller.

The cleanup system has been engineered to be sea life-friendly and to withstand the punishing ocean environment. It’s also deployed in an area that sees hardly any marine traffic, although the position of each system will be known and subsequently avoided by vessels.

On September 8th 2018, System 001 was launched from the foundation’s assembly yard in Alameda and towed through the San Francisco Bay, toward the infamous Great Pacific garbage patch. Learn more on The Ocean Cleanup website.

The Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) of ETH Zurich has developed the AtlantikSolar and SenseSoar2, two solar-powered, low-altitude long-endurance (LALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are gathering valuable data on climate change and Agriculture.

Due to their lower cruising height and increased flight endurance, LALE UAVs benefit from improved imaging capabilities, lower complexity, and simplified handling. Unfortunately, they also have to deal with a more challenging meteorological environment in the form of clouds, rain, wind gusts, and thermals.

Designed for multi-day perpetual flight, the AtlantikSolar broke the flight-time world record for its size class in 2015, with an 81-hour, 2338km voyage, while also achieving a 39% minimum state-of-charge. The AtlantikSolar weighs in at 6.9kg and has a wingspan of 5.7m. It now completes multi-day missions using small optical or infrared cameras. Last summer in Greenland, the AtlantikSolar monitored iceberg calving in Greenland – a still poorly understood process which plays an important role in sea-level rise.

With a wingspan of 3m and weighing in at 5.2kg, the SenseSoar2 is a more compact platform. It’s even more robust, though, in dealing with wind gusts and other inclement weather conditions. In fact, this summer, SenseSoar2 completed a 302km, 5.5-hour flight while being battered by high winds.

The SenseSoar2 is currently being used in an ongoing ESA agricultural monitoring mission in the Ukraine. Fitted with a hyperspectral camera that complements existing satellite imagery, it provides farmers, agronomists, and agricultural experts with actionable intelligence.

Rock Seven (now trading as Ground Control) RockBLOCKs are used to send telemetry to the ground station and commands to the UAVs when radio transmission is not feasible. To achieve this, the team integrated a RockBLOCK to the PX4 open-source autopilot via the PX4’s API, giving the ground station fly-by-satellite capability when the AtlantikSolar and SenseSoar2 were downrange of the 868MHz medium-range telemetry link.