11/10/14 Update

11/10/14

This past week I calculated the amount of information that could be collected during one flight duration. I found that at 5 readings of air speed, altitude, and GPS per second I collect 10500 bytes during a 5 minute flight (see table at end).

I also found that the Max Chip Kit 32 board that I am using is practically an Arduino and should be able to be used as one. “…supports the original Arduino™ line. Compatible with many existing Arduino™ code examples, reference materials and other resources.”

This being said, I still have not been able to get the air speed sensor working with my Max32 board using the I2C method. From what I have so far I am not sure what is wrong with the device, I tried to update my Wire Library (which was what I thought the problem was) but that did not work. When I try to read data from the air speed sensor I get 0 bytes read. Because of this, I have reached out to Professor Traver for help because she has some experience with both this method and board. But she is out of town until Wednesday this week.

I ordered the camera, transmitter, and receiver this week and those should be here soon. Lisa placed the order on Friday. I found that the camera’s field of view is 100˚ and through some simple geometry I think we should place the camera at a 10˚ downward angle. This way at the bottom of the camera image we can see directly below the plane. And the wide angle allows us to still see the target in front of the plane.

This week Ervin and I also tested the new 6 cell battery and achieved 999.6 W and we tripped the limiter finally. However, after this the battery died. When we tried to charge the battery we found that the charger did not recognize the 6s battery and so we did not charge it.

This week I plan to meet with Professor Traver when she returns and we should be able to figure out what is wrong. Once the air speed sensor is working I will order an altimeter and GPS sensor. This way I know that I can get them working using I2C. Professor Bruno also asked me to look into accelerometers to measure the forces on landing and also if there is a way to know exactly when our wheels come off the ground during takeoff.

(Where I am)