UVM CricketSat History

CricketSat at UVM Summary:

Freshman introduction to engineering
Sensor and system development
High school outreach
HELiX / EPSCoR High School Outreach program
Dr. Mark Miller
2003: Waldorf High School
2004: Milton and Boston high schools
University collaboration
Medgar Evers College, City University of New York (CUNY)
BalloonSat - Dr. Shermane Austin
University of Alaska
CricketSat sensor development - Dr. Neal Brown

2002
Professor Mark Miller attends CricketSat/BalloonSat workshop at the University of Colorado
2003
First assembly and testing at UVM
Sensor adaptations made
Air pressure and humidity
HELiX/EPSCoR High School Outreach Program
Waldorf High School, Charlotte
Professor Miller implements CricketSat program
Four flights - Poor results
New measurement method used
Broke flight duration and altitude records
Governor’s Institute
CricketSat Assembly and balloon flight
Broke flight duration and distance records
Wireless weather station - Waldorf High School
2004
ME1/EE1 Freshman engineering course
CricketSat assembly and student projects
HELiX/EPSCoR High School Outreach Program
Milton and Boston high schools
Assembled temperature, pressure and humidity sensors
New measurement method used
Broke records for flight duration, altitude, and temperature
BallonSat collaboration
Medgar Evers College, CUNY
Previous flight lost due to termination of GPS coordinate data transmission used for tracking and recovery
Speculation concerning flight-bag temperature
First BalloonSat flight

Our Mission
Provide real-time temperature monitoring during flight
Validate feasibility and usefulness of CricketSat as a BalloonSat payload

Results
Balloon again lost during flight; recovered by landowner 700 feet from the Canadian border
Temperature determined not to be the problem
Broke UVM altitude record
Second BalloonSat flight:
Monitor multiple CricketSat sensors
Sensors to be flown
Altitude
External temperature
CUNY flight bag temperature
UVM flight bag temperature

Other items to be flown
Camera
Flashing strobe light
Audible piercing alarm (modified CricketSat)
Design challenge: Fly multiple CricketSats on same flight
Problem: All sensors use the same radio frequency
Milton High School students derive a solution
Circuit designed and assembled
Second mission: (continued)
Results
Successful tracking and recovery for the CUNY school
CricketSat Array System worked great
Segregated data well
Good data reception at end of flight
Demonstrated as a feasible BalloonSAt support payload
Broke UVM records for flight duration, minimum temperature and altitude
Correlated CrickeSat external temperature to that of NOAA sounding balloon data
Minimum temperature of -92 degrees F recorded
Sensor tonal frequency too low; redesign needed
Correlated CricketSat altimeter to altitude obtained by GPS during flight
Sensor tops out at 31,000 feet; redesign needed

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