BARREL 2009 Test Campaign
A. flight 4 quicklook info
Here are data files from the port-a-moc.
The fourth test flight (payload 3) was launched at about
UT 22:30 on 16Dec09. This payload has a modified solar panel mounting scheme.
Two panels are mounted as before, and two are mounted below the payload.
This allows the lower two panels to better radiate away heat, and they
do run cooler than the first flight panels. Panels 2 and 3 are high
and panels 1 and 4 are lower. All four solar panels showed problems. This
balloon was a leaker, losing altitude faster than nominal, and was terminated
at UT 15:58 19Dec09.
quick-look pdf plots from flight4 of the test campaign
B. flight 3 quicklook info
The third test flight (payload 4) was launched at about
UT 01:??:?? on 15Dec09. This payload uses battery power, with no solar
panels. Since the energy capacity is lower, modem contacts are less frequent.
quick-look pdf plots from flight3 of the test campaign
C. flight 2 quicklook info
The second test flight (payload 1) was launched at about
UT 00:33:00 on 6Dec09. Solar panel problems occurred very soon into the flight.
The payload was brought down using the BARREL terminate system
later that day at UT 12:21, and has been recovered.
On landing, the payload tipped over and the DPU restarted. The plot
routines do not correct for the restarted DPU, resulting in two sets
of traces near the left side of each figure.
quick-look pdf plots from flight2 of the test campaign
D. flight 1 quicklook info
The first test flight (payload 6) was launched at about
UT 01:01:30 on 2Dec09 (pictures and
commentary)
and reached 37km ceiling altitude at about 02:57. Upper winds are
slow, so the payload isn't doing that boldly go thing. All science
and engineering measurements seem fine. Voltage and current monitors indicate
all 4 solar panels and/or their control electronics have failed.
Here are plots of current/voltage/temperature associated with
the solar panel 1 failure;
the solar panel 4 failure;
the solar panel 3 failure;
and the solar panel 2 failure.
quick-look pdf plots from flight1 of the test campaign
E. UNIT 6 prehang
These are plots of payload 6 output taken after the peak detect board's
FPGA was re-seated in its socket. This action fixed the corrupt bit
problem that had been seen in earlier testing.
Last update at UT 21:35 27-Nov-09.
F. UNIT 3 hangtest
Here are plots the prehang (UT 23:38 on 24Nov) and hang test
(UT 03:00 on 25Nov) for payload 3.
Last update at UT 00:50 26-Nov-09.
G. UNIT 5 testing
A link test was started on 28Sep09, and will continue
for several days.
Here are throughput measurements from the most recent session of this test.
The system was started at UT 18:22 on 2-Oct09.
Last update at UT 18:02 6-Oct09.
Here are throughput measurements from the second session of this test.
The system was started at UT 16:04:52 on 30Sep09 and powered off at
UT 20:47 on 30Sep09.
Here are throughput measurements from a first session of this test.
Testing started UT 22:05 on 28Sep09 and ran until UT 15:18 on 30Sep09.
Switching to battery power shut the system down surprisingly quickly.
H. GSE software
The distribution kit for the UW testing gse uses the PC COM1 port.
One also requires a harness between the DPU box and a PC running the
gse software. The housekeeping data labels and calibrations
have not been updated from the piggyback flight.
Harness connections
DPU (DA15P) | direction | PC (DE9S) |
6 | --telemetry--> | 2 |
5 | <--commands-- | 3 |
1 | DCD <--- DSR | 4 |
9 or 13 | sig gnd | 5 |
A toggle switch in the gui switches the state of the PC's DSR line, which
should be wired to the DCD input line at the DPU. This line mimics
a carrier detect (call-on) signal to the DPU and causes the DPU to emit
data. Alternatively, one could wire the DCD line high at the DPU box
connector so that the gui toggle switch is ineffective and data is always
emitted. This software version works with 194 byte frames.
Bytes received by the PC from the DPU are stored in a file named for
the program start time (YDDDHHMM.dat).
The gse zip file includes the source code, the uir file, and an executable.
Therefore the PC must have CVI installed. I run the software from a DOS
window, invoking it thus: barrel_gse [filename]
where the optional filename is used to replay a saved data file rather than
pulling data from COM1.
The t3m code also runs in a DOS windown on a LabWindows (v7.0) capable PC.
Connect PNI's serial cable to the T3M unit and COM1 on the PC. Apply power
(5V or so) and verify the current consumption at about 17 mA. Then start
t3m in a DOS window. With no argument, the code acts like the DPU and tries to
read the mag 10 times. This works when the mag is correctly configured.
With argument b (t3m b) the PC tries communicating at 6 baud rates
in an attempt to identify the mag's present setting. With an argument of the
numeric baud rate (t3m 19200), the code configures the magnetometer, using
the specified baud rate, to work correctly with the BARREL DPU. Since my mag
is already configured, I haven't been able to test this last feature very
well.
zipped source code for
UW gse, test flight version (from 30Sep09)
zipped executable and source code for
magnetometer configuration