[aprssig] FW: APRS Question (Drone tracking of downed balloons)

[Robert Bruninga]

The best thing I liked about this idea is the use of a digi path that does
not use WIDEn-N at altitude nor a WIDE1-1 at the end.  By making the
balloon path be something like “DRONE” for the entire flight, then it will
not bring u p any existing infrastructure, but we can use Drones, or RC
aircraft, or tethered balloons, or mobiles with UIDIGI set to DRONE) to
provide the final look over the last hill!



Bob, WB4APR



*From:* aprssig <aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org> *On Behalf Of *spam8mybrain
via aprssig
*Sent:* Thursday, June 11, 2020 9:46 PM
*To:* TAPR APRS Mailing List <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
*Subject:* Re: [aprssig] FW: APRS Question (Drone tracking of downed
balloons)



Here's a silly idea: how about a _tethered_ balloon for your temporary
digi? You can use the power cord for the tether, so you don't have to fly
battery weight, and you can use thin wire to reduce tether weight and a
higher voltage supply on the ground to overcome voltage drop in the tether
(like Power over Ethernet). And you don't have to worry about it crashing
and being another loss, unlike a drone with a dead battery.



You probably can't get it much higher than the drone (given tether weight),
but with a nearby location on a high spot, it should be doable. And you can
always reel it down, stick it (inflated) into the back of a van to drive
somewhere else if the first location doesn’t work. It just increases your
helium budget.



Just my $.02.



Andrew, KA2DDO



-------- Original message --------
From: "Stephen H. Smith via aprssig" <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
Date: 6/11/20 21:16 (GMT-05:00)
To: TAPR APRS Mailing List <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
Subject: Re: [aprssig] FW: APRS Question (Drone tracking of downed
balloons)

On 6/11/2020 2:28 PM, Robert Bruninga wrote:
> Kameron KG7VSN asked a question about using a RC aircraft to act as a
final
> digi for a balloon once it has landed.  But I’d take it one step further.
>
> Put the APRS digipeater on a drone and also listen for the LAT/LON of the
> balloon.  Then launch the drone once the balloon begins to descend.
Program
> the drone to always go to the balloon position and maintain 1000 feet
altitude
> until told otherwise.  (or whatever is the legal height for drones…)
>
>

Maximum legal height for civilian-type drones is only 400 feet AGL.  More
importantly, you have to maintain visual contact with the drone at all
times;
i.e. you can't send it many miles away from your own control point.

The real question is how would you mount a digi on a drone?
The average consumer drone has next to no additional lifting capacity. Like
a
space rocket where 80+ percent of the liftoff weight is fuel, about 2/3rds
of
the weight of the typical drone is battery pack. I have been thinking about
putting a Big Red Bee APRS tracker on my Autel EVO which would be less than
an
ounce added weight.

But an APRS digi would require a full TX/RX radio, a TNC-like device of
some
sort sor and a battery system.  Maybe one of those discontinued Alinco
credit-card-sized QRP 2-meter rigs and a TT4....

Most serious consumer drones (DJI, Autel, Parrot, etc) are powered by
proprietary lithium-ion battery packs with odd voltage outputs. One might
also
have to factor in some sort of DC-to-DC converter if you want to steal
power
from the drone's own battery pack.   Note that the maximum run time for
most of
these drones on a fully-charged battery is 15-25 minutes max, even before
you
start sucking power from the battery pack for other electronic devices.
Due to
the limited flight time, ou would have to launch the chase drone very close
to
the end of a balloon flight, just before landing.


Note that the drone already has TWO radio systems on board.  One for flight
control and camera control uplink and engineering data (battery state,
altitude, GPS data, etc) downlink.  A separate radio provides the live HD
or
UHD video feed down link.  One would have to thoroughly test the EMI/RFI
issues
before putting a third 2M VHF transmitter onboard.

___________________________________________________________
Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
Skype:        WA8LMF
EchoLink:  Node #  14400  [Think bottom of the 2-meter band]
Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.net

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