Skeye

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Skeye
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Personnel

• John Spurgeon
• Daren Dotson
• Michael
• Bailee Collins

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Skeye
We began with a minimalistic video camcorder from
Argus.
We found it to be 126 grams with 4 lithium-ion
AAA batteries.
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We removed the case and all unnecessary
components.
We changed the incase batteries pack for a
separate batteries hold with a switch.
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We mounted the circuit board to the pay load
using wooden dowels as structural support and as
a system of restricted slats to keep the camera
and its components in place.
To attain a better field of view, we attached the
camera lens directly to a 180 degree door
peephole fish eye lens.
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Our goal was to be able to achieve an angle that
is able to capture the horizon as well as the
balloon and the payloads above us.
With further observation we concluded that the
best angle to do this would be a 30 degree inward
slant.
With this, we were able o maintain a proper seal
with a 2 by 2 by 1.5 inch triangle positioned at
the 30 degree angle.
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Goal

• The main goal of our payload skeye, is to record
  flight data and video the mission from take off
  to the point of landing.
• We want to do this in order to develop a better
  understanding of how the project works and to use
  this data to better enable it to be better for
  future missions.

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Testing

• To ensure that our payload would be ready for the
  flight, we have performed several test which
  included endurance testing on the batteries, and
  s time test.
• These test showed us that we can film up to 4
  hours and that the batteries power of the
  lithium-ion batteries is enough to last
  throughout the whole mission.

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Testing

• Along with the endurance testing we performed
  impact and stress tests.
• These tests were used to test the limits of the
  physical performance of our payload which include
  the dangers of impact at a high rate of speed and
  height.

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Fixed Issues

• We also have come up with solutions to problems
  we came across in testing which include
  condensation and frost on the lens and heavy
  damage due to hard impact.
• To fix the condensation and frost issues we plan
  to use hand warmers to keep a constant
  temperature throughout the payload to keep any
  moisture on or around the lens in a liquid state
  to prevent the event of freezing.
• In addition to the hand warmers, we have enclosed
  multiple silicon Gel packets to remove moisture
  from the inside of the payload.

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Fixed Issues Cont.

• We also came across a problem that may arise due
  to the lower amount of light that we may come
  across in the upper atmosphere.
• To resolve this we ensured that our camera has an
  auto exposure correction feature which will
  prevent a whiteout or blackout should a situation
  with the lighting arise.
• In order to ensure that our data also is safely
  gathered, the video is automatically stored on a
  1 Gig SD memory card that will survive heavy
  impact at a high rate of speed.

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Conclusion

• In conclusion, our group is here to help improve
  the ACES mission as a whole for future flights.
  We want to make the program better and record any
  malfunctions that are experienced during the
  flight