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High Altitude Balloon Instrumentation In Undergraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering

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Conference

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Vancouver, BC

Publication Date

June 26, 2011

Start Date

June 26, 2011

End Date

June 29, 2011

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Experiential Learning in ECE

Tagged Division

Electrical and Computer

Page Count

10

Page Numbers

22.772.1 - 22.772.10

DOI

10.18260/1-2--18053

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/18053

Download Count

546

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Paper Authors

biography

Dick Blandford University of Evansville

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Dick Blandford is the EECS Department Chair at the University of Evansville

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biography

Mark Earl Randall University of Evansville

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Mark Randall
Randall@Evansville.edu

Instructor of
Electrical Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Evansville

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Abstract

High Altitude Balloon Instrumentation In Undergraduate Electrical and Computer EngineeringAbstractA high altitude balloon project originated with Taylor University which received NSF funding in2008. Since that time numerous other universities have become involved in the project by wayof Taylor's ongoing summer workshops. A typical balloon travels to about 100,000 feet in a twoto three hour period, bursts, and parachutes its payload to earth. A balloon can be used to launcha 12 pound load into a near space environment for a modest cost. The balloon and the load canbe tracked and the load can be recovered using the Global Positioning System (GPS). Thissystem allows undergraduate electrical and computer engineering students to designinstrumentation packages for a harsh environment and the recovered data can be used to judgethe effectiveness of the design.This paper presents details of the use of this system in a junior level project course in electricaland computer engineering. The class uses student teams to design an instrumentation package tospecifications that include packaging, severe environmental factors, as well as electrical andcomputer engineering hardware and software design. Results from multiple balloon launches aregiven along with enough detail on cost and manpower to allow others to duplicate and enhancethis project.

Blandford, D., & Randall, M. E. (2011, June), High Altitude Balloon Instrumentation In Undergraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18053

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