Android payload system development for high-altitude balloons: capturing periodic images along with GPS and sensor data

Abstract

High-altitude balloons can carry small payloads to altitudes higher than 80,000 feet into the stratosphere, where atmospheric conditions are quite similar to those in low-Earth orbit, conditions that categorize it as "near-space". In this project, theses payloads are developed based on an Android system, which is equipped with a 32-bit microcontroller, a megapixel camera, GPS sensor, and a 9-degree Gyroscope, Accelerometer, and Magnetometer. This Android device collects and transmits data in real time with a wireless 2.4 GHz Satellite modem, which periodically transmits signals to a receiver computer on the ground while under the presence of various cosmic near-space radiation levels throughout flight.