Electronics Construction

I have begun work on building the electronic controls for the XRB Alpha. I have built both the controls to be placed in the basket, and the ground controls which will allow for manual control if necessary, and also as a link to the laptop computer.

For the ground controls, I gutted an old Black and Decker case. The antenna sticking out of the side is for the wireless camera( see wireless camera below below)


Here are some photos of the inside of the Ground Control Box:




Here is the Balloon Control box, complete with BASIC STAMP and wireless link to the ground control:



I also built a small device to drop something out of the balloon. The servo operates a piece of fish line, which opens the compartment and drops its contents. I have tested it successfully several times:



Here is a photo of the wireless camera I plan to mount to the balloon. It is just about 3/4 of an inch across, and ways very little: