You're standing in the middle of this vast鈥攁s far as the eye can see鈥攇rassland. And this thing that you just let go of in downtown Boulder has traveled there on its own. There's this moment of disbelief until you're right there with it. ~ Zack Weaver, CEAS lecturer, ATLAS Institute
听
听
The collaborative project was part of听a class听taught by ATLAS Lecturer听Zack听Weaver听called听Creative Technologies, a required class in the College of Engineering MS听in Creative Technology and Design, offered through the ATLAS Institute.听
The instrumentation they built included an Arduino microcontroller connected to听sensors that measured and recorded location, temperature, air pressure and altitude.听A GoPro was sent along for the ride, capturing continuous video of the four-hour flight that began outside the Boulder Public Library鈥檚 BLDG 61 Makerspace, where Weaver works, and ended in a field in Eastern Colorado 120 miles away.
The students, many of whom began the class without much of a technical background, wrote and tested the code for the microcontroller, designed and built the insulated casing that held the camera and protected the electronics and batteries from temperatures of approximately听-35掳 Fahrenheit. The payload design allowed environmental sensors and a GPS antenna to capture and record data to an SD card. The students were then able to plot and compare flight simulation data and actual data visualized in Google Earth.
鈥淭he students learned which creative technologies could be used to pull off this feat,鈥� Weaver said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 probably not the right terminology, but they get a 鈥榗rash course鈥欌�攍earning many things very quickly.鈥�
Besides coding and electronics, students also learned wireless communication, design and fabrication techniques, including laser cutting, 3D printing and integrating electronic components into the student-designed payload. As required by the Federal Aviation Administration, the team registered the balloon flight, providing its anticipated flight path based on their models.
鈥淭his class is a blast,鈥� said Neill Shikada, who is enrolled in the Creative Industries track of the ATLAS Creative Technologies and Design master's program. 鈥淚've come from knowing nothing about electronics to designing quite a few aspects of the instrumentation for our balloon flight."
Alejandra Guerro, a social impact master鈥檚 student, echoed Shikada鈥檚 sentiments.听鈥淚'm definitely enjoying the class,鈥� she said. 听鈥淎 lot of technologies that seemed intimidating or difficult, now feel more accessible. I've learned that I can learn just about anything with enough Googling, patience and help from classmates.鈥�
鈥淣eedle in a stack of needles鈥�
As the pressure decreased with the rising altitude, the 7-foot-diameter balloon at ground level expanded to an estimated 25 feet before bursting. Its听dizzying descent was captured .
Prediction software provided an estimate of the balloon鈥檚 location within a five-kilometer radius. Then, using the Automated Packet Reporting System (APRS), a ham radio network connected directly to a web server, they were able to pinpoint听the balloon鈥檚 location to within one-tenth of a mile.听As a backup, the team put a听small commercial GPS tracker onboard that tracked the balloon's position online in real-time, but the APRS system worked perfectly.听
鈥淲e added as many redundant tracking systems as possible without weighing it down more than necessary,鈥� Weaver said. 鈥淓very gram is critical to how high the balloon can fly.鈥�
Because the flight took approximately four hours, Weaver and some of the students had plenty of time to drive out to Eastern Colorado, initially aiming for where they thought the balloon would land and then course-correcting once they had actual coordinates.听
鈥淲e dream of seeing this thing coming down, but in Eastern Colorado, it鈥檚 like finding a needle in a stack of needles,鈥� Weaver said.
Crash course
In addition to mapping the actual flight path on Google Earth, students were asked to analyze variations and anomalies compared to the predicted flight path. While examining the data, students discovered that the sensors recorded higher temperatures than the APRS reported and concluded they were mistakenly measuring the interior of their insulated casing. They also learned the limitations of a $5 altitude sensor, which loses accuracy over 60,000 feet. 听
鈥淭hese limitations, and the opportunity to read the data to discover them, are intentionally baked into the experience,鈥� said Weaver. 鈥淚t contextualizes the affordances and constraints of the toolset.鈥�
听
鈥淭he project helped the students understand that they can鈥檛 learn all creative technologies,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e set a context that provided constraints for deciding which technologies are needed and to what extent. It helped them to not be overwhelmed by an overabundance of choices.鈥澨�
听 听听
The balloon flight was the key project for the first half of the Creative Technologies course; the second half is designed so students use the balloon experience as a reference for their independent design projects. There鈥檚 also a lineup of guest speakers, giving students diverse perspectives on similar types of technologies and how they are used professionally.
鈥淚've shown them a reasonable amount of new technologies,鈥� Weaver said. 鈥淭he students听will define any additional technologies they need to work with听on a more individual basis. So at this point, they're in charge of the class, and I'm just there as support听to run logistics and to bring in cool people for them to meet.
鈥淚 remember sometimes feeling almost complete isolation as a grad student on campus," said Weaver. "Getting off-campus and out in the world came as such a novelty.听I think this group of students had that experience, particularly driving out to Eastern Colorado. And they didn't just learn how to work with electronics and design tools; they applied them, and it took them to new places."
