1. posterid:809954
  2. Balloon chasing program [1 Attachment]

Re: Balloon chasing program [1 Attachment]

AE5IB (Kip)
 

It sounds like a good idea. 

Allow Open Maps or Google maps to be preloaded where you think the balloon will go. 

Have a North Compass on the map (if map rotates), and bearing and distance to the balloon maybe another arm on compass as well as digital. Range in Miles if over a mile and then yards if under a mile. (With choice of metric or Imperial units) 

Rise/fall rate for short term (1 minute) and longer term (last 10 minutes or so) 

Balloon Burst notification when it changes from rising to falling. Then reset the fall/rate so you get  a better idea of the descent rate. 



Be able to remap track names (in case people have lent trackers to other vehicles) and easily exclude trackers not involved in the recovery. 

Have the last reported Lat,Lon,Altitude easily available incase you have to get out and start walking to find it with a handheld GPS.

If you are really ambitious you could plot best route to get to where the balloon will land. :)

Kip
AE5IB

On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 1:11 PM, Jerry Gable jerrygable@... [GPSL] <GPSL-noreply@...> wrote:
 
[Attachment(s) from Jerry Gable included below]

Since GPSL I have been thinking about chase software.  I haven't found any that does what I think it should.  I have looked at http://flighttrack.surfingsatellites.org/ but that is about the only one I know about.  I am looking for one that can be used offline in those bad reception areas balloons like to find.

I decided to start looking at what it would take to write one and have started playing with writing my own.  I have played with the pieces and think I have the stuff to pull this off.  The screenshot below is what I have running now.  The numbers on the right for the balloon are all test but the parser is working and mapping position reports to the map.

The question is: Is anyone else interested?  If I do it just for myself I'm not convinced it is worth the effort.

Here are my goals for the tool.
  • Must work offline. 
    • Maps must be able to be cached.
    • Must be able to deal with internet loss as well as PC restarts
  • Show my location and the balloon being chased.
    • decode GPS NEMA data for my location
    • Allow multiple trackers to provide data from the balloon (failure backup and faster update times)
  • Simple interface to allow use in moving cars (not driver)
  • Show what the balloon is currently doing
  • Receive APRS from a radio (KISS mode) and APRS-IS.
  • Show pre-flight prediction
  • Update prediction with real time data from the balloon
  • Run on windows laptop. (Tools allow for Apple laptop & linux builds as well)

So am I doing this for myself or is there interest in this from you?  If yes, what would you like to see in it?


Inline image

 
Jerry Gable
Balloon Flight Prediction tools
http://www.s3research.com
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