HALO 2 Project

Information

The HALO II Project is a coordinated high-altitude balloon launch with universities across the Midwest and East Coast.

Members: 20
Latest Activity: Apr. 6, 2009

HALO II Project

The HALO II Project is based on the successful HALO I Project launched in November of 2007 where 7 Universities launched high-altitude balloons simultaneously to create the first high-speed balloon-to-balloon network collecting scientific data and giving Students a unique hands-on research opportunity.

The HALO II Project will involve 15 Universities simultaneously launching high-altitude balloons to create a balloon-to-balloon network in order to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) Education and conduct cutting edge multipoint science experiments. Below is a list of the Universities participating:

Taylor University	IN	College of St. Catherine	MN
DePauw University	IN	Iowa State University	IA
University of Sothern Indiana	IN	Cedarville University	OH
Ball State University	IN	Medgar Evers College	NY
Valparaiso University	IN	Temple University	PA
DePaul University	IL	Bryan College	TN
University of Wisconsin	WI	Norfolk State University	VA
University of Minnesota	MN

Each HALO unit will carry:

StratoStar’s HALO Networking Device
Temperature Sensor
Pressure Sensor
Humidity Sensor
CO2 Sensor
Geiger Counter
GPS
APRS Radio

All of the HALO Teams will coordinate their launch through the mission control at Taylor University in Indiana. Students from all of the teams will be responsible for coordinating with mission control and all operations associated with their high-altitude balloon launch. Students are encouraged to launch their own payloads along with the HALO Unit.

The students teams will launch their balloons on April 4th and track their payloads to be recovered by a student chase team. After the HALO II Launch students are encouraged to analyze the data and publish their findings. Professors and Scientist will also be given access to the data to publish articles in peer reviewed Journals.

Discussion Forum

How many other balloons did your HALO II pod "see"? 2 Replies

Started by Howard Brooks. Last reply by Stephen Barnett Apr. 6, 2009.

Comment Wall

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Comment by Jill Coleman on April 4, 2009 at 1:17am: Anyone having difficulty with their systems test? I have installed the software, Stratostar driver, pulled the PIN, hooked up the attena to the computer, etc. per directions but no data is streaming in. I think I am missing something fairly simple here...

Comment by Jonathan Stoffel on April 3, 2009 at 9:28pm: Update on using Twitter - revised:

We have begun enabling Twitter accounts. Those that have given us cell phone numbers as the primary and secondary contacts should expect a text message. In this message, we will include a six-character authorization code that you must send as a text message to the number given, 447624801423, or 40404. The specific number for your phone will be included in the text message as well.

Once this is done, Twitter will be configured to update your page with information sent via text message to the same number. You may send up to 140 characters per update.

Our intention for this system is mainly to receive flight data, such as altitude of your balloon, from the chase teams as they track the flight. All of these messages will display on our central Twitter site, .

If you have any questions about enabling your phone to send text messages to Twitter, or anything related to this, please send me an e-mail, at jonathan_stoffel@taylor.edu.

Thanks a lot for your patience in getting this together!

Comment by Jeff Dailey on April 3, 2009 at 10:50am: UPDATE ON STRATONET ID NIMBERS

Taylor University IN. Flight# 147 KB9ZNZ-1 StratoNET ID: 0001
DePauw University IN. Flight# 148 KB9ZNZ-2 StratoNEt ID: 0002
University of Sothern Indiana IN. Flight# 149 KB9ZNZ-3 StratoNET ID: 0003
Ball State University IN. Flight# 150 KB9ZNZ-4 StratoNET ID: 0004
Valparaiso University IN. Flight#151 KB9ZNZ-5 StratoNET ID: 0005
DePaul University IL. Flight#152 KB9ZNZ-6 StratoNET ID: 0006
University of Wisconsin WI. Flight# 153 KB9ZNZ-7 StratoNET ID: 0007
University of Minnesota MN. Flight# 154 KB9ZNZ-8 StratoNET ID: 0008
College of St. Catherine MN. Flight# 155 KB9ZNZ-9 StratoNET ID: 0009
Wright University OH. Flight# 156 KB9ZNZ-10 StratoNET ID: 000A
Cedarville University OH. Flight# 157 KB9ZNZ-11 StratoNET ID: 000B
Medgar Evers College NY. Flight# 158 KB9ZNZ-12 StratoNET ID: 000C
Temple University PA. Flight# 159 KB9ZNZ-13 StratoNET ID: 000D
Bryan College TN. Flight# 160 KB9ZNZ-14 StratoNET ID: 000E
Norfolk State University VA. Flight# 161 KB9ZNZ-15 StratoNET ID: 000F

Taylor will be flying the crossband repeater
Uplink: 144.36
Downlink: 446.025

Comment by Howard Brooks on April 3, 2009 at 9:42am: Glen,

You can put whatever you want in the School ID line. We used our flight number BASE 35 (actually used BASE 34.5 on one system). I'd avoid using non-alphanumeric characters.

As for APRS numbers, the following list is on the ARHAB.org website and came from Jeff Dailey:

Taylor University IN KB9ZNZ-1
DePauw University IN KB9ZNZ-2
University of Southern Indiana IN KB9ZNZ-3
Ball State University IN KB9ZNZ-4
Valparaiso University IN KB9ZNZ-5
DePaul University IL KB9ZNZ-6
University of Wisconsin WI KB9ZNZ-7
University of Minnesota MN KB9ZNZ-8
College of St. Catherine MN KB9ZNZ-9
Iowa State University IA KB9ZNZ-10 (SCRUB)
Cedarville University OH KB9ZNZ-11
Medgar Evers College NY KB9ZNZ-12
Temple University PA KB9ZNZ-13
Bryan College TN KB9ZNZ-14
Norfolk State University VA KB9ZNZ-15

Howard

Comment by Jeff Dailey on April 3, 2009 at 9:37am: Taylor University IN. Flight# 147 KB9ZNZ-1
DePauw University IN. Flight# 148 KB9ZNZ-2
University of Sothern Indiana IN. Flight# 149 KB9ZNZ-3
Ball State University IN. Flight# 150 KB9ZNZ-4
Valparaiso University IN. Flight#151 KB9ZNZ-5
DePaul University IL. Flight#152 KB9ZNZ-6
University of Wisconsin WI. Flight# 153 KB9ZNZ-7
University of Minnesota MN. Flight# 154 KB9ZNZ-8
College of St. Catherine MN. Flight# 155 KB9ZNZ-9
Wright University OH. Flight# 156 KB9ZNZ-10
Cedarville University OH. Flight# 157 KB9ZNZ-11
Medgar Evers College NY. Flight# 158 KB9ZNZ-12
Temple University PA. Flight# 159 KB9ZNZ-13
Bryan College TN. Flight# 160 KB9ZNZ-14
Norfolk State University VA. Flight# 161 KB9ZNZ-15

Taylor will be flying the crossband repeater
Uplink: 144.36
Downlink: 446.025

Comment by Glen Kissel on April 3, 2009 at 9:12am: What is the "school ID" referred to in step 4? And do we have an aprs number yet?

Comment by Matthew D Garver on April 2, 2009 at 10:17pm: HALO II Software Instructions & System Test

Please follow these instructions to properly configure your HALO II software and run a full system test.

HALO II Software Installation Instructions.doc

Comment by Matthew D Garver on April 2, 2009 at 7:59pm: StratoStar Driver.zipStratoStar USB Driver Download (Ammended - Thanks Howard)

If you do not own your own StratoSAT System, or if your system is fitted with serial outputs instead of USB, you will most likely need to download this USB driver for you chase computer to be able to communicate with the chase antenna. All that need be done is to 'unzip' the file and double-click on it, and the rest should be automated. Thanks

--Matt Garver

Comment by Howard Brooks on April 2, 2009 at 7:43pm: Matt,

We got the system to work today without this driver. Are you saying that we won't get the flight data without this driver? The StratoSAT software showed data packets and GPS packets, although I didn't notice very many data packets.

Thanks for the clarification.
Howard

Comment by Howard Brooks on March 19, 2009 at 2:58pm: Jason,

Will we be able to program the HALO APRS? If not, I'd like to know the planned timing of the APRS signals to allow us to offset our APRS radio. On flights where we have flown two radios, we have had the beacons operate on alternate minutes with two minutes between successive transmission on a single radio.