Winds Aloft

This was a triumph!

2009-05-10T08:26:00.003-05:00

I'm making a note here, HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

Tim Brooks from Ontario gave me a call this morning to say he has the Explorer, and is going to ship it back! Hooray!

Despite a few glitches-
1) Failing to wake for the first 9 hours of the journey
2) GPS antenna pointing at the ground reporting an altitude of "--15,000" feet
3) Landing in less than a day (!!!)
4) Camera failure after hanging in the tree

... it still took some nice pictures and phoned home well enough!

Thanks everyone for following and cheering on the little Explorer. I think its time to retire her.

-Chris

2009-05-10T04:01:00.001-05:00

T5.00 coord 44.27809 -78.66171 alt 754.5ft vvert 0.0mph speed 0.0mph heading 0.0 temp 27f 3.915v dbm -106.31 snr 6671

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2009-05-10T02:57:00.001-05:00

T3.56 coord 44.27782 -78.66176 alt 761.1ft vvert 0.0mph speed 0.0mph heading 0.0 temp 36f 3.915v dbm -100.37 snr 3200

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2009-05-10T01:53:00.001-05:00

T2.52 coord 44.27794 -78.66167 alt 738.1ft vvert 0.0mph speed 0.0mph heading 0.0 temp 36f 3.915v dbm -102.56 snr 4439

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2009-05-10T00:50:00.001-05:00

T1.48 coord 44.27781 -78.66156 alt 731.6ft vvert 0.0mph speed 0.0mph heading 0.0 temp 36f 3.935v dbm -102.37 snr 2230

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2009-05-09T23:46:00.001-05:00

T0.44 coord 44.27798 -78.66170 alt 685.6ft vvert 0.0mph speed 0.0mph heading 0.0 temp 36f 3.935v dbm -102.43 snr 2667

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2009-05-09T22:41:00.001-05:00

T23.40 coord 44.27779 -78.66160 alt 688.9ft vvert 0.0mph speed 0.0mph heading 0.0 temp 36f 3.935v dbm -106.81 snr 1867

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2009-05-09T21:37:00.001-05:00

T22.36 coord 44.27793 -78.66163 alt 777.5ft vvert 0.0mph speed 0.0mph heading 0.0 temp 36f 3.935v dbm -105.68 snr 3383

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2009-05-09T20:33:00.001-05:00

T21.32 coord 44.27830 -78.66210 alt 606.9ft vvert 0.0mph speed 0.0mph heading 0.0 temp 45f 3.935v dbm -95.43 snr 13421

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Explorer report

2009-05-09T18:55:00.001-05:00

With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-09T18:20:00.001-05:00

With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-09T17:56:00.000-05:00

T18.54
coord 44.27282 -78.67419 alt 754.5ft spd0.0mph hdg 0.0 tmp 45f 3.956v dbm -98.37 snr 5550 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-09T08:52:00.001-05:00

T9.49
coord 44.27073 -78.67308 alt 734.9ft spd0.0mph hdg 0.0 tmp 36f 4.139v dbm -84.87 snr 12590 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-09T08:48:00.000-05:00

T9.46
coord 44.27072 -78.67309 alt 718.5ft spd0.0mph hdg 0.0 tmp 36f 4.139v dbm -83.12 snr 13977 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-09T08:44:00.000-05:00

T9.41
coord 44.26814 -78.67136 alt -1184.3ft spd10.0mph hdg 6.0 tmp 36f 4.139v dbm -62.87 snr 13918 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-09T08:40:00.000-05:00

T9.38
coord 44.26200 -78.67442 alt --931.7ft spd6.7mph hdg 8.4 tmp 36f 4.139v dbm -69.31 snr 8331 With regards, the Explorer

2009-05-09T08:28:00.001-05:00

T8.21 coord 44.01396 -78.96057 alt 6686.3ft vvert 0.0mph speed 23.4mph heading 34.1 temp 36f 4.160v dbm -80.75 snr 886

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Explorer report

2009-05-09T08:26:00.000-05:00

T9.24
coord 44.23073 -78.67095 alt --3838.5ft spd16.2mph hdg 6.2 tmp 36f 4.160v dbm -80.31 snr 1064 With regards, the Explorer

Thanks again Sajid

2009-05-09T07:37:00.006-05:00

Sajid's screen-scraping for GPS coordinates.
Load the latest map here:

http://sajiddalvi.net/ebony/location2.html

2009-05-09T07:17:00.001-05:00

T7.48 coord 43.88157 -79.13042 alt 9596.4ft vvert 0.0mph speed 21.2mph heading 63.2 temp 27f 4.139v dbm -71.81 snr 867

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Explorer report

2009-05-09T07:09:00.000-05:00

T8.07
coord 43.94018 -79.01680 alt 7923.2ft spd21.8mph hdg 38.2 tmp 36f 4.160v dbm -76.81 snr 678 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-09T06:36:00.000-05:00

T7.34
coord 43.84360 -79.23046 alt 11069.5ft spd26.2mph hdg 66.7 tmp 27f 4.180v dbm -90.06 snr 1507 With regards, the Explorer

2009-05-09T05:21:00.007-05:00

T5.13 coord 43.46694 -80.08682 alt 295.2ft vvert 0.0mph speed 14.5mph heading 99.5 temp 18f 4.200v dbm -67.56 snr 13481

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2009-05-09T05:21:00.005-05:00

T3.09 coord 43.41612 -80.49204 alt --15278.8ft vvert 0.0mph speed 26.8mph heading 90.4 temp 18f 4.200v dbm -76.18 snr 702

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2009-05-09T05:21:00.003-05:00

T2.05 coord 43.21419 -81.05083 alt 9747.3ft vvert 0.0mph speed 27.4mph heading 60.5 temp 18f 4.200v dbm -90.00 snr 4806

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2009-05-09T05:21:00.001-05:00

T1.01 coord 43.10389 -81.45475 alt 679.1ft vvert 0.0mph speed 16.2mph heading 76.2 temp 18f 4.180v dbm -89.68 snr 1489

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Explorer report

2009-05-09T05:19:00.000-05:00

T6.16
coord 43.60753 -79.78196 alt 7273.6ft spd16.2mph hdg 39.7 tmp 18f 4.180v dbm -70.56 snr 392 With regards, the Explorer

OK, when to REALLY expect updates

2009-05-08T21:46:00.002-05:00

Well, it was quiet for the first half hour, and after that it went over the lake.

If it's at 18000 feet, the batteries are cold and the voltage is low, so it won't try to update very often. We saw fully charged batteries go to ~3.6V at -10F or so.

Here's the complete, overly complicated update algorithm in order to try to survive cold temps / low batt / transatlantic journeys.

When it goes to sleep between 6 AM (local!) and 7:59 PM (OR: There's zero GSM signal at all, not even roaming)
-- Sleep for 15 minutes
-- If battery is lower than 3.9V, sleep for 30 minutes
-- If battery is lower than 3.8V, sleep for 1:30
-- If battery is lower than 3.7V, sleep for 2:30
-- If battery is lower than 3.5V, sleep for 5:30
-- If battery is lower than 3.4V, sleep for 8:30 (Hopefully, solar cells help here
-- If there's messages stuck in the outbox, sleep another 30 minutes

Otherwise (night time or zero signal)
-- Sleep for 1 hour
-- If battery lower than 3.8V, sleep for 3 hours
-- If battery lower than 3.7V, sleep for 5 hours
-- If battery lower than 3.6V, sleep for 7 hours
-- If battery lower than 3.5V, sleep for 9 hours
-- If battery lower than 3.4V, sleep for 11 hours (Sadly, seems to be typical for mid-way charged batteries at -18F)

Also, it'll send VGA images if there's anything in the outbox at powerup.

Batteries seem to recover nicely from sleeping at -18F. I had some batteries in the freezer that recovered fine.

If the phone wakes up and pukes due to low battery, there's a backup alarm set for +8 hours. So if the phone went to 30,000 feet (-40F) and can't wake up at night, it "should recover" when the sun comes up. Probably.

So, yeah, wait 24 hours before calling it dead. :) I'm hoping there was no design failure, and we just got unlucky in the first 30 minutes of flight, and rural Michigan's TMobile network isn't friendly.

-CF

When to expect updates?

2009-05-08T16:26:00.003-05:00

Updates, when it's struggling to send emails, will come every 45 minutes or so. If it clears its outbox, it will send emails every 5-10 minutes until the batteries get to 4.05V. Look for a timestamp on the start of the message like T16.28 to confirm when the phone thinks the update is from.

After 8PM, it will send SMS's only to preserve batteries in the cold.

It should be in Michigan by 9 or 10PM, depending on altitude.

Target Altitude: 14,000 feet, which probably means 18,000 feet.

Explorer report

2009-05-08T15:57:00.000-05:00

T15.55
coord 42.13635 -87.99800 alt 623.3ft spd2.7mph hdg 88.5 tmp 72f 4.221v dbm -79.68 snr 4145 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-08T15:54:00.000-05:00

T15.51
coord 42.13632 -87.99822 alt 583.9ft spd0.0mph hdg 0.0 tmp 72f 4.221v dbm -81.68 snr 16884 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-08T15:49:00.000-05:00

T15.47
coord 42.13625 -87.99811 alt 646.3ft spd0.0mph hdg 0.0 tmp 72f 4.221v dbm -75.12 snr 10531 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-08T15:45:00.000-05:00

T15.43
coord 42.13612 -87.99751 alt 649.6ft spd3.3mph hdg 106.2 tmp 72f 4.221v dbm -79.06 snr 6475 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-08T15:42:00.000-05:00

T15.40
coord 42.13576 -87.99867 alt 721.7ft spd0.0mph hdg 0.0 tmp 72f 4.221v dbm -75.37 snr 6824 With regards, the Explorer

Explorer report

2009-05-08T15:37:00.000-05:00

T15.34
coord 42.13601 -87.99842 alt 623.3ft spd0.0mph hdg 0.0 tmp 72f 4.241v dbm -83.25 snr 9168 With regards, the Explorer

2009-05-08T15:18:00.001-05:00

T15.16 coord 0.00000 0.00000 alt 0.0ft vvert 0.0mph speed 0.0mph heading 0.0 temp 72f 4.241v dbm -74.56 snr 13087

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Explorer report

2009-05-08T15:04:00.000-05:00

T15.02
coord 0.00000 0.00000 alt 0.0ft spd0.0mph hdg 0.0 tmp 72f 4.221v dbm -68.62 snr 8501 With regards, the Explorer

Stay tuned, launch at 4 PM

2009-05-08T14:30:00.000-05:00

We're still finishing a couple details. Launch planned at 4 PM.