Dynamic Characterization of a High-Altitude Balloon during a Flight Campaign for the Detection of ISM Radio Background in the Stratosphere

Sounding balloons, available at very low cost from commercial vendors and operable with minimal training, have an excellent potential as testing platforms in the near-space environment. The work reported here was motivated by the need to perform an experimental assessment of the radio frequency (RF)...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Aerospace 2021-01, Vol.8 (1), p.21
Hauptverfasser: Gemignani, Matteo, Marcuccio, Salvo
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Sounding balloons, available at very low cost from commercial vendors and operable with minimal training, have an excellent potential as testing platforms in the near-space environment. The work reported here was motivated by the need to perform an experimental assessment of the radio frequency (RF) background present in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) bands, namely 868 MHz (Ultra High Frequency—UHF) and 2.4 GHz (S-Band), simulating the operational environment of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation forInternet of Things (IoT) telecommunications. To this end, five balloons were flown with a dedicated RF payload. Along with the radio measurements, the flights provided a convenient opportunity to collect data on the dynamic behavior of the payload gondola. We report on the system design and the operational phase of the mission, and discuss the data collected throughout the successful flight campaign. As a result, a preliminary understanding of the gondola dynamics has been gained, including both linear accelerations and attitude oscillations. It is also concluded that the two ISM bands considered are actually suitable for IoT ground-to-LEO links.
ISSN:2226-4310
2226-4310
DOI:10.3390/aerospace8010021