News

Kite Inflator Testing

2/3/12

A few weeks ago we did some testing of the kite inflation system with a new motor, electronics, and firmware. Everything has been looking good and we are looking forward to testing it on a boat or lifting kite soon.

In the attached plot, the green line indicates the target pressure, which is changed remotely using the web interface to cause the system to inflate and deflate the kite. The red line shows the measured air pressure. The measurement is somewhat noisier than the actual air pressure because the sensor is attached to the same tube as the in intake and outlet. The improved firmware filters this noise enough to keep the actual pressure within the kite quite stable.

Feb 2 – Lone Ranger Update

2/2/12

Some more great photos from Don and Joe in the Atlantic Ocean. They used the kytoon and the white and red rokkakus today, using the higher kite to take photos of the lower kite. They also engineered an aerial photo of the research team on the deck. This day they traveled from sample station #3 to sample station #5. Upon arriving, everyone went swimming.

Feb 1 – Lone Ranger Update

2/1/12

Don and Joe took some great photos of Sargassum at station #3 from the lifting kites and from the collection boat. The fisheye photos were taken from the GoPros–either on the kite or on a handheld pole. The lower-res photos with the black borders are from the Axis cam. Expedition log: http://www.schmidtocean.org/story/show/608

Jan 31 – Lone Ranger update

1/31/12

Here’s the first photo update from Don on the Lone Ranger. He and Joe are on a 14-day voyage between Bermuda and the Bahamas to help scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute document the Sargassum population in that area. They took the aerial photos using GoPros and a Canon G12 on an inflatable rokkaku kite and an inflatable Fled. The camera rig shown is a gyro-stabilized mount that hangs from the kite bridle or kite line. In the photo it is holding the G12 and the Axis cam, but we can also use it with GoPros or other small or mid-sized cameras. The rows of Sargassum that are visible from the higher-up kite shots are called windrows. The SOI cruise […more]

Jan 29 – Arrival in Bermuda

1/29/12

Don and Joe arrived in Bermuda and met the Lone Ranger research team. Don kitesurfed around the boat and he and Joe took some photos at the dock.

Eye-Fi setup

1/24/12

The Eye-Fi SD card works with the CF card adapter in the 7D. With the metal parts of the adapter taken off, it works as well as does the Eye-Fi SD card on its own in the GoPro, which means it works from halfway across the shop, but not all the way across the shop. The card is rated to 45 ft from the router indoors and 90 ft from the router outdoors.

The above distances are using the KAI wi-fi. When I turned off wi-fi and used “Direct Mode,” the network was very unreliable and had to be restarted often. It did not appear to reach as far as the wi-fi. The furthest away I could get it to […more]