tl;dr
- fill in
Requirements
Obtain onboard video useful for engineering purposes
- Minimize development
Goals
- Get state feedback on the launch pad
Possible Solutions
| Camera | Mass | Cost | Battery Life (on standby) | State Feedback? | Maximum Recording Time with Big SD Card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoPro Session Black | 120g | $151 | 2 hours WiFi; 8 hours Bluetooth | via Bluetooth | thermally limited, otherwise infinite |
| GoPro Hero 7 | 116g | $400 | 2 hours WiFi; 8 hours Bluetooth | via Bluetooth | better at 2k60, probably not great at higher resolution |
| FireFly Q6 | 42.5g | $62 | infinite (off) | hackable | uncharacterized |
Considerations
- Stick with Fireflys
- pros: safest bet within the timeline with minimal work
- cons: lowest upside, unreliable based off of previous flights, batches ordered can have slight differences, no feedback
- safest bet (but no feedback on the launchpad)
- changes can include:
- change connector and get BBC working
- Stick with Fireflys but research GoPros for future flights
- pros: will allow better development of the GoPros for future flights
- cons: most work and will ultimately stick with the unreliable Fireflys, no feedback
- balance between both ideas
- Go with GoPros (via Bluetooth) and fallback on Fireflys
- pros: highest upside by eliminating camera boards, improving reliability and getting instant feedback on the launch pad (on/off, focus correct)
- cons: limited/insufficient battery life, integration concerns, uncertain about starting cameras from bunker (could be unreliable connection), will drive the most change in an already short timeline (including a higher cost), can overheat and shut down (has happened in previous rocket flights), overall reliability concerns
- uncertain about changes, but probably includes:
- inner structures: change holders and mountings, drill tubes differently, changes to AV structure
- composites: tube changes
- avionics: get GoPros, connect to button through current BBC, disassemble GoPro and connect to its button, test its connection from GoPro to Bluetooth, change connector to button
The Decision (as handed down by Jakob)
- We are trying to minimize the development that is going to happen, but we are going to look for opportunities to improve.
- We need to ensure we have a solution by Thanksgiving, so we’re going with Firefly cameras. Over the next week we’re going to look over BBC2s. Meanwhile we’ll be evaluate lightening the FRR to increase mass margin.
- Other possible changes include switching firefly’s for gopros on the LE assembly. This will enable feedback on LE cameras.
- We are choosing to drive changes to avionics on the BBC in order to avoid launch ops and inner structures changes.
Results
Order 5x old BBC 1.0s
Order 6x Firefly Q6 cameras ($370)
Order 3x GoPro Session 5 ($450)
Order JST-SH connectors to solder to Firefly ($8)
Design BBC 2.0 as a minimum viable product that can implement feedback (~100)
Submit schedule for BBC 2.0 by Saturday
Lower Electronics changes camera holders to enable late integration
Decrease FRR mass