Components¶

GPS¶

Not all GPS units are created equal! There is a CoCOM Limit on commercial GPS devices. These are they should disable themselves when the altitude is over 18,000m (59,000 ft) And travelling over 1000 knots (510m/s, 1151mph). Some units have been found to apply the limit as an or rather than an and. Some units may need their mode switching to work at higher altitudes. Ublox modules are known to work but need a mode change to work over 12km.

Radio Modules¶

Within the HAB community Lora (and some LoraWAN), Rtty, Horus-4FSK and APRS are popular (APRS hasn't been used in the UK yet). There are a variety of modules that can support these with Radiometrix NTX2B and HX1 modules being popular as well as the HopeRF RFM9x Lora modules.

Micro controllers¶

ATMega, ESP and Pic microcontrollers have been used on previous flights as well as the Raspberry Pi Zero. @Mike Axford has experience with some of the ATMega range (mainly 328 and 324 series) as well as the Raspberry Pi.

Payloads¶

Ball1 Our first custom Payload