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Deployer Electronics
03/07/2015 at 19:28 • 0 commentsDesigning the electronics for the Chipstar Deployer.
It will have a radio for receiving earth commands and a hardware timer to trigger the deployment even when the controller fails to work.This system will be redundant with two different power sources.
The two trigger systems will be: Nicrome wire cutter and motorized lock
In the lower section of the PCB you can see the constant current driver for the wire cutter.
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Devkit design with new IMU and Imager
03/01/2015 at 22:41 • 0 commentsFinished... Now waiting for the imaging sensors to come.
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Adding IMAGER and GYROS
02/28/2015 at 15:55 • 0 commentsDesign progress on the new Chipstar with Imager and better IMU.
So you will get the full 9-DOF-IMU with magnetometer, accelerometer, gyros AND an imager.This will delay the first series of devkits, but you will get a much better peoduct.
The imager will make pictures with 19x19 pixels resolution, approximately like the picture above. Left: original, right: sensor (estimation)
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IMAGER on the chipstar
02/27/2015 at 11:18 • 1 commentI decided to include an image sensor on the chipstar.
This will make it more exciting, because you will be able to see the earth, the moon and the sun.
An integrated algorithm will also provide data how fast and in which direction the seen object is moving.
The sensor is black&white with 20 pixel resolution in X/Y - not a high end camera, but you can print the earth´s image into the frequency spectrum and use it for navigation purposes.
I think that will be a motivation :)
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MILESTONE: Flight-Version Prototype
02/16/2015 at 10:41 • 6 commentsChipstar prototype soldered.
That´s the (semi)final version of the actual chipstar board in the flight version.
Some small modifications may be made depending if we´ll deploy of a CubeSat or a PocketQub. -
DEVKIT Voting - Do you want to get one?
02/12/2015 at 16:49 • 0 commentsDEVKIT voting - Please mark if you are interested in having one.
That´s NOT a purchase contract. We would just like to know how many we should produce.
Target price for 10-20 is 100$ per piece - we will not earn on that, that´s just BOM and PCB assembly.
Maybe we can lower the target price by partplacing manually - we´ll consider that after voting.We can lower the target price for sure when more people are interested in getting one.
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Milestone: Devkit Board working
02/11/2015 at 15:54 • 0 commentsGreat! It´s working fine :)
Some rare sun came on this winter´s day - great to test the system:
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Milestone: BASIC enviroment completed
02/10/2015 at 20:45 • 0 commentsThe BASIC environment is completed.
The HEX-FILE button generates the binary code for the chipstar devkit.
After running your code in the simulation - you can flash it into the devkit.
I changed the background color to standard, so it will also look good on Linux and MacOS when emulated.
I´ll solder the newest devkit prototype tomorrow.
If it works succesfully, I´ll prepare a small series of devkits.
I´ll place a voting soon to know who would consider to purchase a devkit.
Because it´s quite expensive to make a part placement for a small series I would like to know who definitely wants to get a devkit.
The more people want one, the lower will be the production price.
(The part placing companies usually take 6€ PER PART to set up the machine, then a few cents per part for the placing. plus the base fee etc.)
Anyway I´ll try to offer the devkits for a reasonable price (45$-100$, depending on the quantity). -
BASIC Environment for Mac OS X
02/03/2015 at 19:12 • 0 comments...now available in the LINK section. Many thanx to JackPearse (Baltobor)
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Deployer Progress 2
02/02/2015 at 18:54 • 0 commentsJo posted a demonstration video how the deployer will open the gates for the chipsats. You can watch it in the facebook Chipstar Prelaunch Group.