September 2010 - OZ9AEC Website

Expected video quality during the rocket flight

September 28, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

We will be using the Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 for the flight, streaming MJPG video in 640×480 at 30 fps. Although the camera can stream even 1280×720 at 30 fps the USB interface on the Gumstix Overo Fire can not keep up with the required data rate. So here is a test video recorded as … Read more

Disabling the WiFi on the Gumstix Overo Fire

August 23, 2016September 28, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

During the weekend I had some time to look at how to disable the combined WiFi and Bluetooth module on the Gumstix Overo Fire. The power source for the onboard video recorder consists of two 1 Ah LiPo batteries and although I did not have any measurement of the power consumption I knew this should be enough for at least one hour even with WiFi and Bluetooth switched ON during the flight (the wall plug adapter is 5V 1A). Still, I wanted to try to disable the WiFi and Bluetooth module since they are not needed during the flight.

A few bits and pieces for the onboard video recorder

September 24, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

Today I have received the last pieces that we are going to need for the video recorder based on the Gumstix Overo Fire. I took the opportunity to take some pictures.

Video recorder update

August 21, 2016September 23, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

I have been quite busy since the last update trying various options for recording MJPG video using a Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and the Gumstix Overo Fire embedded computer. The good news is that there has been significant progress reported in the following sections.

Gumstix Overo Fire status and re-scoping the project

August 21, 2016September 18, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

With only two weeks left until the flight opportunity it was time to make status and try to assess how much I can finish until the launch.

Nice review of Gpredict

August 23, 2016September 16, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

I stumbled upon this nice review of Gpredict Jack Wallen at ghacks.net : Track satellites with Gpredict. It’s always good to hear what other people think about it and I was particularly happy to read that Gpredict is an incredibly simple to use tool that will allow anyone to track multiple satellites quickly and easily. … Read more

OpenGL Demos on Gumstix Overo Fire

September 14, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

I was surprised to see how well the OpenGL demos run on the Gumstix Overo Fire. I have laptops that perform worse! These demos were all included in the Overo image i downloaded from Gumstix.

Kernel panic, accidental downgrade and working webcam

September 13, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

It has been a busy night but I have made good progress with the Gumtix Overo Fire. Today’s report is action packed with kernel panics, painful downgrades and a working webcam.

Gumstix Overo Fire booting from microSD card

August 21, 2016September 12, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

I’m happy to report that I managed to make my Gumstix Overo Fire boot from the microSD card! After a few failed attempts as I mentioned here, I noticed an error message in the boot sequence:

GNU Radio 3.3.0 on Mac OS X – USRP

August 22, 2016September 10, 2010 by Alexandru Csete

I have now tried the USRP on Mac OS X using the MacPorts installation and I am happy to report that it works very well. Indeed, the USRP is really plug and play on OS X and there is no need to configure udev or anything like it is the case on e.g. Ubuntu Linux. The video below shows the FM receiver listening on the local APRS frequency.