Abstract
The research reported in this paper examined the design and control of a gimbal for solar eclipse tracking and video recording. The gimbal design required 3 axes of rotation to allow for a full range of motion. Utilizing individual brushless motors for each of the axes ensures minimum rotational requirements on each axes. In controlling the gimbal, both a mathematical and visual method was utilized. The mathematical method is a modeled version of what is currently used for solar array pointing. The visual method looks at where the position of the sun is within the image and determines what angle changes are required. Utilizing a combination of these methods helps to eliminate error that accumulates within the onboard gyros due to the erratic behavior of balloon motion during flight. Elimination of this error ensures accurate video recording of the solar eclipse.
Highlights
In 2017 there is a solar eclipse that is in a prime location within the United States to view
2 of 5 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Using these design requirements the gimbal design in figure 1 was developed to fit the needs for the solar eclipse flight
As the balloon flies the azimuth and zenith angles are adjusted based off of the location of the sun in the image. The issue with this lies in the fact that 3 of 5 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics much of the sun will be covered up during the solar eclipse
Summary
In 2017 there is a solar eclipse that is in a prime location within the United States to view. Due to the flight characteristics of a balloon it is important to have gimbal be able to orient itself in all 3 axis. These axis include Yaw Pitch and Roll. The first method was through mathematically determining the location of the sun using azimuth and zenith angles. This method has long been utilized for pointing solar arrays.. This method has long been utilized for pointing solar arrays. The second method uses a small black and white camera (with a filter) or a Sun sensor to determine where the center of the Sun is and what orientation change is required to move the center of the Sun to the center of the camera
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