I. INTRODUCTION
Our team consists of 7 students and one physics teacher. Our interest in
physics, technology and the advancement of sciences brought us together and
this is how our team was created. All of us were excited and at the same time
stressed about our participation in the competition. However, we knew that the
object of our mission should have to do with an issue of current affairs in order
to be able to modify and improve it in the future. The opportunity for our mission
arose when the catastrophic fire on the island of Rhodes took place in the
summer of 2021. Through temperature, CO, humidity, PM 2.5, CO2 and
formaldehyde sensors, measurements were recorded, which show whether there
is a risk of fire spreading and how a fire affects the surrounding areas. Once
Cansat’s mission is over, it can automatically send an email to the cooperating
firefighter about the completion of the Cansat’s operation so there is a possibility
for it to operate without the need for surveillance. Our CanSat was recovered
successfully and due to its excellent functionality, the fire brigade of Rhodes
asked us to actually make use of it. We all worked together sharing
responsibilities according to our individual skills and competencies doing the best
we could during school hours and in our free time. We have therefore chosen to
work on resolving a problem that particularly affects society in many aspects and
the effectiveness of our proposal highlighted the innovation of our project.
II. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
During our mission we managed to fulfill some goals that contributed to
the effectiveness of our device.
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First of all, telemetry worked. The GPS was adapted to telemetry. Without
it the recovery of our CanSat would have been ineffective as it landed on a
very inaccessible area.
We confirmed that our sensors were working normally and showed real
measurements as our device detected the fuel present in the landing area
and this result was evident through the rapid increase of the measurement
values.
The device did not suffer any damage while landing on the ground, and all
systems continued to work normally.
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II.I Materials and Structural Design
The outer casing and the shelves in the interior of our CanSat were printed
with a 3D printer using ASA for the final printing of our satellite.
On the exterior and along the cylinder casing, there are cuts to facilitate
the air flow inside the CanSat (air quality and composition). The lid at the bottom
end is detachable in order to have access to the internal part. Access can be
ensured as well, by the fact that the upper part is split in two identical halves as
depicted. Looking from the top perspective, 2 diametrically opposed holes are
positioned, through which the screws that support the internal shelves, can
pass. In the middle of their distancing, another hole of greater diameter is
created at the top by the two halves where the eyelet that buckles the parachute
runs through and is adjusted on the screws inside. Inside both upper exterior
parts, 2 millimeters above their bottoms, there is a projection in each so that
screws can be screwed through the down lid. Moreover the two identical exterior
parts are restrained together with the usage of a thin metal plate that connects
the nuts externally and as a result the parts are securely held joined together.
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CanSat the circuit board, the SEN0233 and MQ7 sensor, the batteries with their
voltage converter, the camera with its transmitter, the buzzer and the switches
are located. On the middle shelf the MicroSD card module, the BMP 280 and CCS
811 sensors can be found. On the shelf above this, there is the GPS.
Finally, on the top shelf the microcontroller Arduino Nano 33 BLE is located
over the Adafruit LoRa RFM95W with its lengthwise-positioned antenna. The use
of insulating material between them is necessary in order to prevent the risk of
any short circuit.
II.II Electrical Plan
For the creation of the electrical design of our CanSat the fritzing
application was used.
1st Circuit Cansat Electrical Design
2nd Circuit Cansat Electrical Design
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Consequently, our CanSat within 4 hours reached a total consumption of
1300.4mAh, so we used 2 Li-Po batteries 3.7V of 1200mA each, connected in
parallel and then connected to a voltage transducer from 3.7v to 5v for the
power input of a microcontroller and a sensor. We also had a 3,7v 1200mAh
battery connected to a different voltage transducer. Our battery lifetime was 7
hours for the main circuit of our cansat and 1 hour for our camera module.
For our telemetry we had one-way communication and as a result our cansat was
only able to send data without receiving, at 433.4mHz. As far as the frequency of
data transmission is concerned, there was 1 packet per second in string form.
Furthermore, the data rate of downlink in our LoRa Module is 22kbps and 436
bytes per packet were sent.
As for our camera module, it successfully stored the video in its own SD card.
II.III Software Design
Programming Language and Software Version
For Cansat software, the programming language "Arduino" was used,
which is based on the C and C++ languages. We chose this language because of
its speed, its convenience but also because it dominates the internet so for
anything we need we can refer to this. The code was created using the Arduino
IDE 1.8.19 program.
Estimated Data Size
The estimated data size is 50,000bytes. The local storage of the data will
be carried out through a microSD-type card with a capacity of 32GB. The data
will also be sent via the lora RFM95W transmitter to the base station and there it
will be stored again on a microSD card for greater security.
Data Analysis
The data will be converted into diagrams once sent to the base station in
order to better observe them and thus better estimate their results. The
diagrams we will make are high-time (from there we can measure speed),
CO-height,
humidity-height,
temperature-height,
formaldehyde-height,
CO2-height, PM 2.5-height. We decided to process the received data through the
Excel application, provided by Microsoft Office. While we had initially chosen to
work on a Python programming program, our failures there made us look for an
easier solution. Excel enables users to be able through the data streamer to
transfer data from an input device, such as a microcontroller to it. It is a
relatively easy to use application in terms of creating diagrams and tables since it
specializes in data analysis.
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II.IV Recovery System
In order to have a smooth and safe satellite landing we opted for the use
of a parachute designed in a way that would permit the CanSat to have an
uniformly decelerated vertical motion as soon as it is separated from the
rocket.The kind of parachute we used is oversized cross and the material we
used for the parachute canopy is Nylon. So when the CanSat is freed from the
rocket,the desired dome will be created by the effect of the air. The canopy is a
square shape with slits at the corners which makes it more stable and helps it to
open quickly and efficiently.
The specific material was chosen for the following reasons:
1. Its ability to keep steady and smooth the descent
of the CanSat.
2. Its resilience and wind-resistance.
3. It is bound and quick to open .
4. It is easy to use at all stages,cutting,stitching and
making.
5. It has zero permeability.
For the construction of the canopy we have applied the
drag force formula:
FD=1/2ρΑCDu2
there: ρ stands for air density,Α for the area of the
parachute surface, Cd for the constant drag of the
parachute that depends on its shape and υ for descent
velocity. In the case of the cross type parasheet that we
have chosen, the constant drag is approximately 0,75.
After tests we have decided that the CanSat descent
velocity will be 5m/s because for our Secondary Mission it is essential to have a
steady and slow descent in order to have accurate measurements at multiple
heights. Then we calculated the area of the canopy using the formula above and
began the construction by forming one parallelogram 1962 cm and two squares
654 cm each.Then we measured such that they are aligned equally and by using
nylon thread,we sewed them together along the two sides that intersect.
Materials and paracord tethering mode
The canopy of the parachute is connected to the CanSat with Marlow's Wax
Polyester Whipping Twine whose length is 115 which resulted from the formula
Llord= 1.15 *Dcanopy
The Marlow twine is wax coated which makes for a better finish and is widely
used in sewing sails. In addition,we have secured the attachment of the shroud
lines of the parachute to our satellite by tethering them to a metal ring on the
upper part of the external casing as previously mentioned in the mechanical
section. In order to strengthen the tethering points we have installed rivets
where the strings meet the cloth canopy
The estimated flight time from the height of 1000m(the apogee) based on all the
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data given above, will approximately be 200-230 seconds.
II.V Base Station
The base station's equipment consists of the microcontroller, Arduino UNO
along with the LoRa RFM95w. Then the data we collect will be transferred to the
host computer. Finally the use of a yagi antenna was needed for one way
communication through telemetry. The frequency of data transmission, which
was allowed 1 package per second to be sent in string format. Also, at the
beginning of each package there was a "magic number", with the existence of
which we were able to recognize whether the packages we accepted were
intended for us.
As a result, considering the fact that both the sensors and telemetry
worked perfectly as expected, we were able to receive all the data from our
CanSat with the exception of 4% of them which were corrupted but not useless
at all.
II.VI Potential Improvements / Future
Applications
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Create an application using Python, so everybody can have access to our
3D Heat Maps while using their smartphones.
Mechanism that allows attachment to drones and weather balloons.
Create an application using Python, so everybody can have access to our
3D Heat Maps while using their smartphones.
Mechanism that allows attachment to drones and weather balloons.
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The data collected were informative enough, and allowed us to receive the
appropriate results. All our charts were made in relation to height, taking as a
value of 0 the point of launch. We also have negative measurements for the
height as the landing point is lower than that.
Temperature - Altitude graph
The first diagram shows the temperature in relation to height. A normal change
can be observed with the maximum value being the initial as it is the moment
when it is released from the rocket and is accompanied by an amount of heat.
Any value over 30.5o C indicates a high risk of fire.
Atmospheric pressure - Altitude graph
In the second diagram we see the change in pressure in relation to height, where
it has a rising trend as it approaches the earth’s surface.
CO2 - Altitude graph
In the beginning the values of CO2 are high due to the rocket, while later they
decrease gradually. At 32m altitude, a rapid increase can be noted which is
probably on account of the combustions taking place as the launch site is used as
an airfield. However, the values received were high enough to contribute to the
spreading of a fire.
Humidity - Altitude graph
As far as humidity is concerned it is normal to have more of it near the ground.
In our case at the time of the launch it had just started to rain and as a result
the percentage ranged between 26-40% so the risk of fire was medium.
CO - Altitude graph
In this graph the values aren't stable (fluctuate) but that is what we expected.
Despite that it wasn't dangerous neither for human health nor for fire spreading.
Particulate Matter 2.5μm - Altitude graph
Here, we have a depiction of the graph for particulate matter versus altitude.
There is a gradual increase because of the launch but later it starts to decrease
without having an impact on human health
Formaldehyde(Methanale) - Altitude grap
Here we see the formaldehyde graph versus altitude. It appears that the
variation of the values is the same both in the National and this European
competition which is attributed to the rocket itself.
Through the measurements we took, we concluded that on that day in the area
of the firing range, there was no risk of spreading fire.
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V. CONCLUSIONS
During the course of the competition we encountered obstacles that made
it difficult for us, but we overcame them and achieved our goal. Some of them
involved the malfunctioning of the sensor libraries and the difficulty in finding
and familiarizing with 3D programs. Difficulty in operating the data streamer was
an issue at first as well.
However, throughout the competition and during the construction of our
CanSat, we understood on a practical level what it means to work in the scientific
and technological field, which helped us acquire invaluable knowledge on STEM
subjects and at the same time experience the value of team spirit in order to
reach an objective.
We were able to learn how to work effectively in computer programming
environments, 3D engineering design as well as data analysis and parachute
creation.
VI. REFERENCES
1. Δημητρακόπουλος Α. Π., Mateeva V. και Ξανθόπουλος Γ., (2001), “Μοντέλα
καύσιμης ύλης μεσογειακών τύπων βλάστησης της Ελλάδος”. Γεωτεχνικά
Επιστημονικά Θέματα, Σειρά VI, Τόμος 12, Τεύχος 3/2001, σελ. 192-206.
2. Στάμου, Ν. Ι., (2007). Κοινωνικοοικονομικές επιπτώσεις των δασικών
πυρκαγιών, Αθήνα: Υπουργείο Αγροτικής Ανάπτυξης και Τροφίμων.
3. Delgado Martin L, Garcia diez A., Rivas Soriano L. and Garcia Diez E.L.,(1997):
"Meteorology and Forest Fires: Conditions for ignition and conditions for
Development”. J. Appi. Meteor.. 36, 705-710
4. Duncan, B., Martin, R., Staudt, A., Yevich, R. and Longan, J.(2003).
Interannual and seasonal variability of biomass burning emissions constrained by
satellite observations, J. Geophys. Res. 108 (D2), 4100
5.
ECHA,
Labelling
and
packaging
https://echa.europa.eu/regulations/clp/labelling
6. Giannakopoulos, C., Kostopoulou, E., Varotsos, K.V., Tziotziou, K., Plitharas, A.,
(2011). An integrated assessment of climate change impacts for Greece in the
near future. Reg. Environ. Change, doi:10.1007/s10113-011-0219-8.
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7. Giannakopoulos, C., Le Sager, P., Bindi, M., Moriondo, M., Kostopoulou, E.,
Goodess, C.M., (2009). Climatic changes and associated impacts in the
Mediterranean resulting from a 2 ο C Global Warming. Glob. Planet. Change
68, 209 -224.
8. Harrison R. M. (2004). ‘Key pollutant – airborne particles’. Science of the
Total Environment, pp. 334-335
9. Menemenlis, D., Palaiologou P., Kalabokidis, K., (2021). Atmospheric
conditions that contributed to the blowup of the large wildfire in
Kalamonas, Rhodes island, on August 1 st 2021, SafeGreece 2021 – 8th
International Conference on Civil Protection & New Technologies 24-26
November, on-line | www.safegreece.gr/safegreece2021
10. Ramachandran S., (2018) Atmospheric Aerosols Characteristics and
Radiative Effects by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC,
11. Reid, J. S., Hobbs, P. V., Rangno, A. L. & Hegg, D. A. (1999).
Relationships between cloud droplet effective radius, liquid water content, and
droplet concentration for warm clouds in Brazil embedded in biomass smoke.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 104, 6145-6153
CONTENTS
SUMMARY
I.
INTRODUCTION
II. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
II.I Materials and structural design
II.II Electrical Plan
II.III Software Design
II.IV RECOVERY SYSTEM
II.V BASE STATION
1
2
2
2
5
7
8
9
III
IV
V
VI
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12
13
14
SCIENTIFIC RESULTS
DISCUSSION
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
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