12 March/2012
We have been working for the last 2 days in the project we brought, Project Barsoom. We have been testing it but unfortunately haven't obtained the results we were expecting.
This project consists of a Data Acquisition Module (DAM) which basically acquires climatological data, such as temperature and humidity, and also the exact position of a crewmember outside the Hab by RF (Radiofrequency) transmissions.
This system works with receivers and transmitters, that work in a frequency of 315MHz. The system works perfectly when it is simulated in the computer, but we have problems when we test it physically. The receivers and transmitters need antennas to send the information. We didn't bring them because we thought we could manufacture them here, in the Hab, but the ones we are building don't seem to work. When we try them, the data can only be transmitted in a distance of 30cm, but the transmitter can actually send information in a range of 1000m.
We believe that the main problem we have are the antennas. We would like to know if Mission Support knows if there are any here in the Hab, or if they can give us some directions on how to manufacture good ones. We need omnidirectional antennas for our modules. We have 8 boards, each with one receiver and one transmitter, but we can try our system with only 2 boards, so we need 4 antennas first.
For the moment, since the RF (radiofrequency) is not working as we want to, we have a plan B. We will try the modules with Bluetooth. The distance range is shorter as the RF, but it is the best solution if we can't manufacture good antennas.
We will let you know about our tests tomorrow.
Thanks,
Mónica Abarca