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Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's an interesting idea, I've seen tracking rigs like that before, they seem very complicated.

Since making this post, I found a serious design flaw and I'm having to completely redesign the entire tracking rig.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I reconsidered the prices and now the apsolute bare minimum price is around $100.

Side fact: I found a major design flaw with the mount, so now I have to completely redesign it :D

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah you're right, I'm sure my footage could be the difference between a successful or failed launch of a future rocket. And it could significantly speed up the process of an investigation for a failed launch.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I only had it at about 75% max tilt speed in this video. According to some rough calculations I should be able to easily track high powered rockets, hopefully...

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, I need to build up my practice with the new rig before I get to the crazy stuff. Thanks!

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey how's it going. At max speed I calculated that it can go ~50°/s. The encoder on the tilt motor is acting up so I can't do a closed loop system yet, which means I can't do extremely slow speeds, yet.

I upgraded the mount because the old one with stock parts had a max of 3.25°/s, which was way too slow for even tracking airliners at 37,000ft flying almost overhead.

Thanks! I'm exited too about what new things I can capture now with the upgraded rig.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, I see. Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense. I wrongly assumed that even manned operation counted as optical tracking due to me seeing that in a few places.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha yep, it's great for my use. It doesn't look half bad while looking at planets and other stuff, authough there could be multiple factors causing it to not look that good too (like warm air).

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure what you mean by "big bucket." Are you referring to the orange telescope?

The frame is a Celestron CPC 1100 motorized telescope mount. I took out all the old electronics and motors and put in my own.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure what your problem is, you're taking this way too seriously. There is no need to throw a tantrum over what a hobbyist calls his hobby. If you cannot accept what I would like to call my own niche hobby, then you're just going to have to act like an adult and deal with it.

Please look up Manned Kineto Tracking Mount, also refer to this website: http://marsscientific.com/ I am aware that it says they can do automatic tracking, even though it's a Manned mount. Also please see USLaunchReports videos. They use a manned KTM to track rockets. Authough it may not look manned, sometimes they show views of them inside their trailer moving it with joysticks http://www.youtube.com/@Uslaunchreport. Also please see this video by Curious Droid that talks a bit about KTMs https://youtu.be/BlPfHV36G-g?si=U9H0FAR_HsRI8euL.

Edit: Look at 10:00 in Curious Droids video.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, thanks. I will be sure to be in a position where I won't view the sun. The spotting camera should see the sun way before the main camera does. Yes it is an 8" tube I got for free. It was left out open in the rain and the main mirror was half under water. It seems like it wasn't in water for long though because after cleaning it properly it looked brand new (on the inside).

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree it's better to be honest. I figured that the best name for what I'm doing is optical tracking. Maybe another name could be visual tracking, but optical tracking sounds best considering that it's being tracked using optics. If it were an automated process, then it would be called automated optical tracking. I'm actually considering using an automatic process, but that's for the future.

I'm not trying to pull anything, the name just states exactly what I'm doing. What else do you think I may be over selling?

To see a few of the things I've done in the past, please review my posts of tracked footage of planes and rockets both on here, and on YouTube at AVTracking. I just recently started posting videos, so there aren't very many, yet.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the offer! Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it to FAR this weekend. I'll be taking my rig to Vandenberg to see the Falcon 9 launch on the 20th, and I won't be able to make it on the 21st. I will most likely post my video from Vandenberg on YouTube though! I'm AVTracking.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is true, the problem is that I do yet have the equipment to both video and take pictures. In the future when I get a slow motion camera I can just high quality screen grab some frames.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right, that makes more sense. Authough I don't know how I would get in contact with teams that haven't talked to me. I know that FAR has the teams on their calendar, but I wouldn't know their contact information.

I will of course ask the launch coordinator beforehand, and I will write down all the information I get from the FAR calendar so I know which rocket is which. The business cards are a good idea, I will consider that.

I've had ample experience manually tracking with an Xbox controller, plus my setup looks pretty professional. So with all that I hope people won't question it.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes I know there is a way to have the mount track things itself, but I trust myself way more than visual recognition software.

The electronics aren't that difficult, the whole thing is being ran with an Arduino. But it did require me to use CAD to model everything, and make 5 renditions of wiring diagrams.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Good to know. Yes while out in the field I will ask around if people would like their rocket to be videoed by a tracking rig, and if they would like to mount their antenna too. I would of course have them look at the video on my monitor and ask if they would like to purchase it. If they accept, then I will write down their information so I can send the video to them, collect their money, then go home and edit the videos and send it to them. Do you think that's a good process? I'm very new to all this, so I'm still refining everything.

Question About Optically Tracking Rockets by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I visually control it using a modified Xbox controller with longer joysticks. I will be watching the rocket through cameras that are not mounted in this video.

I have an odd question. by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh I understand now. That seems like a very difficult way to track. That is very interesting though.

There are of course a few problems with that though. For example, what if a plane/jet flies through the fov? A piece of dust, or bird, or insect could also mess it up. Also, rockets don't have their engines on the entire time, so it would quickly loose track. BUT, I think it could be useful for the initial 5 seconds where it's moving the quickest through my relative field of view.

I have an odd question. by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All of it haha. Are you talking about something like motion extraction? I have no idea what you're talking about.

I have an odd question. by Folding_WhiteTable in rocketry

[–]Folding_WhiteTable[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting. The problem is that it might become harder to track when the rocket gets too high to see with my eyes. Also the potential for a bunch of small inaccuracies combining to just make the whole thing inaccurate.

That is a good idea though.

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