The Stanford Student Space Initiative regularly launches high altitude balloons. We want to know where they will go. Note that the readme below reflects the plans for the predictor, not what's currently implemented.
This is where you may make a prediction.
Required Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| lat | float | Launch latitude |
| lon | float | Launch longitude |
| altitude | float | Launch altitude, in meters |
| time | integer | UNIX timestamp (seconds since epoch) of the launch time |
| profile | string | Which prediction profile to run. May be "standard", "float" or "valbal" |
Standard Profile Parameters Note: these parameters are required when profile is "standard"
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| burst_altitude | float | Altitude at which balloon bursts, in meters |
| ascent_rate | float | Rate at which balloon ascends, in meters per second |
| descent_rate | float | Rate at which balloon falls, in meters per second |
Float & ValBal Parameters Note: these parameters are required when profile is "valbal"
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| duration | float | Minutes for which to run the prediction |
Response If successful, the API will respond with a 200 and a response of the following format:
{
"data": {
"ascent": [
{
"lat": "float",
"lon": "float",
"altitude": "float",
"time": "ISO String",
}
],
"burst": {
"lat": "float",
"lon": "float",
"altitude": "float",
"time": "ISO String",
},
"descent": [
{
"lat": "float",
"lon": "float",
"altitude": "float",
"time": "ISO String",
}
],
"float": [
{
"lat": "float",
"lon": "float",
"altitude": "float",
"time": "ISO String",
}
]
}
}Note that ascent, burst, and descent will only be present for when profile is "standard", and float will only be present when profile is "valbal"
This comes
Required Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| lat | float | Launch latitude |
| lon | float | Launch longitude |
| altitude | float | Launch altitude, in meters |
| time | integer | UNIX timestamp (seconds since epoch) of the launch time |
| burst_altitude_mean | float | Mean for burst altitude distribution, in meters |
| burst_altitude_std_dev | float | Standard deviation for burst altitude distribution, in meters |
| ascent_rate_mean | float | Mean for ascent rate, in m/s |
| ascent_rate_std_dev | float | Standard deviation for ascent rate, in m/s |
| descent_rate_mean | float | Mean for descent rate, in m/s |
| descent_rate_std_dev | float | Standard deviation for descent rate, in m/s |
| trials | integer | Number of trials to run (on the order of 1000 recommended) |
Response If successful, the API will respond with a 200 and a response of the following format:
{
"positions": [
{
"lat": "float",
"lon": "float",
"altitude": "float",
"time": "ISO String"
}
]
}This is the core navigation endpoint. In the initial version of the API, it will only support optimizing traveling east as fast as possible, but there are plans to let it navigate to a given point.
Required Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| lat | float | Launch latitude |
| lon | float | Launch longitude |
| altitude | float | Launch altitude, in meters |
| time | integer | UNIX timestamp (seconds since epoch) of the launch time |
| duration | integer | Minutes after launch that it will navigate for |
| timeout | integer | Max seconds to run navigation for. Limited to 60 |
Response If successful, the API will respond with a 200 and a response of the following format:
{
"metadata": {},
"adjustments": [
{
"lat": "float",
"lon": "float",
"altitude": "float",
"time": "ISO String"
}
]
}The simplest way to get it up and running will is to use the Docker Container by running docker-compose up.
Otherwise: 0. Clone this repository
- install Rails and Rust (
brew install rustcinstalls Rust on OSX) bundle installfrom within the repository- Install the ECMWF GRIB API (
brew install grib-apihas worked for some people) - Download the data (see section below)
- Compile for the first time with
rake build - Run
foreman start -f Procfile.devto start the servers
The predictor will fail with no data.
To download the data, run bundle exec rake prediction:download_sync.
This both downloads it (takes approximately a minute with a fast internet connection) and preprocesses the data.
Preprocessing can take up to an hour; however, you can start testing the api long before.
Since it processes the data in chronological order, at a rate of approximately 6 hours worth of data per minute, if you're running a prediction close to the current time it will likely have finished processing the data in time
The rust code all lives in the crates directory.
After you change it, you will need to recompile.
This happens automatically when you start the servers, but since much the time you'll just want to compile it manually.
You can do so by running rake build
The standard profile and the ValBal profile are fundamentally different. The standard profile represents and ordinary high altitude balloon: one that ascends to approximately 100,000 feet, pops, and falls back down. If you aren't part of the Stanford Student Space Initiative, you'll almost certainly be using the standard profile.
The ValBal profile, on the other hand, is used for modeling our altitude control system.
It currently downloads the GFS predictions from NOAA. You can see the datasets at https://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov/data/gfs4/. This model runs four times per day, at 00, 06, 12, and 18 UTC.
There are also plans to support the ECMWF model, as that tends to be more accurate, especially over mountains. However, this data is not free, and so has not yet been integrated.
One of the core features of our novel altitude stabilization platform, ValBal, is that it’s capable of flying at whatever altitude we tell it to, and adjusting that altitude mid-flight. Since there are different wind patterns at different altitudes, by strategically adjusting altitudes the balloon can optimize ground distance or even aim for a specific location. For example, the balloon might fly at 13km to travel west, then ascend to 15km briefly to steer north toward its final destination.