SkyPod Kit
$65.00 to $95.00
Price includes US shipping.
The SkyPod is a GPS logger which can save GPS location data and environmental sensor data to an SD card. It was designed to fly on a kite aerial photography rig so that each aerial photo taken could have latitude, longitude, and altitude data associated with it. Typically, the SkyPod saves GPS information and barometric pressure and temperature data every five seconds along with a precise time stamp.
The four electronic components in the SkyPod Kit must be assembled by soldering wires to connect them. The components are then installed in a 3D printed housing designed to ride on an aerial camera rig.
The kit includes everything required to build a working GPS logger except the four AAA batteries. This includes a microSD card, a switched case for four AAA batteries, and plenty of wire to solder everything together with. The Arduino Nano comes with a sketch installed so your SkyPod will start logging data when it is powered on. A copy of the sketch is available here.
Additional sensors can be added to your order here. There is plenty of room in the sensor pod for more sensors. These will require modifications to the sketch running on the Nano.
This kit does not include step by step instructions for assembly. The wiring diagram in the photo gallery above is your primary guide to assembly, and your questions are welcome when you click on Contact above. An account of assembling a SkyPod with lots of photos is at Public Lab.
Assembled SkyPods are also available as an option above. These are tested and ready to fly.
Some research notes at Public Lab describe the development of this GPS logger and include links to sketches and reference material.
There is very nice free software for Windows which allows the u-blox GPS receiver to display its GPS results on your computer monitor. Here is a note about using this program.
Parts list:
- u-blox NEO 7M GPS breakout board and antenna
- Arduino Nano
- microSD breakout board
- BMP280 barometric pressure and temperature sensor
- microSD card (128MB to 1GB)
- switched case for four AAA batteries
- 3D printed SkyPod housing
- lots of 24 awg stranded wire (various colors)
- Velcro for securing the GPS antenna to the SkyPod housing
- machine screw for securing the Nano in its slot
- 2 screws for attaching the housing to a camera rig
- cotter pin to secure the GPS and SD boards to the housing