iPhone rocket interview
Monday 10 November 2008 - Filed under Rockets
Dan at MobileOrchard interviewed me about my iPhone rocket and put together a nice video. Here it is:
iPhone Rocket Launch and Interview (from MobileOrchard.com) from Mobile Orchard on Vimeo.
I’ve been meaning to put my video stuff together but have had some technical difficulties. I’ll get that finished up soon!
If anyone from Apple should stumble upon this: I want to be Apple’s Official Rocketeer! Make it happen, Steve.
2008-11-10 » lolife
11 November 2008 @ 8:46 am
I know little about the iPhone’s internals and had to do a little digging. I think you’re exceeding the range of the iPhone’s intended use (data wise).
I found an interesting article (can’t speak to its accuracy) http://www.eetindia.co.in/ART_8800534325_1800001_TA_3d506bb0.HTM that claims some knowledge of the 3G iPhone. According to this article, the accelerometer is an LIS331DL from ST Micro (datasheet: http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/ds/13951.pdf) which is a 3-axis linear accelerometer. I note two things about this device:
1) it’s linear — but you’re reporting yaw and roll type data (correct me if I’m wrong) which would require more than one accelerometer to generate (or it’s making some major assumptions, possibly the accelerometer data is relative to the center of the iPhone?)
2) it operates in +/- 2 or +/- 8 g mode. My guess is the forces seen at launch easily saturate both modes and the iPhone most likely operates in +/- 2 g mode for better resolution for the most common uses of the iPhone.
I also dug up the datasheet on the GPS module, a Hamerhead II PMB 2525 from Infineon. (http://www.infineon.com/dgdl/PMB2525-Hammerhead+II-pb.pdf?folderId=db3a304316f66ee80117824fc0d71e07&fileId=db3a304316f66ee8011782518d4a1e08). This module doesn’t seem overly powerful and might explain the data lag.
If you’re interested, I probably have a GPS/cellular unit and some accelerometers with better range sitting in a box somewhere. If not, they can be bought for reasonable prices. I’d be happy to help build a custom electronics payload.
12 November 2008 @ 4:14 am
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