Flextrak Raspberry Pi Kit

Flextrak F4-V6.1 Now Available!

Flextrak is a PiZero form factor STM F4 based High Altitude Balloon Tracker.

This board has a GPS receiver and radio transmitter designed for tracking high altitude balloon flights utilising a Raspberry Pi Zero W. An optional APRS board is available see related items.

You will get:

• Flextrak F4-V6.2 Board
• Battery holder + clip
  
• 4 x 11mm Standoffs with screws to attach to the Pi+
• Standard non stacking low profile header
• RG174 Tail for making into a suitable antenna see this article.
• Pi Zero W Board with Camera Cable (Camera not supplied - please order separately)
• 32Gb SD Card preloaded with FlexTrak code.
• External DS18B20 Temperature Sensor
• GPS Stubby Antenna SMA-Male Straight 
  
  

The board is supplied with a 434,868 or 915 MHz LoRa radio transmitter   To track the location of flight you also need a suitable radio receiver, aerial and PC on the ground.  It can be tracked with a mobile phone connected to our LoRaGo device.

It features:

• Efficient built-in power regulator providing run time of over 20 hours from 4 Energizer Lithium Ultimate AA cells (With no Pi - 11 hours with a Pi attached)
• Highly sensitive UBlox GPS receiver suitable for altitudes up to 50km
• Temperature sensor (Internal/External)
  
• Battery voltage monitoring
• Allows use of Raspberry Pi camera
  
• Mounting holes and spacers for a solid connection to the Pi
• Tracker will continue to work even if the Raspberry Pi fails. 
• Flextrak can be used without attaching a Raspberry Pi at all.
• Solid SMA connector for GPS antenna - no more snapped off antennas!

The open-source software provides these features:

• Radio telemetry with GPS and sensor data using UKHAS standard
• Radio image download using SSDV standard
• Variable image size according to altitude
  
• Stores full-definition images as well as smaller transmitted images
• Automatically chooses better images for download
• Supplied as github repository with instruction
  
• Optional APRS transmission with additional hardware.
• On board landing prediction

Weight Breakdown:

Flextrak Board      - 14g
Header + Standoffs  - 14g
Battery Holder+Clip - 13g
PiZeroW + Cable     - 14g
GPS Antenna         - 19g

Not supplied for information only:
Energizer L91 Lithium (AA)  - 14.5g x 4

Instruction Manual: Flextrak STM Manual

Flextrak settings can be programmed via Flextrak Config available here. To program the board connect a USB to serial connector to GND/ RX and TX only (Don't connect VCC). Can also be programmed directly from the attached Raspberry Pi.