Simulation and pre-design of a controlled super-pressure balloon

Abstract

In this document a deep study of the trajectory of a weather balloon is developed. Making use of a simulator coded in Matlab, it will be possible to predict the flight path prior launch. The starting point is a pre-existing code which assumes that the properties inside the balloon are the same as in the outside; the first part of the project focuses on integrating the formulas needed to compute the temperature and pressure inside, together with the appropriate radius evolution. The simulator will make use of an external data supplier, NOAA, which will provide the wind data based on predictions. The second part of the project is devoted to make an experimental launch: once the system has been recovered and the data measured has been analyzed, a comparison between the simulator and the data obtained from the experiment can be done. The real trajectory of the balloon will be reconstructed from the data measured by the GPS.