El Reg PARIS team fires up the GPS tracker

It's all go at the El Reg Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) command headquarters, and we've just taken delivery of the GPS tracking device designed to enable us to recover the main payload. PARIS: Sponsored by Peer 1 Our plan is to use an off-the-shelf tracking unit which reports its position via the mobile phone …

[Lee Dowling]

Eh?

Not so sure about a device that on its website says it aims itself at the Alzheimer's-and-other-vulnerable-patient-area should really be recording logs that say "+ALIVE+".... surely that's just tempting fate and/or upset to the person tracking them?

[Andus McCoatover]

Superb!

Good show, Folks and Folkers. God, there's a pub landlord rubbing his hands in glee! (Unless he's from the Indian subcontinent, then it'd be ghee..Vindaloos and lagers all round, I guess.)

Of course, first rule of Engineering: If it's not documented, it didn't happen.. We wanna see this kind of level (IT angle, natch) - something like http://www.robertharrison.org/images/icarus2/Icarus-sch.pdf

Ta, muchly.

(Main site at http://www.robertharrison.org/icarus/wordpress/)

(Love the break-in on the Canon model. Mine's listed. Maybe next time the misuss breaks wind, and I've a plastic shopping bag handy...Cheaper than helium)

[Brutus]

Jealous

How long have you been in the pub, you git :-)

have one for me, please, I have a long drive before I can have a beer.

[Andus McCoatover]

@ Brutus

All day, matey! Oh, and I'm a happy git! ;-) Sheemsh sho. Hic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Main Payload

Good Luck - Paris will of course be able to get the main payload every time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Spain

Ooooh, that explains why you guys were driving on the right side of the road during the tests!

[Paranoid Consultant]

And on the first flight it all goes wrong...

when the whole kit and kaboolde freezes up and stops working because it freezes up. Some low temperature testing of the gear is needed too.

[Anonymous Coward]

'El Reg's Iberian Bureau'

It's a shed isn't it?

[99]

APRS

How about using the radio ham system APRS and tracking during the entire flight?

[Anonymous Coward]

MEDIUM SPEED EXCEEDED

Does this mean that the GPS device+map road knowledge knew you were speeding and sent a syslog message to the local police?

[Anonymous Coward]

Speeding...

No! its Spain and KM/H of course.

[AlistairJ]

Naughty!

In all seriousness, I hope you are not going to have that mobile switched on when its off the ground, are you?

[Emilio Desalvo]

Oi?

When did DARPA got involved in the PARIS project?

http://www.darpa.mil/tto/programs/vulture/index.html