R2Home Guided Parachute - High Altitude Demo

Flight performed on July 6th 2022 at MeteoSwiss Payerne facilities, with the support from local staff for the weather balloon. Separation from the balloon at an altitude above 3500m (11400ft). Landing within 5 meters from launch point.
Ascent time: 9m30s
Descent time : ~30min
Follow the project on: hackaday.io/pr...
Foam shell designed in collaboration with design student Lucie Herter.

[@AndreasSpiess]

This is an extremely cool project! Congratulations. I did not believe that it also works against the wind (which it always has to with weather balloons. I know it because I sometimes collect the rest when they come down ;-)

[@YohanHadji]

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate your channel :) The ground speed is always the sum of the airspeed of the parafoil and the wind speed so there is still a wind limit to fly forward as you think. However, by using weather predictions and a smart navigation method we can always reach a precise landing point no matter the high altitude wind speed, this is what I will demonstrate on the next test flights. Even if we can't come back to the launch point, landing at another precise landing point would still be fantastic for precious payloads ;)

[@AndreasSpiess]

@@YohanHadji Even better. Can I apply for a landing spot in my garden. Would save a lot of time and fuel ;-)

[@YohanHadji]

@@AndreasSpiess Depends how many antennas it has to avoid in order to land in your garden ;) More seriously I'm currently thinking about ways to involve radio amateurs on the next higher-altitude flights. The system might very well broadcast its current landing position goal as well as other parameters via the RS41 radiosonde data feed.

[@YohanHadji]

Hi @AndreasSpiess, we're currently doing a lot of launches, see U0510118Y for example. Send me an email (I think it's available in my ytb details) if you'd be interested to come see a flight.

[@elmmartinet7798]

De "3,2,1 .. C'est parti ..." jusqu'à ton sprint pour récupérer R2Home dans les blés .... Cà a dû être une sacrée émotion ! Voir le "bébé" revenir à tes pieds entouré de tous les pros de MétéoSuisse/Skyguide après un petit aller-retour à 3.5km ... Puis entendre sur la bande son (boostée) la mécanique bien "huilée" des servomoteurs qui "font le job sans se poser de question"... Et le panoramique du fish-eye à 360° avec le Jura et les Alpes ... ce n'est pas la courbure de la Terre mais on s'y croirait ;-) Toujours une joie de voir le projet grandir et se déployer. Bravo Yohan !

[@AndreBandarra1]

Amazing Yohan! Well done. 5m from 3500m high is amazing! Especially since it looked like there was some wind and thermic air! Chapeau!

[@woxoom]

Absolutely brilliant.

[@Jivaromodelsvideo]

Bravo Yohan, tu réalises tes rêves, tout fonctionne à merveille avec une extrême précision.

[@alexfrb38]

Beau progrès c'est vraiment impressionnant ! J'attend avec impatience le pilote automatique pour parapentes grandeur nature, ça libèrerait l'esprit quand il faut se concentrer sur le problème des besoins naturels en plein vol ;) Et précision de 5m, chapeau... Reste plus qu'à choisir les 5m de l'autre coté de la route pour éviter de se mettre l'agriculteur à dos !

[@RussLeikis]

That is awesome! Great work.

[@CanineDefenseTechnologies]

Dude this is insane!!! Congratulations!!! Your hard work really shows, I am blown away by the precision on the fist high altitude test

[@solarttristan1856]

C’est un projet incroyable 🫶

[@mozcakir]

Very impressive !!

[@hcarcaro]

Congratulations, amazing

[@anthoines1864]

You are a brilliant young engineer. I am impressed !

[@tcf70tyrannosapiensbonsai]

Very impressive

[@AirTime-uw4mk]

This is just such a brilliant idea and you made it work! I‘m impressed :)

[@ohitstarik]

you're killing the game bro this is sick

[@the0d0re25]

Bravo tout simplement pour ce travail magnifique !

[@junuhunuproductions]

Super cool!

[@glennnanney5774]

Congratulations Yohan! Great work!

[@RomainGrandchamp]

Super Yohan ! Sacré boulot ! Bravo

[@patsour3045]

Belle performance ! Bravo.

[@studiostarholden7364]

Amazing love the progress

[@deepspace5946]

wow, that’s awesome! congratulations!

[@fred-9929]

Ça marche superbement bien !!! Bravo ! Y'avait du monde au balcon, en plus ;o) À quoi correspondent les couleurs, sur la trajectoire en 3D ?

[@YohanHadji]

Merci! La couleur c'est juste l'altitude. Ç'est censé aider à voir la trajectoire 3D.

[@haydo8373]

Congrats! Such a good result

[@YohanHadji]

Thanks! See.. it took quite a long time to get to this flight but I guess it was worth it :)

[@anthonymicault8234]

Ouah super impressionnant, c'est top, bravo pour ta ténacité ! C'est quoi les prochaines étapes ? Au niveau conso électrique des servo, ça représente beaucoup ?

[@YohanHadji]

Merci! Il reste quelques points de développement hardware et software à finaliser et un outil logiciel à créer (simulation) pour préparer sereinement les vols à très très haute altitude (>15km). Au niveau consommation électrique avec les servos qui pilotent la voile en continu on est autour de 5W. Dans la réalité à haute altitude le vent est presque parfaitement laminaire et donc une fois que la voile est orienté dans la bonne direction elle reste dans cette direction sans avoir besoin de beaucoup de contrôle.

[@rohlmannflieger]

Very well done!

[@CoronaFighter_]

You finally did it, a high altitude test! Looks like it works perfectly against wind. R.I.P weather balloon, probably went to space 😉. By the way, in real world applications, you will let the payload / rocket coast down using the collapsable parachute before deploying the wing, right? It looks like it takes a long time (30 minutes!) to descend with the wing.

[@YohanHadji]

Yes! It will depend on the exact application, but what you saw on this video was a 6 secondes timer between separation from the balloon and controlled deployment of the wing. We can adjust this time to about anything or we can also use an altitude above ground as the deployment setting. Deploying at high altitude can be quite interesting in some cases tho, it could give you more freedom about where you want to land. The best thing is to be able to choose on each day what the best strategy is, and this is what we can currently do :)

[@ElisedelaPorte-q9d]

Comment vous faite pour filmer

[@YohanHadji]

Avec une caméra 360°! (Insta360)

[@KevinReeve]

This is cool. Going to explore this in more detail as a few of use work with teens to build payloads and launch and have done so for the last 8 years. We live in the rocky mountains so we launch based on landing predictions. Our typical launch to landing distance is 20 - 40 miles. We have seen as high as 80 miles and as short as 4-5. The distance is gained as it goes through the jet stream which on our last flight was 140 MPH. Curious as to how far a system like this could bring it back closer to launch. Our distance is gained during ascent. We fly 1600 gram balloons with a payload weight under 4 pounds.

[@YohanHadji]

Thanks for your comment :) You can think of the system as a speed vector inside a mass of moving air. The system has a glide ratio of 2-3. If you start from 30km and the initial prediction (with 2m/s sea level descent speed) gives you a landing 60km away, you will be able to reach any point in a ~60 (2~3*30) km radius. That means you'll be able to reach the launch point. This is possible using a navigation method based on real-time trajectory prediction accounting for wind forecast and will be demonstrated on the next flights. Your payload weight sounds about right for the system with a wing a bit larger, let's keep in touch to see what we can do when R2Home is fully demonstrated.

[@KevinReeve]

@@YohanHadji Thanks for the explanation. Your work is impressive and awesome! Will keep in touch.

[@RussLeikis]

​@@YohanHadji Hi, following up on this and working on Kevin's team. We've been exploring ideas for stabilizing video during our flights. I am interested in the camera mount for this flight. I am impressed at the POV and degree of stability it has versus a camera within the payload body. I haven't seen this in any of the project files or photos that I've seen. Did I miss it or can you share more about this with our team?

[@donadieucoupama9983]

Du génie !

[@thierryg8184]

Bravo Yohan

[@bdureau1]

bravo.

[@kemfic]

this goes so hard

[@johnkraieski7656]

Do you plan to market a completed unit?

[@YohanHadji]

Yes, this is part of the plan for the next months. At least two other higher altitude flights needs to be done to completely validate this first version of system, but there is a high probability I'll start looking for beta tester of a first complete unit by the end of the summer.

[@johnkraieski7656]

@@YohanHadji what is the total weight of the completed unit and approximate size (diameter/length)?

[@YohanHadji]

@@johnkraieski7656 It should fit in a 3" * 45cm coupler tube. About 900g including wing, battery and drogchute.

[@johnkraieski7656]

@@YohanHadji Cool. Is there a maximum weight the wing will support in a “controlling” mode but not a landing condition? I fly rockets as a hobby and my thought is to use this to return the whole rocket close to the launch site but use a standard parachute for the landing

[@YohanHadji]

@@johnkraieski7656 testing needs to be done, but 2-3kg should be possible. You'll gain airspeed and lose glide ratio. But on a rocket you don't really need glide, you just want to be able to fight the wind.