LightHABTracker is one of the most affordable, smallest, lightest, powerful and open source dual-band APRS trackers available, purpose-built for High Altitude Balloon (HAB) flights. It makes tracking weather balloons, model rockets, RC aircraft, and anything else that flies simple and easy.

Unlike single-radio trackers, LightHABTracker carries two radio modules so it can beacon on two bands: LoRa APRS (UHF) via an SX1268 radio module and AFSK APRS (VHF) via an Si4463 radio module. The two radios transmit one at a time, each on its own configurable schedule. It reports location, altitude, temperature, humidity and pressure to the internet via LoRa APRS iGates / APRS-IS or direct to another amateur radio, powered by a solar panel/super capacitors or batteries.

Information, source code

Official information and source code is on GITHUB: https://github.com/lightaprs/LightHABTracker-1.0  

Key Features

• Dual-band transmission : LoRa APRS (UHF) and AFSK APRS (VHF) beacons from two onboard radios, each independently configurable and enable/disable-able. The radios transmit one at a time, each on its own schedule.
• Automatic flight phase detection : Detects READY TO LAUNCH, ASCENDING, DESCENDING and LANDED phases using short/long moving averages of altitude, and adjusts beacon intervals for flight vs. ground automatically.
• Landing prediction : Predicts and beacons the landing location during descent.
• Cutdown / pyro control : Two pyro channels with a remotely triggered, secret-protected cutdown command received over LoRa.
• Onboard environmental sensor : BME280 reports temperature, humidity and barometric pressure; barometric altitude is used as a fallback when there is no GPS fix.
• Recovery aids : Buzzer and flash LED that activate after landing (with day/night and altitude awareness to save battery).
• Power management : Battery voltage monitoring with low-power mode and GPS standby to extend life after landing.
• High-altitude GPS : GPS configured for high-altitude balloon mode so it keeps reporting above the standard altitude limit. (up to 80 km)

Basic Features

• Software : Open Source
• Weight : 36 grams (without batteries & antennas)
• Dimensions : 56 mm x 75 mm
• IDE : Arduino
• Platform : ARM Cortex-M0+ (Arduino M0)
• MCU : ATSAMD21G18
• Flash : 256 kB
• Ram : 32 kB
• Operating Frequency : 48 MHz
• Operating Voltage : 3.3 Volt
• Input Voltage : 2.7 (min) - 16 Volt via USB or VBat pin
• Sensor : BME280 (pressure, temperature and humidity)
• LoRa Radio Module (UHF) : EBYTE E22-400M22S (SX1268)
• LoRa Operating Frequency : 410~493 MHz (configurable by code)
• LoRa Max Power : 22 dBm (configurable by code)
• VHF Radio Module (AFSK)  : Si4463
• VHF Operating Frequency : 144-146 MHz (configurable by code)
• VHF Low Pass Filter : Available (7 elements)
• VHF Max Radio Power : 20 dBm
• Antenna Connectors : SMA Female (Antennas not included)
• GPS  :  Quectel L96
• Cutdown / Pyro : 2 channels
• Other : Buzzer, Status LED, Flash LED, Battery voltage monitoring
• Battery Holder : 3 x AA (Batteries not included)
• Extended Pins : I2C, Analog