Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme
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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne
HK 27: Poster Session
HK 27.31: Poster
Wednesday, March 18, 2026, 16:15–18:30, Redoutensaal
Development of Low-Cost and Compact Radiation Monitoring, Long-Range Data Transmission and Tracking Systems for Stratospheric Balloon Missions — •Nico Krug, Hans-Georg Zaunick, and Kai-Thomas Brinkmann — 2nd Physics Institute Justus Liebig University Giessen
A cost-effective readout and monitoring system based on a Raspberry Pi and designed for integration into ongoing stratospheric balloon missions will be presented.
The Strato project consists of a series of stratospheric balloon experiments relying on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components. It features a custom low-power printed circuit board (PCB) built around a Raspberry Pi Zero, incorporating the in-house developed MuonPi detector as well as commercial environmental sensors connected via a generic I2C interface. The system uses the long-range LoRaWAN communication protocol to maintain contact throughout the entire flight for data transmission and tracking. It can be optionally extended with a telemetry beacon or a cellular communication module to ensure reliable message reception near ground level.
The poster will discuss the performance and robustness of the integrated system under the challenging conditions of near-space environments. Initial environmental and detector measurements as well as data transmission results obtained during past flights are presented and evaluated.
Keywords: Stratospheric balloon; Particle detector; LoRaWAN; Telemetry; Near-space experiments