On April 12th, I conducted an outdoors technology test. The purpose was to run through all the steps of setting up the experiment outdoors. The reason was to see what roadbumps occurred and why, in order for subsequent tests to be easier.

In the setup there is a green magic carpet to place all the equipment on, including an anemometer, laptop, mini tripod, camera, usb webcam, and two backpacks with additional items (such as bug spray). The laptop is running the KiteView software.

Winds were 10 km/h. The temperature reading on the anemometer is vastly incorrect, the temperature was more around 8 deg C.

Pairing the usb webcam and camera on the mini tripod together with tape.

Lessons learned:

• Find the direction of wind first before setting everything up
• Camera really has to be pointed up - make sure it can see a little of the horizon (for post editing if needed), but the rest should be the sky
• Might need usb extension for the webcam
• Attaching the usb webcam to the GoPro mount was a cool idea
• Can hardly see the computer screen on a sunny day
• Use key presses instead of buttons?
• Have auditory sounds for the key presses?
• The red mollusc kite is actually pretty great for control compared to the other one
• Other one is more turbulent
• Laptop battery ran out quickly (20 mins)

The first lesson learned was really key, and this will be added to future outdoors tests.

The footage captured from this test was used to test KiteView software further and develop the kite tracking code.

Obligatory photo of kite flying :)