A REMOTE CONSOLE SYSTEM FOR BALLOON-BORNE EXPERIMENTS

A remote console system is developed to improve remote control over ex perimental apparatus borne on the balloon. The remote console system, residing at a ground station for balloon borne experiments, sends comm ands to the apparatus and receives transmissions from it. The system c ommunicates by radio with microcomputers incorporated in the experimen tal apparatus borne. on a balloon, where the microcomputers control th e apparatus individually. The system includes plural personal computer s and work stations which share the transmissions from the apparatus. The transmissions from the apparatus are formatted in a bit oriented p rotocol, which dispenses with a formatter and facilitate interface wit h the personal computers. The article describes the implementation of the system and the communication between the ground station and the ba lloon-borne apparatus.