An Android application to predict and monitor high altitude / sounding balloon trajectories in a way similar to other prediction tools like:
- Balloon trajectory forecasts, at the University of Wyoming.
- Landing predictor, at the University of Cambridge
- On-Line Near Space Flight Track Prediction Utility, by the Near Space Ventures team.
The app grabs sounding data for your area from NOAA and plots the trajectory on a map given the estimate ascent/descent rates and burst altitude.
What makes this app special and different from other tools is that Hab Tracker collects real-time data from the APRS network and replaces NOAA sounding data with actual wind speeds reported by the payload itself. This makes prediction much more accurate as the flight progresses, especially because NOAA usually reports wind data only up to 26 Km high.
To use the real-time monitor and prediction feature you need an APRS-DB server to get APRS data from while on the field. You don't need an APRS-DB server if you are only interested in pre-flight predictions based on NOAA sounding data.
The repository includes an Eclipse project you can import into your workspace. Look into the Payload/bin folder for a precompiled APK.