Back to (near) space

So. After having helped several people to accomplish their own flight it's time to plan a new one. In Switzerland there was (and actually is) a renaissance in HAB flights. At the time I performed my first flight it was mostly an unknown experiment. After that several high school projects and other people performed impressive flights. Last month I gave a young man one of my spare balloons: He still launch it with a raspberry PI controller and some camera's.
But What is my plan? Doing it again, better and with some "enhancements". 
I consider two options

• Single capsule with “baroque” design. I was thinking about a twin capsule design with
• Capsule and glider plane to be released about at 16-18Km. Going over this altitude is job of the capsule while the plane hasn’t enough density to glide well above this altitude.

On the technical side I want to give emphasis to telemetry (ISM 868 MHz) and tracking getting live position data from all the flight and reliable positioning after landing. Actually the GPS devices are more reliable over 65k feet than in 2011. Coverage in Switzerland is good for GSM/GPS Trackers, but I consider using the A-GPS capabilities of an used iPhone and eventually a SPOT satellite Tracker (I just want my stuff back!). Small radio based beacons will be part of the equipment too. 

Car based gound station will be part of the game too. I plan live tracking antennas on a car roof box. And extend my searching team. I found my last capsule only because a friend asked me to help.

The optics will remain more or less similar to the first launch. Full HD video camera, 16MP Canon camera, some 710p video recorders and maybe some of the new full HD cameras from the FPV scene. I don’t like the GoPro wide angle video’s so much and prefer combine different technologies. I guess I will put my old Hero 1 in the box too. Just in case.

A chapter of its own will be the autopilot for the eventually used glider. Officially it isn’t an autopilot but an automatic obstacle avoidance system, due to the drone prohibition in Swiss aviation laws. 

I welcome the Swiss High Altitude Ballooning Society. Reto Speerli was so kind to let be be part of it and I’m delighted and happy to help with my knowledge.