Hardware Preparation

1 Balloon Envelope

For off-the-shelf blimp

To use off-the-shelf blimp, we recommend several options that are

​ (1) Enough payload capability

​ (2)Safe and reliable envelope

The purchase links are shown below:

• Shark and fish balloon
• 36'' balloon

For DIY

To DIY your own custom shape balloon envelope, we also recommend using Mylar as materials.

To purchase Mylar, we recommend this Mylar sheet

For manufacturing blimp envelop, please check Hardware manufacture

2 Propulsion system

For propulsion system, we will try motor+propellers as propulsion solution. You need to prepare the following items:

• Motors (Both DC or brushless motors would work)
• For brushless motors, you also need ESC( Electric Speed Controller )
• Propellers
• Motor drivers

Here are some examples (different DC motors and propellers combinations):

As listed above, the propellers should be compatible with your motor.

Here are some links:

3 Control system

For control system, we have multiple options for users to decide:

• NodeMCU ESP8266
• Feather board ESP32
• Raspberry Pi Zero W

4 Support structure

The support structure is for holding all the electronics in their positions.

There are two different set of support structure, the first one is the most common one: 3D printed support, and the second one is another form: origami structure.

For both 3D-printed structure and origami structure. We provide all their design files for users to print and use for their own blimp.

• 3D-printed support structure files
• Origami support structure files

5 Battery and Payloads

The battery are critical to the blimp system and often times it can also be considered as one of the payloads on blimp.

Something to notice for purchasing batteries:

1. It should be small and light enough
2. It should have big enough current output

To understand more knowledge about batteries, please check the link

Here are some links for batteries that we recommended:

• 450mhA batteries