High Altitude Rocket Project (HARP)

This is a great start! This really gets into the meat of the project. From your description i am extracting the following items as Technical System requirements.

1. Launch an amateur rocket to upper atmosphere (10-20k ft - may be further refined based on launch site parameters and FAA waiver)
2. Rocket must be capable of returning to the launch site (or specific GPS coordinates) during the recovery phase
3. Rocket must return autonomously to the vicinity of the launch site (or a specified GPS coordinate)
4. Rocket must stream video throughout the entire flight profile. -- Are there any requirements about the quality of the video?
5. Rocket must be able to transition from autonomous to human guided flight during the recovery phase. Or if no input is detected, then proceed autonomously.

The last sentence... the "do something" requirement... is the most vague, and yet, the most critical part of the design process. Until you know what you want the system to DO, there's no point in going any farther with the design. If instead you just want to "test the waters" and see what is possible given a typical system, then that is a completely different design process.

The other set of requirements are Project requirements. These differ from the Technical requirements because they are about project management as opposed to the technical design of the system. These things would include:
1. Anticipated total cost of the project?
2. Any particular constraints on the time frame of the project?
3. Particular stakeholders to keep in mind?
4. Are there marketing/advertizing considerations?

Comments:

If we want HARP to go far, how about 10K to 100K ft for Requirement #1

Ok, how about this:

1. Launch an amateur rocket to upper atmosphere (10-110k ft - may be further refined based on launch site parameters and FAA waiver)
2. Rocket must be capable of returning to the launch site (or specific GPS coordinates) during the recovery phase
3. Rocket must return autonomously to the vicinity of the launch site (or a specified GPS coordinate)
4. Rocket must stream video throughout the entire flight profile. -- HD video preferred depending on storage capabilities
5. Rocket must be able to transition from autonomous to human guided flight during the recovery phase. Or if no input is detected, then proceed autonomously.
6. Rocket must be able to collect altitude (air pressure), speed, acceleration, temperature and position information from before launch and throughout the flight profile
7. Rocket must be able to store flight data and potentially transmit telemetry to an ground station for OSD purposes

In response to the remaining questions, some can be requirements. For example:

- Maximum development cost must be no more than $10,000 per final prototype, to include scale models, test systems and all components
- System must not be sponsored by a government entity, but may be presented to a government entity post successful flight as a proof of concept
- The timeframe for development shall not exceed one calendar year from the beginning of actual design
- The system may enlist limited, minority sponsorship from charitable or other non-profit organizations, or corporate entities for the sole purpose of marketing for those entities. The marketing may include logos on the launch vehicle and/or display of same on the project site and in credits for any generated media.

Of course this says nothing about reality, but I figured if we are defining requirements, let's get this matrix in and see if we can meet it and flesh it out, soup to nuts.

I think we should define a few requirements related to reach component. For example, if we want R/C capability, with servos, and autonomous operation, we will have to define the requirements of the subsystems. So how about we begin like this:

Electronics package requirements (all components must be able to operate in vacuum and withstand 20Gs and all transmissions must support the full flight profile):
- MicroController (Arduino, BeagleBone)
- Onboard APM (Ardu Pilot)
- R/C receiver, max receive range 5000' (just short of 1 mile) in the open
- 2 Servos (left and right elevon)
- GPS module
- Altimeter/Pressure sensor able to sense full range of flight envelope
- Power supply/Battery to supply all components as well as secondary/boost stage ignition power
- 3 axis gyro
- Accelerometer
- Data Logger
- Warbler (sound beacon in case retrieval requires some travel)
- Onboard strobe (for recovery)
- FPV Camera and OSD system (forward facing)
- FPV Camera (rearward camera)
- Telemetry transmitter (separate from OSD)
- Payload bay sled able to fit in a tube of xx diameter and be yy long
- Entire payload package should not weight more than gg grams
- Emergency eject of the payload package should be possible? Based on what? Autonomous emergency decision?

Ground Station:
- OSD Receiver (need to define range)
- Telemetry Receiver (need to define range)
- R/C Controller (typically more than 400 feet is pointless)
- Video display/video receiver (need to define range, but ostensibly the full flight profile)

Anyone? Anyone?