ESP32 Wireless Weather Balloon Tracker with LoRa

Weather balloon payload tracker uses ESP32 with SX1276 LoRa module, NEO-M8N GPS, BME280 environmental sensor, UV sensor, and CO2 sensor to track and record atmospheric data during balloon flight. Transmitter payload sends telemetry to ground station every 30 seconds via LoRa at 433MHz. Data packet: GPS coordinates, altitude, speed, temperature, humidity, pressure, UV index, CO2 ppm, battery voltage, signal strength RSSI. Ground station: second ESP32 with LoRa module connected to laptop via serial, Python script on laptop decodes packets and plots trajectory on map in real time. Balloon altitude: 0-40km, temperature: -60C to +40C. Cold-resistant LiPo battery: heated by foam insulation. LoRa range: 30km+ with high-gain antenna on ground station. LoRa parameters at SF=12 BW=125kHz for maximum range. Antenna: quarter-wave whip on payload, 5-element Yagi on ground station. Libraries: LoRa, TinyGPS++, Adafruit_BME280, WiFi for ground station web display.

Detailed Project Description

ESP32 Wireless Weather Balloon Tracker with LoRa measures environmental parameters and presents them as live readings and history, either on a display or through a web/cloud dashboard.

How It Works
1. Environmental sensors are read at a fixed interval.
2. Readings are averaged/validated and stored (locally or in the cloud).
3. A dashboard renders current values, gauges and trend charts.
4. Optional alerts are raised for extreme values.

Key Components and Their Role
- ESP32: dual-core Wi-Fi + Bluetooth microcontroller that runs the firmware, reads the sensors and hosts the network connection.
- BME280: I2C sensor for temperature, humidity and barometric pressure.
- GPS module (NEO-6M): receiver that provides latitude, longitude, speed and time over UART/NMEA.
- LoRa module (SX1276/SX1278): long-range, low-power radio link for kilometre-scale telemetry.
- Li-ion battery + charger (TP4056): portable power with charge management.

Implementation Steps
1. Collect the components and study each module's datasheet (pin-out, voltage, interface).
2. Wire the circuit on a breadboard following the pin mapping; power sensors from the correct rail (3.3 V / 5 V).
3. Install Arduino IDE, LoRa Library, TinyGPS++ Library and the required libraries; flash a minimal test sketch for each module separately.
4. Write the main firmware: read sensors → process → drive outputs / send data.
5. Configure network or cloud credentials and test communication end-to-end.
6. Calibrate thresholds, add error handling (reconnect, sensor time-out) and run a long-duration test.
7. Finalise on a PCB / enclosure and document wiring, code and results.

Key Features
- Temperature, humidity and pressure
- Trend charts
- Remote access
- Low-power operation

Expected Output
On completion the student will have a weather dashboard showing current readings and history.

Deliverables
- Complete source code with comments
- Circuit diagram and pin mapping
- Project report with screenshots and results
- Demonstration-ready build