Altos Metrum Graphical User Interface Manual Bdale Garbee Keith Packard 2010 Bdale Garbee and Keith Packard This document is released under the terms of the Creative Commons ShareAlike 3.0 license. 0.1 19 November 2010 Initial content The AltosUI program provides a graphical user interface for interacting with the Altus Metrum product family, including TeleMetrum and TeleDongle. AltosUI can monitor telemetry data, configure TeleMetrum and TeleDongle devices and many other tasks. The primary interface window provides a selection of buttons, one for each major activity in the system. This manual is split into chapters, each of which documents one of the tasks provided from the top-level toolbar. Controlling TeleMetrum Over The Radio Link One of the unique features of the Altos Metrum environment is the ability to create a two way command link between TeleDongle and TeleMetrum using the digital radio transceivers built into each device. This allows you to interact with TeleMetrum from afar, as if it were directly connected to the computer. Any operation which can be performed with TeleMetrum can either be done with TeleMetrum directly connected to the computer via the USB cable, or through the packet link. Simply select the appropriate TeleDongle device when the list of devices is presented and AltosUI will use packet command mode. Save Flight Data—Recover flight data from the rocket without opening it up. Configure TeleMetrum—Reset apogee delays or main deploy heights to respond to changing launch conditions. You can also 'reboot' the TeleMetrum device. Use this to remotely enable the flight computer by turning TeleMetrum on while horizontal, then once the airframe is oriented for launch, you can reboot TeleMetrum and have it restart in pad mode without having to climb the scary ladder. Fire Igniters—Test your deployment charges without snaking wires out through holes in the airframe. Simply assembly the rocket as if for flight with the apogee and main charges loaded, then remotely command TeleMetrum to fire the igniters. Packet command mode uses the same RF channels as telemetry mode. Configure the desired TeleDongle channel using the flight monitor window channel selector and then close that window before performing the desired operation. TeleMetrum only enables packet command mode in 'idle' mode, so make sure you have TeleMetrum lying horizontally when you turn it on. Otherwise, TeleMetrum will start in 'pad' mode ready for flight and will not be listening for command packets from TeleDongle. When packet command mode is enabled, you can monitor the link by watching the lights on the TeleDongle and TeleMetrum devices. The red LED will flash each time TeleDongle or TeleMetrum transmit a packet while the green LED will light up on TeleDongle while it is waiting to receive a packet from TeleMetrum. Receive, Record and Display Telemetry Data Selecting this item brings up a dialog box listing all of the connected TeleDongle devices. When you choose one of these, AltosUI will create a window to display telemetry data as received by the selected TeleDongle device. All telemetry data received are automatically recorded in suitable log files. The name of the files includes the current date and rocket serial and flight numbers. The radio channel being monitored by the TeleDongle device is displayed at the top of the window. You can configure the channel by clicking on the channel box and selecting the desired channel. AltosUI remembers the last channel selected for each TeleDongle and selects that automatically the next time you use that device. Below the TeleDongle channel selector, the window contains a few significant pieces of information about the TeleMetrum providing the telemetry data stream: The TeleMetrum callsign The TeleMetrum serial number The flight number. Each TeleMetrum remembers how many times it has flown. The rocket flight state. Each flight passes through several states including Pad, Boost, Fast, Coast, Drogue, Main and Landed. The Received Signal Strength Indicator value. This lets you know how strong a signal TeleDongle is receiving. The radio inside TeleDongle operates down to about -99dBm; weaker signals may not be receiveable. The packet link uses error correction and detection techniques which prevent incorrect data from being reported. Finally, the largest portion of the window contains a set of tabs, each of which contain some information about the rocket. They're arranged in 'flight order' so that as the flight progresses, the selected tab automatically switches to display data relevant to the current state of the flight. You can select other tabs at any time. The final 'table' tab contains all of the telemetry data in one place.

The 'Launch Pad' tab shows information used to decide when the rocket is ready for flight. The first elements include red/green indicators, if any of these is red, you'll want to evaluate whether the rocket is ready to launch: Battery Voltage. This indicates whether the LiPo battery powering the TeleMetrum has sufficient charge to last for the duration of the flight. A value of more than 3.7V is required for a 'GO' status. Apogee Igniter Voltage. This indicates whether the apogee igniter has continuity. If the igniter has a low resistance, then the voltage measured here will be close to the LiPo battery voltage. A value greater than 3.2V is required for a 'GO' status. Main Igniter Voltage. This indicates whether the main igniter has continuity. If the igniter has a low resistance, then the voltage measured here will be close to the LiPo battery voltage. A value greater than 3.2V is required for a 'GO' status. GPS Locked. This indicates whether the GPS receiver is currently able to compute position information. GPS requires at least 4 satellites to compute an accurate position. GPS Ready. This indicates whether GPS has reported at least 10 consecutive positions without losing lock. This ensures that the GPS receiver has reliable reception from the satellites. The LaunchPad tab also shows the computed launch pad position and altitude, averaging many reported positions to improve the accuracy of the fix.

This tab is shown during Boost, Fast and Coast phases. The information displayed here helps monitor the rocket as it heads towards apogee. The height, speed and acceleration are shown along with the maxium values for each of them. This allows you to quickly answer the most commonly asked questions you'll hear during flight. The current latitude and longitude reported by the GPS are also shown. Note that under high acceleration, these values may not get updated as the GPS receiver loses position fix. Once the rocket starts coasting, the receiver should start reporting position again. Finally, the current igniter voltages are reported as in the Launch Pad tab. This can help diagnose deployment failures caused by wiring which comes loose under high acceleration.

Once the rocket has reached apogee and (we hope) activated the apogee charge, attention switches to tracking the rocket on the way back to the ground, and for dual-deploy flights, waiting for the main charge to fire. To monitor whether the apogee charge operated correctly, the current descent rate is reported along with the current height. Good descent rates generally range from 15-30m/s. To help locate the rocket in the sky, use the elevation and bearing information to figure out where to look. Elevation is in degrees above the horizon. Bearing is reported in degrees relative to true north. Range can help figure out how big the rocket will appear. Note that all of these values are relative to the pad location. If the elevation is near 90°, the rocket is over the pad, not over you. Finally, the igniter voltages are reported in this tab as well, both to monitor the main charge as well as to see what the status of the apogee charge is.

Once the rocket is on the ground, attention switches to recovery. While the radio signal is generally lost once the rocket is on the ground, the last reported GPS position is generally within a short distance of the actual landing location. The last reported GPS position is reported both by latitude and longitude as well as a bearing and distance from the launch pad. The distance should give you a good idea of whether you'll want to walk or hitch a ride. Take the reported latitude and longitude and enter them into your handheld GPS unit and have that compute a track to the landing location. Finally, the maximum height, speed and acceleration reported during the flight are displayed for your admiring observers.

TeleMetrum records flight data to its internal flash memory. This data is recorded at a much higher rate than the telemetry system can handle, and is not subject to radio drop-outs. As such, it provides a more complete and precise record of the flight. The 'Save Flight Data' button allows you to read the flash memory and write it to disk. Clicking on the 'Save Flight Data' button brings up a list of connected TeleMetrum and TeleDongle devices. If you select a TeleMetrum device, the flight data will be downloaded from that device directly. If you select a TeleDongle device, flight data will be downloaded from a TeleMetrum device connected via the packet command link to the specified TeleDongle. See the chapter on Packet Command Mode for more information about this. The filename for the data is computed automatically from the recorded flight date, TeleMetrum serial number and flight number information. Select this button and you are prompted to select a flight record file, either a .telem file recording telemetry data or a .eeprom file containing flight data saved from the TeleMetrum flash memory. Once a flight record is selected, the flight monitor interface is displayed and the flight is re-enacted in real time. Check the Monitor Flight chapter above to learn how this window operates. This section should be written by AJ. This tool takes the raw data files and makes them available for external analysis. When you select this button, you are prompted to select a flight data file (either .eeprom or .telem will do, remember that .eeprom files contain higher resolution and more continuous data). Next, a second dialog appears which is used to select where to write the resulting file. It has a selector to choose between CSV and KML file formats.

This is a text file containing the data in a form suitable for import into a spreadsheet or other external data analysis tool. The first few lines of the file contain the version and configuration information from the TeleMetrum device, then there is a single header line which labels all of the fields. All of these lines start with a '#' character which most tools can be configured to skip over. The remaining lines of the file contain the data, with each field separated by a comma and at least one space. All of the sensor values are converted to standard units, with the barometric data reported in both pressure, altitude and height above pad units.

This is the format used by Googleearth to provide an overlay within that application. With this, you can use Googleearth to see the whole flight path in 3D.

Select this button and then select either a TeleMetrum or TeleDongle Device from the list provided. Selecting a TeleDongle device will use Packet Comamnd Mode to configure remote TeleMetrum device. Learn how to use this in the Packet Command Mode chapter. The first few lines of the dialog provide information about the connected TeleMetrum device, including the product name, software version and hardware serial number. Below that are the individual configuration entries. At the bottom of the dialog, there are four buttons: Save. This writes any changes to the TeleMetrum configuration parameter block in flash memory. If you don't press this button, any changes you make will be lost. Reset. This resets the dialog to the most recently saved values, erasing any changes you have made. Reboot. This reboots the TeleMetrum device. Use this to switch from idle to pad mode by rebooting once the rocket is oriented for flight. Close. This closes the dialog. Any unsaved changes will be lost. The rest of the dialog contains the parameters to be configured.

This sets the altitude (above the recorded pad altitude) at which the 'main' igniter will fire. The drop-down menu shows some common values, but you can edit the text directly and choose whatever you like. If the apogee charge fires below this altitude, then the main charge will fire two seconds after the apogee charge fires.

When flying redundant electronics, it's often important to ensure that multiple apogee charges don't fire at precisely the same time as that can overpressurize the apogee deployment bay and cause a structural failure of the airframe. The Apogee Delay parameter tells the flight computer to fire the apogee charge a certain number of seconds after apogee has been detected.

This configures which of the 10 radio channels to use for both telemetry and packet command mode. Note that if you set this value via packet command mode, you will have to reconfigure the TeleDongle channel before you will be able to use packet command mode again.

The radios in every Altus Metrum device are calibrated at the factory to ensure that they transmit and receive on the specified frequency for each channel. You can adjust that calibration by changing this value. To change the TeleDongle's calibration, you must reprogram the unit completely.

This sets the callsign included in each telemetry packet. Set this as needed to conform to your local radio regulations.

This button presents a dialog so that you can configure the AltosUI global settings.

AltosUI provides voice annoucements during flight so that you can keep your eyes on the sky and still get information about the current flight status. However, sometimes you don't want to hear them. Enable—turns all voice announcements on and off Test Voice—Plays a short message allowing you to verify that the audio systme is working and the volume settings are reasonable

AltosUI logs all telemetry data and saves all TeleMetrum flash data to this directory. This directory is also used as the staring point when selecting data files for display or export. Click on the directory name to bring up a directory choosing dialog, select a new directory and click 'Select Directory' to change where AltosUI reads and writes data files.

This value is used in command packet mode and is transmitted in each packet sent from TeleDongle and received from TeleMetrum. It is not used in telemetry mode as that transmits packets only from TeleMetrum to TeleDongle. Configure this with the AltosUI operators callsign as needed to comply with your local radio regulations.

This reprograms any Altus Metrum device by using a TeleMetrum or TeleDongle as a programming dongle. Please read the directions for connecting the programming cable in the main TeleMetrum manual before reading these instructions. Once you have the programmer and target devices connected, push the 'Flash Image' button. That will present a dialog box listing all of the connected devices. Carefully select the programmer device, not the device to be programmed. Next, select the image to flash to the device. These are named with the product name and firmware version. The file selector will start in the directory containing the firmware included with the AltosUI package. Navigate to the directory containing the desired firmware if it isn't there. Next, a small dialog containing the device serial number and RF calibration values should appear. If these values are incorrect (possibly due to a corrupted image in the device), enter the correct values here. Finally, a dialog containing a progress bar will follow the programming process. When programming is complete, the target device will reboot. Note that if the target device is connected via USB, you will have to unplug it and then plug it back in for the USB connection to reset so that you can communicate with the device again.