+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The radio frequency being monitored by the TeleDongle device is
+ displayed at the top of the window. You can configure the
+ frequency by clicking on the frequency box and selecting the desired
+ frequency. AltosUI remembers the last frequency selected for each
+ TeleDongle and selects that automatically the next time you use
+ that device.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Below the TeleDongle frequency selector, the window contains a few
+ significant pieces of information about the altimeter providing
+ the telemetry data stream:
+ </para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>The configured call-sign</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>The device serial number</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>The flight number. Each altimeter remembers how many
+ times it has flown.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The rocket flight state. Each flight passes through several
+ states including Pad, Boost, Fast, Coast, Drogue, Main and
+ Landed.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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 receivable. The packet link uses
+ error correction and detection techniques which prevent
+ incorrect data from being reported.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ <section>
+ <title>Launch Pad</title>
+ <para>
+ 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:
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Battery Voltage. This indicates whether the Li-Po 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.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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 Li-Po battery voltage. A value greater than 3.2V is
+ required for a 'GO' status.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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 Li-Po battery voltage. A value greater than 3.2V is
+ required for a 'GO' status.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ On-board Data Logging. This indicates whether there is
+ space remaining on-board to store flight data for the
+ upcoming flight. If you've downloaded data, but failed
+ to erase flights, there may not be any space
+ left. TeleMetrum can store multiple flights, depending
+ on the configured maximum flight log size. TeleMini
+ stores only a single flight, so it will need to be
+ downloaded and erased after each flight to capture
+ data. This only affects on-board flight logging; the
+ altimeter will still transmit telemetry and fire
+ ejection charges at the proper times.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ GPS Locked. For a TeleMetrum device, this indicates whether the GPS receiver is
+ currently able to compute position information. GPS requires
+ at least 4 satellites to compute an accurate position.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ GPS Ready. For a TeleMetrum device, 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.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ <para>
+ The Launchpad tab also shows the computed launch pad position
+ and altitude, averaging many reported positions to improve the
+ accuracy of the fix.
+ </para>
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Ascent</title>
+ <para>
+ This tab is shown during Boost, Fast and Coast
+ phases. The information displayed here helps monitor the
+ rocket as it heads towards apogee.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The height, speed and acceleration are shown along with the
+ maximum values for each of them. This allows you to quickly
+ answer the most commonly asked questions you'll hear during
+ flight.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The current latitude and longitude reported by the TeleMetrum 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.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Descent</title>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ For TeleMetrum altimeters, you can locate the rocket in the sky
+ using 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.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Landed</title>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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 hand-held GPS
+ unit and have that compute a track to the landing location.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Both TeleMini and TeleMetrum will continue to transmit RDF
+ tones after landing, allowing you to locate the rocket by
+ following the radio signal. You may need to get away from
+ the clutter of the flight line, or even get up on a hill (or
+ your neighbor's RV) to receive the RDF signal.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The maximum height, speed and acceleration reported
+ during the flight are displayed for your admiring observers.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ To get more detailed information about the flight, you can
+ click on the 'Graph Flight' button which will bring up a
+ graph window for the current flight.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Site Map</title>
+ <para>
+ When the TeleMetrum gets a GPS fix, the Site Map tab will map
+ the rocket's position to make it easier for you to locate the
+ rocket, both while it is in the air, and when it has landed. The
+ rocket's state is indicated by color: white for pad, red for
+ boost, pink for fast, yellow for coast, light blue for drogue,
+ dark blue for main, and black for landed.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The map's scale is approximately 3m (10ft) per pixel. The map
+ can be dragged using the left mouse button. The map will attempt
+ to keep the rocket roughly centered while data is being received.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Images are fetched automatically via the Google Maps Static API,
+ and are cached for reuse. If map images cannot be downloaded,
+ the rocket's path will be traced on a dark gray background
+ instead.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ You can pre-load images for your favorite launch sites
+ before you leave home; check out the 'Preload Maps' section below.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Save Flight Data</title>
+ <para>
+ The altimeter records flight data to its internal flash memory.
+ The TeleMetrum 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. As TeleMini has only a barometer, it
+ records data at the same rate as the telemetry signal, but there will be
+ no data lost due to telemetry drop-outs.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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 or TeleMini device connected via the
+ packet command link to the specified TeleDongle. See the chapter
+ on Packet Command Mode for more information about this.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ After the device has been selected, a dialog showing the
+ flight data saved in the device will be shown allowing you to
+ select which flights to download and which to delete. With
+ version 0.9 or newer firmware, you must erase flights in order
+ for the space they consume to be reused by another
+ flight. This prevents you from accidentally losing flight data
+ if you neglect to download data before flying again. Note that
+ if there is no more space available in the device, then no
+ data will be recorded for a flight.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The file name for each flight log is computed automatically
+ from the recorded flight date, altimeter serial number and
+ flight number information.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Replay Flight</title>
+ <para>
+ 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 altimeter
+ flash memory.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Graph Data</title>
+ <para>
+ 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
+ flash memory.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Once a flight record is selected, a window with two tabs is
+ opened. The first tab contains a graph with acceleration
+ (blue), velocity (green) and altitude (red) of the flight are
+ plotted and displayed, measured in metric units. The
+ apogee(yellow) and main(magenta) igniter voltages are also
+ displayed; high voltages indicate continuity, low voltages
+ indicate open circuits. The second tab contains some basic
+ flight statistics.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The graph can be zoomed into a particular area by clicking and
+ dragging down and to the right. Once zoomed, the graph can be
+ reset by clicking and dragging up and to the left. Holding down
+ control and clicking and dragging allows the graph to be panned.
+ The right mouse button causes a pop-up menu to be displayed, giving
+ you the option save or print the plot.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that telemetry files will generally produce poor graphs
+ due to the lower sampling rate and missed telemetry packets.
+ Use saved flight data for graphing where possible.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Export Data</title>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ <section>
+ <title>Comma Separated Value Format</title>
+ <para>
+ 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 altimeter, 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.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Keyhole Markup Language (for Google Earth)</title>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Configure Altimeter</title>
+ <para>
+ Select this button and then select either a TeleMetrum or
+ TeleDongle Device from the list provided. Selecting a TeleDongle
+ device will use Packet Command Mode to configure a remote
+ altimeter. Learn how to use this in the Packet Command
+ Mode chapter.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The first few lines of the dialog provide information about the
+ connected device, including the product name,
+ software version and hardware serial number. Below that are the
+ individual configuration entries.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ At the bottom of the dialog, there are four buttons:
+ </para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Save. This writes any changes to the
+ configuration parameter block in flash memory. If you don't
+ press this button, any changes you make will be lost.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Reset. This resets the dialog to the most recently saved values,
+ erasing any changes you have made.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Reboot. This reboots the device. Use this to
+ switch from idle to pad mode by rebooting once the rocket is
+ oriented for flight.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Close. This closes the dialog. Any unsaved changes will be
+ lost.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ <para>
+ The rest of the dialog contains the parameters to be configured.
+ </para>
+ <section>
+ <title>Main Deploy Altitude</title>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Apogee Delay</title>
+ <para>
+ 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 over pressurize the apogee deployment
+ bay and cause a structural failure of the air-frame. The Apogee
+ Delay parameter tells the flight computer to fire the apogee
+ charge a certain number of seconds after apogee has been
+ detected.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Radio Frequency</title>
+ <para>
+ This configures which of the configured frequencies 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 frequency before you will be able to use packet
+ command mode again.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ <section>
+ <title>Radio Calibration</title>