3 AltOS is the name of Keith's firmware "operating system" for
4 [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum/) and [TeleDongle](../TeleDongle/).
6 In addition to the firmware for [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum) and
7 [TeleDongle](../TeleDongle) boards, the AltOS source tree also
8 includes AltosUI, which provides for flight monitoring, post-flight
9 analysis, device configuration and firmware updating. AltosUI runs on
10 Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. It's written in [Java](http://java.com)
11 and offers the same functionality and interface on all three
12 platforms. A small platform-specific library communicates with the USB
13 interface on the Altus Metrum devices.
15 There are also Linux-specific tools that provide lower level access to
16 the devices which are useful for developing firmware for the devices.
18 The firmware and associated software are licensed [GPL version
19 2](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html)
21 ## Available Versions ##
23 There is a single manual for all Altus Metrum products, which is available
24 in [html](doc/altusmetrum.html) and [pdf](doc/altusmetrum.pdf) formats.
26 [[!inline pages="./releases/* and !*/Discussion and !*.bz2 and !*.zip and !*.exe" show="10" rss="no" raw="yes" ]]
28 The latest source is always available from [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com)
29 in the project [fw/altos](http://git.gag.com/?p=fw/altos;a=summary).
31 If you need to debug code on an Altus Metrum product, you may want the special
32 version of SDCC containing a highly modified sdcdb with support for the cc1111
33 debugging interface, which you can find on [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com)
34 in the project [fw/sdcc](http://git.gag.com/?p=fw/sdcc;a=summary). This is
35 not necessary if you just want to rebuild AltOS and use it.
37 ### Version 0.8 Features ###
39 Version 0.8 offers a major upgrade in the AltosUI
40 interface. Significant new features include:
42 * Post-flight graphing tool. This lets you explore the behaviour of
43 your rocket after flight with a scroll-able and zoom-able chart
44 showing the altitude, speed and acceleration of the airframe along
45 with events recorded by the flight computer. You can export graphs
46 to PNG files, or print them directly.
48 * Real-time moving map which overlays the in-progress flight on
49 satellite imagery fetched from
50 [Google Maps](http://maps.google.com). This lets you see in pictures
51 where your rocket has landed, allowing you to plan recovery
52 activities more accurately.
54 * Wireless recovery system testing. Prep your rocket for flight and test
55 fire the deployment charges to make sure things work as
56 expected. All without threading wires through holes in your
59 * Optimized flight status displays. Each flight state now has it's own
60 custom 'tab' in the flight monitoring window so you can focus on the
61 most important details. Pre-flight, the system shows a set of
62 red/green status indicators for battery voltage, apogee/main igniter
63 continutity and GPS reception. Wait until they're all green and your
64 rocket is ready for flight. There are also tabs for ascent, descent,
67 * Monitor multiple flights simultaneously. If you have more than one
68 TeleDongle, you can monitor a flight with each one on the same
71 * Automatic flight monitoring at startup. Plug TeleDongle into the
72 machine before starting AltosUI and it will automatically connect to
73 it and prepare to monitor a flight.
75 * Exports Google Earth flight tracks. Using the Keyhole Markup
76 Language (.kml) file format, this provides a 3D view of your rocket
77 flight through the Google Earth program.
79 ### Version 0.7.1 Features ###
81 Version 0.7.1 is the first release containing our new cross-platform Java-based user interface. AltosUI can:
83 * Receive and log telemetry from a connected TeleDongle device. All data
84 received is saved to log files named with the current date and the connected
85 rocket serial and flight numbers. There is no mode in which telemetry data
88 * Download logged data from TeleMetrum devices, either through a direct USB
89 connection or over the air through a TeleDongle device.
91 * Configure a TeleMetrum device, setting the radio channel, callsign, apogee
92 delay and main deploy height. This can be done through either a USB
93 connection or over a radio link via a TeleDongle device.
95 * Replay a flight in real-time. This takes a saved telemetry log or eeprom
96 download and replays it through the user interface so you can relive your
97 favorite rocket flights.
99 * Reprogram Altus Metrum devices. Using an Altus Metrum device connected via
100 USB, another Altus Metrum device can be reprogrammed using the supplied
101 programming cable between the two devices.
103 * Export Flight data to a comma-separated-values file. This takes either
104 telemetry or on-board flight data and generates data suitable for use in
105 external applications. All data is exported using standard units so that no
106 device-specific knowledge is needed to handle the data.
108 * Speak to you during the flight. Instead of spending the flight hunched over
109 your laptop looking at the screen, enjoy the view while the computer tells
110 you what’s going on up there. During ascent, you hear the current flight
111 state and altitude information. During descent, you get azimuth, elevation
112 and range information to try and help you find your rocket in the air. Once
113 on the ground, the direction and distance are reported.
115 AltosUI provides all of these features on the three target operating systems,
116 Linux, Mac OS X (version 10.5 or newer) and Windows (XP, Vista or 7). The bulk
117 of the software is written in Java and is built once and tested and delivered
118 on all three target platforms. A tiny ‘shim’ library is built on each system
119 to provide access to the Altus Metrum devices connected over the USB link.
123 A number of features are implemented or in process in the sources available
124 in our publicly visible repository that are not part of the current stable
127 * A Kalman-filter based approach to apogee detection using more than just the
128 baro sensor, so that we can safely control apogee ejection on flights to
129 altitudes beyond the range of our baro sensor alone. Unlike the other items
130 on the list, this will be a significant change to the in-rocket TeleMetrum
131 firmware. It may therefore be a while before this becomes part of a stable
134 * Motor characterization. Because TeleMetrum contains a
135 high-resolution, high-frequency accelerometer, it is possible to
136 take the data from that and compute an accurate thrust curve for
139 * Comprehensive PDF and/or HTML -based flight report. Construct a
140 complete report of the flight suitable for publication on the web
141 that includes graphs of the flight and details about motor
144 * Publish flight data to the Altus Metrum web site. This will allow
145 you to share your flight data with others, and let you download
146 flights published by others.
148 There are any number of additions that could be made to this list; feel free
149 to send along ideas that you’ve got. Of course, all of this software is
150 licensed under the GNU General Public License, so you can get the source and
151 hack on it in the comfort of your own home.
153 ## Platform Specific Notes ##
157 If you use [Debian](http://www.debian.org), then a pre-built package for
158 32-bit x86 is currently available here:
160 wget -O - http://altusmetrum.org/apt/altusmetrum.key | apt-key add -
161 wget -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/altos.list http://altusmetrum.org/apt/altos.list
163 apt-get install altos
165 If you use some other distribution of Linux, then
166 a Linux package of our second-generation Java bits that
167 should run on any distribution with a modern Java version is also
168 available. Unlike the Debian pacakge, which depends on various libraries
169 already part of the Debian distribution, this package includes a "fat" jar
170 file with all of the Java libraries that aren't part of the basic Java runtime
171 environment included, so it should "just work" on any system with
172 Java 6. Development and testing is done with OpenJDK 6, but current
173 downloads from [java.com](http://java.com) should be fine too.
175 If you'd rather build from source, our source tree includes documentation on
176 how to build packages for various
177 Linux systems such as [Arch Linux](http://www.archlinux.org), and the
178 debian/ directory contains all the control
179 files for building the Debian packages on other architectures or derivatives
180 such as [Ubuntu](http://ubuntu.com).
182 Bdale has also created a theme for
183 [GDM](http://projects.gnome.org/gdm/) that he uses on his primary notebook,
185 [Simple Login Manager](http://slim.berlios.de/) that he uses on all of his
186 other machines and which is ideally suited for machines dedicated to AltOS
187 ground station use. It includes a photo of a drag-race between
188 nearly-identical rockets
189 built by Keith and Bdale, that was the first time either of us gave TeleMetrum
190 complete control of a rocket flight without some other backup! See the themes/
191 directory in the source tree (the themes are included in the Debian package).
195 A Mac OS X package that is compatible with versions 10.5 "Leopard" and
196 later (including 10.6 "Snow Leopard") is available. The Mac operating
197 system includes Java, and all Altus Metrum products show up as simple
198 USB serial ports, so this should just work with no additional drivers
199 or other dependency issues. Older versions of the Mac operating
200 system, and even newer versions for PowerPC-based machines, come with
201 Java version 5 or older, which is too old for use with Altus Metrum
202 software. We know of no way to update the Java version other than
203 upgrading to a newer operating system (for Intel based macs) or
204 purchasing new hardware (for PowerPC based macs).
208 Our Windows package is known to work on at least some flavors of XP, Vista, and
209 Windows 7 Enterprise. If you don't already have Java installed,
210 download and install a current Java 6 version from [java.com](http://java.com)
211 first. Then download our installer and run it. Windows already has
212 the required USB serial device driver, and our package should do the right
213 things to bind it to our devices, but if you get a complaint about the device
214 being unrecognized, try pointing to the copy of the telemetrum.inf file
215 included in the package directory manually.