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, which may include unreleased work in progress, is always
29 available from [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com)
30 in the project [fw/altos](http://git.gag.com/?p=fw/altos;a=summary).
32 If you need to debug code on an Altus Metrum product, you may want our special
33 version of SDCC containing a highly modified sdcdb with support for the cc1111
34 debugging interface, which you can find on [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com)
35 in the project [fw/sdcc](http://git.gag.com/?p=fw/sdcc;a=summary). This is
36 not necessary if you just want to rebuild AltOS and use it.
38 ### Version 0.8 Features ###
40 Version 0.8 offers a major upgrade in the AltosUI
41 interface. Significant new features include:
43 * Post-flight graphing tool. This lets you explore the behaviour of
44 your rocket after flight with a scroll-able and zoom-able chart
45 showing the altitude, speed and acceleration of the airframe along
46 with events recorded by the flight computer. You can export graphs
47 to PNG files, or print them directly.
49 * Real-time moving map which overlays the in-progress flight on
50 satellite imagery fetched from
51 [Google Maps](http://maps.google.com). This lets you see in pictures
52 where your rocket has landed, allowing you to plan recovery
53 activities more accurately.
55 * Wireless recovery system testing. Prep your rocket for flight and test
56 fire the deployment charges to make sure things work as
57 expected. All without threading wires through holes in your
60 * Optimized flight status displays. Each flight state now has it's own
61 custom 'tab' in the flight monitoring window so you can focus on the
62 most important details. Pre-flight, the system shows a set of
63 red/green status indicators for battery voltage, apogee/main igniter
64 continutity and GPS reception. Wait until they're all green and your
65 rocket is ready for flight. There are also tabs for ascent, descent
66 and landing along with the original tabular view of the data.
68 * Monitor multiple flights simultaneously. If you have more than one
69 TeleDongle, you can monitor a flight with each one on the same
72 * Automatic flight monitoring at startup. Plug TeleDongle into the
73 machine before starting AltosUI and it will automatically connect to
74 it and prepare to monitor a flight.
76 * Exports Google Earth flight tracks. Using the Keyhole Markup
77 Language (.kml) file format, this provides a 3D view of your rocket
78 flight through the Google Earth program.
80 ### Version 0.7.1 Features ###
82 Version 0.7.1 is the first release containing our new cross-platform Java-based user interface. AltosUI can:
84 * Receive and log telemetry from a connected TeleDongle device. All data
85 received is saved to log files named with the current date and the connected
86 rocket serial and flight numbers. There is no mode in which telemetry data
89 * Download logged data from TeleMetrum devices, either through a direct USB
90 connection or over the air through a TeleDongle device.
92 * Configure a TeleMetrum device, setting the radio channel, callsign, apogee
93 delay and main deploy height. This can be done through either a USB
94 connection or over a radio link via a TeleDongle device.
96 * Replay a flight in real-time. This takes a saved telemetry log or eeprom
97 download and replays it through the user interface so you can relive your
98 favorite rocket flights.
100 * Reprogram Altus Metrum devices. Using an Altus Metrum device connected via
101 USB, another Altus Metrum device can be reprogrammed using the supplied
102 programming cable between the two devices.
104 * Export Flight data to a comma-separated-values file. This takes either
105 telemetry or on-board flight data and generates data suitable for use in
106 external applications. All data is exported using standard units so that no
107 device-specific knowledge is needed to handle the data.
109 * Speak to you during the flight. Instead of spending the flight hunched over
110 your laptop looking at the screen, enjoy the view while the computer tells
111 you what’s going on up there. During ascent, you hear the current flight
112 state and altitude information. During descent, you get azimuth, elevation
113 and range information to try and help you find your rocket in the air. Once
114 on the ground, the direction and distance are reported.
116 AltosUI provides all of these features on the three target operating systems,
117 Linux, Mac OS X (version 10.5 or newer) and Windows (XP, Vista or 7). The bulk
118 of the software is written in Java and is built once and tested and delivered
119 on all three target platforms. A tiny ‘shim’ library is built on each system
120 to provide access to the Altus Metrum devices connected over the USB link.
124 A number of features are implemented or in process in the sources available
125 in our publicly visible repository that are not part of the current stable
128 * A Kalman-filter based approach to apogee detection using more than just the
129 baro sensor, so that we can safely control apogee ejection on flights to
130 altitudes beyond the range of our baro sensor alone. Unlike the other items
131 on the list, this will be a significant change to the in-rocket TeleMetrum
132 firmware. It may therefore be a while before this becomes part of a stable
135 * Motor characterization. Because TeleMetrum contains a
136 high-resolution, high-frequency accelerometer, it is possible to
137 take the data from that and compute an accurate thrust curve for
140 * Comprehensive PDF and/or HTML -based flight report. Construct a
141 complete report of the flight suitable for publication on the web
142 that includes graphs of the flight and details about motor
145 * Publish flight data to the Altus Metrum web site. This will allow
146 you to share your flight data with others, and let you download
147 flights published by others.
149 There are any number of additions that could be made to this list; feel free
150 to send along ideas that you’ve got. Of course, all of this software is
151 licensed under the GNU General Public License, so you can get the source and
152 hack on it in the comfort of your own home.
154 ## Platform Specific Notes ##
158 If you use [Debian](http://www.debian.org), then a pre-built package for
159 32-bit x86 is currently available here:
161 wget -O - http://altusmetrum.org/apt/altusmetrum.key | apt-key add -
162 wget -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/altos.list http://altusmetrum.org/apt/altos.list
164 apt-get install altos
166 If you use some other distribution of Linux, then
167 a Linux package of our second-generation Java bits that
168 should run on any distribution with a modern Java version is also
169 available. Unlike the Debian pacakge, which depends on various libraries
170 already part of the Debian distribution, this package includes a "fat" jar
171 file with all of the Java libraries that aren't part of the basic Java runtime
172 environment included, so it should "just work" on any system with
173 Java 6. Development and testing is done with OpenJDK 6, but current
174 downloads from [java.com](http://java.com) should be fine too.
176 If you'd rather build from source, our source tree includes documentation on
177 how to build packages for various
178 Linux systems such as [Arch Linux](http://www.archlinux.org), and the
179 debian/ directory contains all the control
180 files for building the Debian packages on other architectures or derivatives
181 such as [Ubuntu](http://ubuntu.com).
183 Bdale has also created a theme for
184 [GDM](http://projects.gnome.org/gdm/) that he uses on his primary notebook,
186 [Simple Login Manager](http://slim.berlios.de/) that he uses on all of his
187 other machines and which is ideally suited for machines dedicated to AltOS
188 ground station use. It includes a photo of a drag-race between
189 nearly-identical rockets
190 built by Keith and Bdale, that was the first time either of us gave TeleMetrum
191 complete control of a rocket flight without some other backup! See the themes/
192 directory in the source tree (the themes are included in the Debian package).
196 A Mac OS X package that is compatible with versions 10.5 "Leopard" and
197 later (including 10.6 "Snow Leopard") is available. The Mac operating
198 system includes Java, and all Altus Metrum products show up as simple
199 USB serial ports, so this should just work with no additional drivers
200 or other dependency issues. Older versions of the Mac operating
201 system, and even newer versions for PowerPC-based machines, come with
202 Java version 5 or older, which is too old for use with Altus Metrum
203 software. We know of no way to update the Java version other than
204 upgrading to a newer operating system (for Intel based macs) or
205 purchasing new hardware (for PowerPC based macs).
209 Our Windows package is known to work on at least some flavors of XP, Vista, and
210 Windows 7 Enterprise. If you don't already have Java installed,
211 download and install a current Java 6 version from [java.com](http://java.com)
212 first. Then download our installer and run it. Windows already has
213 the required USB serial device driver, and our package should do the right
214 things to bind it to our devices, but if you get a complaint about the device
215 being unrecognized, try pointing to the copy of the telemetrum.inf file
216 included in the package directory manually.