1 == Introduction and Overview
3 Welcome to the Altus Metrum community! Our circuits and software reflect
4 our passion for both hobby rocketry and Free Software. We hope their
5 capabilities and performance will delight you in every way, but by
6 releasing all of our hardware and software designs under open licenses,
7 we also hope to empower you to take as active a role in our collective
10 The first device created for our community was TeleMetrum, a dual
11 deploy altimeter with fully integrated GPS and radio telemetry
12 as standard features, and a “companion interface” that will
13 support optional capabilities in the future. The latest version
14 of TeleMetrum, v2.0, has all of the same features but with
15 improved sensors and radio to offer increased performance.
17 Our second device was TeleMini, a dual deploy altimeter with
18 radio telemetry and radio direction finding. The first version
19 of this device was only 13mm by 38mm (½ inch by 1½ inches) and
20 could fit easily in an 18mm air-frame. The latest version, v3.0,
21 includes a beeper, higher power radio, extended on-board
22 flight logging and an improved barometric sensor.
24 TeleMega is our most sophisticated device, including six pyro
25 channels (four of which are fully programmable), integrated GPS,
26 integrated gyroscopes for staging/air-start inhibit and high
27 performance telemetry.
29 EasyMini is a dual-deploy altimeter with logging and built-in
32 EasyMega is essentially a TeleMega board with the GPS receiver
33 and telemetry transmitter removed. It offers the same 6 pyro
34 channels and integrated gyroscopes for staging/air-start inhibit.
36 TeleDongle v0.2 was our first ground station, providing a USB to RF
37 interfaces for communicating with the altimeters. Combined with
38 your choice of antenna and notebook computer, TeleDongle and our
39 associated user interface software form a complete ground
40 station capable of logging and displaying in-flight telemetry,
41 aiding rocket recovery, then processing and archiving flight
42 data for analysis and review. The latest version, TeleDongle
43 v3, has all new electronics with a higher performance radio
46 For a slightly more portable ground station experience that also
47 provides direct rocket recovery support, TeleBT offers flight
48 monitoring and data logging using a Bluetooth™ connection between
49 the receiver and an Android device that has the AltosDroid
50 application installed from the Google Play store.
52 More products will be added to the Altus Metrum family over time, and
53 we currently envision that this will be a single, comprehensive manual
54 for the entire product family.