altos/telegps-v3.0: Fix SPI bus usage

[fw/altos] / doc / telegps-application.inc

== TeleGPS Application

        The TeleGPS application provides a graphical user interface for
        interacting with the Altus Metrum product family. TeleGPS can
        monitor telemetry data, configure devices and many other
        tasks. The primary interface window is for displaying data
        received over the telemetry link. There are additional
        tasks available from the main window menu bar.

        === Telemetry Monitoring

                This is the window brought up when you start the
                application. If you have a TeleDongle device connected
                to the computer, it will automatically be selected for
                telemetry monitoring

                All telemetry data received are automatically recorded
                in suitable log files. The name of the files includes
                the current date and TeleGPS serial and flight
                numbers.

                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. The TeleGPS
                application remembers the last frequency selected for
                each TeleDongle and selects that automatically the
                next time you use that device.

                Below the TeleDongle frequency selector, the window
                contains a few significant pieces of information about
                the altimeter providing the telemetry data stream:

                * The configured call-sign

                * The device serial number

                * The flight number. TeleGPS remembers how many times
                  it has flown.

                * 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 -100dBm; weaker signals may not be
                  receivable. The packet link uses error detection and
                  correction techniques which prevent incorrect data
                  from being reported.

                * The age of the displayed data, in seconds since the
                  last successfully received telemetry packet.  In
                  normal operation this will stay in the low single
                  digits.  If the number starts counting up, then you
                  are no longer receiving data over the radio link
                  from the flight computer.

                Finally, the largest portion of the window contains a set of
                tabs, each of which contain some information about the TeleGPS
                board. The final 'table' tab displays many of the raw telemetry
                values in one place in a spreadsheet-like format.
      
                ==== Map

                        The Map tab shows the TeleGPS track over time
                        on top of map data making it easy to locate
                        the device.
        
                        .TeleGPS Map View
                        image::telegps-map.png[width=400]

                        The map's default 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.
        
                        You can adjust the style of map and the zoom
                        level with buttons on the right side of the
                        map window. You can draw a line on the map by
                        moving the mouse over the map with a button
                        other than the left one pressed, or by
                        pressing the left button while also holding
                        down the shift key. The length of the line in
                        real-world units will be shown at the start of
                        the line.
        
                        Images are fetched automatically via the
                        Google Maps Static API, and cached on disk for
                        reuse. If map images cannot be downloaded, the
                        rocket's path will be traced on a dark gray
                        background instead.
        
                        You can pre-load images for your favorite
                        launch sites before you leave home; check out
                        <<_load_maps>>.
        
                ==== Location

                        The Location tab shows the raw GPS data
                        received from TeleGPS.
        
                        .TeleGPS Location View
                        image::telegps-location.png[width=400]

                ==== Status

                        The Status tab shows data relative to the
                        location of TeleGPS when the application first
                        received telemetry from it.
        
                        .TeleGPS Status View
                        image::telegps-status.png[width=400]

                ==== Table

                        The Table tab shows detailed information about
                        the GPS receiver
        
                        .TeleGPS Information Table
                        image::telegps-table.png[width=400]

        === TeleGPS Menus

                TeleGPS has three or four menus at the top of
                the window:

                File::

                New Window, Graph Data, Export Data, Load Maps,
                Preferences, Close and Exit
              
                Monitor::

                Connect Device, Disconnect and Scan Channels

                Device::

                Download Data, Configure Device and Flash Device
              
                Frequency::

                This shows the current monitoring frequency with a
                drop-down menu listing other configured
                frequencies. You can change the set of frequencies
                shown here from the Preferences dialog. This menu is
                only shown when the TeleGPS application is connected
                to a TeleDongle or TeleBT device.
              
      
                ==== New Window

                        This creates another telemetry monitoring window, in case
                        you have multiple TeleDongle devices connected to the
                        computer.
        
        === Graph Data

                The Graph tab shows a plot of the the GPS data
                collected. The X axis is time in seconds; there are a
                variety of Y axes available for different kinds of
                data. This window also allows you to see some
                statistics computed from the data, and an overall map
                of the entire data record.
          
                ==== Data Graph

                        .TeleGPS Graph
                        image::telegps-graph-graph.png[width=400]

                ==== Graph Configuration

                        .TeleGPS Graph Configuration
                        image::telegps-graph-configure.png[width=400]

                        This selects which graph elements to show, and, at the
                        bottom, lets you switch between metric and imperial
                        units

                ==== Statistics

                        .TeleGPS Statistics
                        image::telegps-graph-stats.png[width=400]

                        Shows overall data computed from the flight.
                
                ==== Map

                        .TeleGPS Map
                        image::telegps-graph-map.png[width=450]

                        Shows a map of the area overlaid with the GPS track. As with
                        the telemetry monitoring window, you can select the style
                        of map and zoom level using buttons along the side;
                        you can scroll the map by dragging within the map pressing
                        the left button and you can draw a line to measure
                        distances using either the left button with the shift key,
                        or any other button.

        === Export Data

                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 data file, which
                can be either a .eeprom or .telem.  The .eeprom files
                contain higher resolution and more continuous data,
                while .telem files contain receiver signal strength
                information.  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.
        
                ==== Comma Separated Value Format

                        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 TeleGPS, then
                        there is a single header line which labels all
                        of the fields. All of these lines start with a
                        '#' character which many 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.

                ==== Keyhole Markup Language (for Google Earth)

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

        include::load-maps.adoc[]

        === Preferences

                .TeleGPS Preferences Window
                image::telegps-preferences.png[width=230]

                include::config-ui.adoc[]

        === Close

                This closes the current window, leaving any other windows
                open and the application running.
        
        === Exit

                This closes all TeleGPS windows and terminates the
                application.
        
        === Connect Device

                Selecting this item brings up a dialog box listing all
                of the connected TeleDongle devices. When you choose
                one of these, AltosUI will display telemetry data as
                received by the selected TeleDongle device.
        
                .Device Selection Dialog
                image::device-selection.png[width=300]

        === Disconnect

                Disconnects the currently connected TeleDongle or
                TeleBT

        === Scan Channels

                .Radio Scanning Dialog
                image::telegps-scan.png[width=300]

                Scans the configured set of frequencies looking for
                telemetry signals. A list of all of the discovered
                signals is show; selecting one of those and clicking
                on 'Monitor' will select that frequency in the
                associated TeleGPS application window.

        === Download Data

                TeleGPS records data to its internal flash memory.
                On-board data is recorded at the same rate as
                telemetry but is not subject to radio drop-outs. As
                such, it generally provides a more complete and
                precise record.  The 'Download Data' menu entry allows
                you to read the flash memory and write it to disk.

                Select the 'Download Data' menu entry to bring up a
                list of connected TeleGPS devices. After the device
                has been selected, a dialog showing the data stored in
                the device will be shown allowing you to select which
                entries to download and which to delete. You must
                erase flights in order for the space they consume to
                be reused by another track. This prevents accidentally
                losing data if you neglect to download data before
                starting TeleGPS again. Note that if there is no more
                space available in the device, then no data will be
                recorded.

                The file name for each data log is computed
                automatically from the recorded date, altimeter serial
                number and flight number information.
        
        === Configure Device

                .TeleGPS Configuration Dialog
                image::telegps-configure.png[width=350]

                Select this button and then select any connected TeleGPS
                device from the list provided.

                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.

                At the bottom of the dialog, there are four buttons:
        
                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.

                Reset::
                This resets the dialog to the most recently saved
                values, erasing any changes you have made.

                Reboot::

                This reboots the device. Use this to switch from idle
                to pad mode by rebooting once the rocket is oriented
                for flight, or to confirm changes you think you saved
                are really saved.

                Close::

                This closes the dialog. Any unsaved changes will be
                lost.

                The rest of the dialog contains the parameters to be configured.

                include::config-device.adoc[]

        === Flash Device

                This reprograms TeleGPS devices with new
                firmware. Please read the directions for flashing
                devices in <<_updating_device_firmware>>.