1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
2 <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "/usr/share/xml/docbook/schema/dtd/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
5 <title>TeleGPS Owner's Manual</title>
6 <subtitle>A recording GPS tracker</subtitle>
9 <firstname>Keith</firstname>
10 <surname>Packard</surname>
14 <holder>Bdale Garbee and Keith Packard</holder>
18 <imagedata fileref="telegps-v1.0-top.jpg" width="4in"/>
23 This document is released under the terms of the
24 <ulink url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">
25 Creative Commons ShareAlike 3.0
32 <revnumber>1.6</revnumber>
33 <date>8 January 2015</date>
35 Major release adding TeleDongle v3.0 support.
39 <revnumber>1.4.1</revnumber>
40 <date>20 June 2014</date>
42 Minor release fixing some installation bugs.
46 <revnumber>1.4</revnumber>
47 <date>13 June 2014</date>
55 <title>Acknowledgements</title>
57 Have fun using these products, and we hope to meet all of you
58 out on the rocket flight line somewhere.
61 NAR #87103, TRA #12201
64 NAR #88757, TRA #12200
69 <title>Quick Start Guide</title>
71 TeleGPS is designed to be easy to use. Requiring no external
72 components, flying takes just a few steps.
75 First, download and install the software from <ulink
76 url="http://altusmetrum.org/AltOS"/>. This will make sure that
77 you have the right device drivers installed.
80 Next, plug in the battery and USB cable and connect TeleGPS to
81 your computer. This will charge the battery and allow you to
85 Start the TeleGPS application and set the callsign and frequency
86 on your TeleGPS device; refer to the Configure TeleGPS section
87 in the TeleGPS Application chapter for instructions.
90 Unplug TeleGPS when the battery charger light goes green. This
91 will enable the radio and logging portions of the TeleGPS
95 Connect TeleDongle to your computer and start TeleGPS or start
96 AltosDroid on your android device and connect to TeleBT. Set the
97 frequency to match the TeleGPS and you should be receiving telemetry.
101 <title>Handling Precautions</title>
103 All Altus Metrum products are sophisticated electronic devices.
104 When handled gently and properly installed in an air-frame, they
105 will deliver impressive results. However, as with all electronic
106 devices, there are some precautions you must take.
109 The Lithium polymer batteries have an
110 extraordinary power density. This is great because we can fly with
111 much less battery mass... but if they are punctured
112 or their contacts are allowed to short, they can and will release their
114 Thus we recommend that you take some care when handling TeleGPS
115 to keep conductive material from coming in contact with the exposed metal elements.
118 As with all other rocketry electronics, Altus Metrum devices must
119 be protected from exposure to corrosive motor exhaust and ejection
124 <title>TeleGPS Hardware</title>
126 <title>Hooking Up Lithium Polymer Batteries</title>
128 TeleGPS has a two pin JST PH series connector to connect up
129 a single-cell Lithium Polymer cell (3.7V nominal). You can
130 purchase matching batteries from the Altus Metrum store, or
131 other vendors, or you can make your own. Pin 1 of the
132 connector is positive, pin 2 is negative. Spark Fun sells a
133 cable with the connector attached, which they call a <ulink
134 url="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9914">JST Jumper 2
135 Wire Assembly</ulink>.
138 Many RC vendors also sell lithium polymer batteries with
139 this same connector. All that we have found use the opposite
140 polarity, and if you use them that way, you will damage or
145 <title>On-board Data Recording</title>
147 TeleGPS logs GPS data at a user-configurable rate. Data are
148 logged to a 2MB on-board flash memory part, which can be
149 partitioned into several equal-sized blocks, one for each
150 flight. 64kB of this storage are reserved to hold
151 configuration data, leaving 1984kB for flight data.
154 The on-board flash is partitioned into separate flight logs,
155 each of a fixed maximum size. Increase the maximum size of
156 each log and you reduce the number of flights that can be
157 stored. Decrease the size and you can store more flights.
160 To compute the amount of space needed for a single log, you
161 can divide the expected time (in seconds) by the sample period
162 (by default, 1 second per sample) and then multiply the result
163 by 32 bytes per sample. For instance, a sample period of 1
164 second and a flight lasting one hour will take 32 * 3600 =
165 115200 bytes. TeleGPS does try to reduce log space used by not
166 recording position information when it isn't moving, so actual
167 space consumed may be less than this.
170 The default size allows for four flights of 496kB each, which
171 provides over four hours of logging at 1 sample per second.
174 TeleGPS will not overwrite existing flight data, so be sure to
175 download flight data and erase it from the onboard flash
176 before it fills up. TeleGPS will still report telemetry even
177 if memory is full, so the only thing you will lose is the
182 <title>Installation</title>
184 The battery connectors are a standard 2-pin JST connector and
185 match batteries sold by Spark Fun. These batteries are
186 single-cell Lithium Polymer batteries that nominally provide 3.7
187 volts. Other vendors sell similar batteries for RC aircraft
188 using mating connectors, however the polarity for those is
189 generally reversed from the batteries used by Altus Metrum
190 products. In particular, the Tenergy batteries supplied for use
191 in Featherweight flight computers are not compatible with Altus
192 Metrum flight computers or battery chargers. <emphasis>Check
193 polarity and voltage before connecting any battery not purchased
194 from Altus Metrum or Spark Fun.</emphasis>
197 TeleGPS uses an integrate GPS patch antenna and won't
198 receive GPS signals if installed inside a metal or carbon
199 fiber compartment. Test GPS reception and telemetry
200 transmission with the system installed and all other
201 electronics powered up to verify signal reception and make
202 sure there isn't any interference from other systems.
207 <title>System Operation</title>
209 <title>GFSK Telemetry</title>
211 TeleGPS's native telemetry system doesn't use a 'normal packet
212 radio' mode like APRS because it's not very efficient. The
213 GFSK modulation we use is FSK with the base-band pulses passed
214 through a Gaussian filter before they go into the modulator to
215 limit the transmitted bandwidth. When combined with forward
216 error correction and interleaving, this allows us to have a
217 very robust 19.2 kilobit data link with only 10-40 milliwatts
218 of transmit power, a whip antenna in the rocket, and a
219 hand-held Yagi on the ground. We've had flights to above 21k
220 feet AGL with great reception, and calculations suggest we
221 should be good to well over 40k feet AGL with a 5-element yagi
222 on the ground with our 10mW units and over 100k feet AGL with
229 TeleGPS can send APRS if desired, and the
230 interval between APRS packets can be configured. As each APRS
231 packet takes a full second to transmit, we recommend an
232 interval of at least 5 seconds to avoid consuming too much
233 battery power or radio channel bandwidth. You can configure
234 the APRS interval using AltosUI; that process is described in
235 the Configure Altimeter section of the AltosUI chapter.
238 AltOS uses the APRS compressed position report data format,
239 which provides for higher position precision and shorter
240 packets than the original APRS format. It also includes
241 altitude data, which is invaluable when tracking rockets. We
242 haven't found a receiver which doesn't handle compressed
243 positions, but it's just possible that you have one, so if you
244 have an older device that can receive the raw packets but
245 isn't displaying position information, it's possible that this
249 The APRS packet format includes a comment field that can have
250 arbitrary text in it. AltOS uses this to send status
251 information about the flight computer. It sends four fields as
252 shown in the following table.
255 <title>Altus Metrum APRS Comments</title>
256 <?dbfo keep-together="always"?>
257 <tgroup cols='3' align='center' colsep='1' rowsep='1'>
258 <colspec align='center' colwidth='*' colname='Field'/>
259 <colspec align='center' colwidth='*' colname='Example'/>
260 <colspec align='center' colwidth='4*' colname='Description'/>
263 <entry align='center'>Field</entry>
264 <entry align='center'>Example</entry>
265 <entry align='center'>Description</entry>
272 <entry>GPS Status U for unlocked, L for locked</entry>
277 <entry>Number of Satellites in View</entry>
282 <entry>Battery Voltage</entry>
288 Here's an example of an APRS comment showing GPS lock with 6
289 satellites in view and a battery at 4.0V.
295 Make sure your primary battery is above 3.8V and GPS is locked
296 with at least 5 or 6 satellites in view before starting. If GPS
297 is switching between L and U regularly, then it doesn't have a
298 good lock and you should wait until it becomes stable.
301 If the GPS receiver loses lock, the APRS data transmitted will
302 contain the last position for which GPS lock was
303 available. You can tell that this has happened by noticing
304 that the GPS status character switches from 'L' to 'U'. Before
305 GPS has locked, APRS will transmit zero for latitude,
306 longitude and altitude.
310 <title>Configurable Parameters</title>
312 Configuring TeleGPS is very
313 simple; the few configurable parameters can all be set
314 using the TeleGPS application over USB. Read
315 the Configure TeleGPS section in the TeleGPS Software chapter below
316 for more information.
319 <title>Radio Frequency</title>
321 Altus Metrum boards support radio frequencies in the 70cm
322 band. By default, the configuration interface provides a
323 list of 10 “standard” frequencies in 100kHz channels starting at
324 434.550MHz. However, the firmware supports use of
325 any 50kHz multiple within the 70cm band. At any given
326 launch, we highly recommend coordinating when and by whom each
327 frequency will be used to avoid interference. And of course, both
328 TeleGPS and the receiver must be configured to the same
329 frequency to successfully communicate with each other.
333 <title>Callsign</title>
335 This sets the callsign used for telemetry and APRS to
340 <title>Telemetry/RDF/APRS Enable</title>
342 You can completely disable the radio, if necessary, leaving
343 TeleGPS only logging data to internal memory.
347 <title>APRS Interval</title>
349 This selects how often APRS packets are transmitted. Set
350 this to zero to disable APRS without also disabling the
351 regular telemetry and RDF transmissions. As APRS takes a
352 full second to transmit a single position report, we
353 recommend sending packets no more than once every 5 seconds.
357 <title>Maximum Flight Log</title>
359 Changing this value will set the maximum amount of flight
360 log storage that an individual flight will use. The
361 available storage is divided into as many flights of the
362 specified size as can fit in the available space. You can
363 download and erase individual flight logs. If you fill up
364 the available storage, future flights will not get logged
365 until you erase some of the stored ones.
369 <title>Logging Trigger Motion</title>
371 If TeleGPS moves less than this distance over a long period
372 of time, it will not log that location, saving storage space.
376 <title>Position Reporting Interval</title>
378 This sets how often TeleGPS reports position information via
379 telemetry and to the on-board log. Reducing this value will
380 save power and logging memory consumption.
386 <title>TeleGPS Application</title>
388 The TeleGPS application provides a graphical user interface for
389 interacting with the Altus Metrum product family. TeleGPS can
390 monitor telemetry data, configure devices and many other
391 tasks. The primary interface window is for displaying data
392 received over the telemetry link. There are additional
393 tasks available from the main window menu bar. This chapter
394 is split into sections, each of which documents one of the tasks
395 provided from the top-level toolbar.
398 <title>Telemetry Monitoring</title>
400 This is the window brought up when you start the
401 application. If you have a TeleDongle device connected to the
402 computer, it will automatically be selected for telemetry monitoring
405 All telemetry data received are automatically recorded in
406 suitable log files. The name of the files includes the current
407 date and TeleGPS serial and flight numbers.
410 The radio frequency being monitored by the TeleDongle device
411 is displayed at the top of the window. You can configure the
412 frequency by clicking on the frequency box and selecting the
413 desired frequency. The TeleGPS application remembers the last
414 frequency selected for each TeleDongle and selects that
415 automatically the next time you use that device.
418 Below the TeleDongle frequency selector, the window contains a few
419 significant pieces of information about the altimeter providing
420 the telemetry data stream:
424 <para>The configured call-sign</para>
427 <para>The device serial number</para>
430 <para>The flight number. TeleGPS remembers how many
436 The Received Signal Strength Indicator value. This lets
437 you know how strong a signal TeleDongle is receiving. The
438 radio inside TeleDongle operates down to about -100dBm;
439 weaker signals may not be receivable. The packet link uses
440 error detection and correction techniques which prevent
441 incorrect data from being reported.
446 The age of the displayed data, in seconds since the last
447 successfully received telemetry packet. In normal operation
448 this will stay in the low single digits. If the number starts
449 counting up, then you are no longer receiving data over the radio
450 link from the flight computer.
455 Finally, the largest portion of the window contains a set of
456 tabs, each of which contain some information about the TeleGPS
457 board. The final 'table' tab displays many of the raw telemetry
458 values in one place in a spreadsheet-like format.
463 The Map tab shows the TeleGPS track over time on top of map
464 data making it easy to locate the device.
469 <imagedata fileref="telegps-map.png" width="5.5in"/>
474 The map's default scale is approximately 3m (10ft) per pixel. The map
475 can be dragged using the left mouse button. The map will attempt
476 to keep the rocket roughly centered while data is being received.
479 You can adjust the style of map and the zoom level with
480 buttons on the right side of the map window. You can draw a
481 line on the map by moving the mouse over the map with a
482 button other than the left one pressed, or by pressing the
483 left button while also holding down the shift key. The
484 length of the line in real-world units will be shown at the
488 Images are fetched automatically via the Google Maps Static API,
489 and cached on disk for reuse. If map images cannot be downloaded,
490 the rocket's path will be traced on a dark gray background
494 You can pre-load images for your favorite launch sites
495 before you leave home; check out the 'Preload Maps' section below.
499 <title>Location</title>
501 The Location tab shows the raw GPS data received from TeleGPS.
506 <imagedata fileref="telegps-location.png" width="5.5in"/>
512 <title>Status</title>
514 The Status tab shows data relative to the location of
515 TeleGPS when the application first received telemetry from
521 <imagedata fileref="telegps-status.png" width="5.5in"/>
529 The Table tab shows detailed information about the GPS
535 <imagedata fileref="telegps-table.png" width="5.5in"/>
553 <title>TeleGPS Menus</title>
555 TeleGPS has three or four menus at the top of the window:
561 New Window, Graph Data, Export Data, Load Maps, Preferences, Close and Exit
569 Connect Device, Disconnect and Scan Channels
577 Download Data, Configure Device and Flash Device
582 <term>Frequency</term>
585 This shows the current monitoring frequency with a
586 drop-down menu listing other configured
587 frequencies. You can change the set of frequencies
588 shown here from the Preferences dialog. This menu is
589 only shown when the TeleGPS application is connected
590 to a TeleDongle or TeleBT device.
597 <title>New Window</title>
599 This creates another telemetry monitoring window, in case
600 you have multiple TeleDongle devices connected to the
605 <title>Graph Data</title>
607 This brings up a file dialog to load a saved log, either
608 a .telem file of recorded telemetry or .eeprom of saved
609 data from on-board memory. It looks a bit like the flight
610 monitoring window, using a selection of tabs to show
611 different views of the saved data.
616 The Graph tab shows a plot of the the GPS data
617 collected. The X axis is time in seconds; there are a
618 variety of Y axes available for different kinds of data.
623 <imagedata fileref="telegps-graph-graph.png" width="6in" scalefit="1"/>
629 <title>Configure Graph</title>
633 <imagedata fileref="telegps-graph-configure.png" width="6in" scalefit="1"/>
638 This selects which graph elements to show, and, at the
639 bottom, lets you switch between metric and imperial units
643 <title>Statistics</title>
647 <imagedata fileref="telegps-graph-stats.png" width="6in" scalefit="1"/>
652 Shows overall data computed from the flight.
660 <imagedata fileref="telegps-graph-map.png" width="6in" scalefit="1"/>
665 Shows a map of the area overlaid with the GPS track. As with
666 the telemetry monitoring window, you can select the style
667 of map and zoom level using buttons along the side;
668 you can scroll the map by dragging within the map pressing
669 the left button and you can draw a line to measure
670 distances using either the left button with the shift key,
676 <title>Export Data</title>
678 This tool takes the raw data files and makes them available for
679 external analysis. When you select this button, you are prompted to
680 select a data file, which can be either a .eeprom or .telem.
681 The .eeprom files contain higher resolution and more continuous data,
682 while .telem files contain receiver signal strength information.
683 Next, a second dialog appears which is used to select
684 where to write the resulting file. It has a selector to choose
685 between CSV and KML file formats.
688 <title>Comma Separated Value Format</title>
690 This is a text file containing the data in a form suitable for
691 import into a spreadsheet or other external data analysis
692 tool. The first few lines of the file contain the version and
693 configuration information from TeleGPS, then
694 there is a single header line which labels all of the
695 fields. All of these lines start with a '#' character which
696 many tools can be configured to skip over.
699 The remaining lines of the file contain the data, with each
700 field separated by a comma and at least one space. All of
701 the sensor values are converted to standard units, with the
702 barometric data reported in both pressure, altitude and
703 height above pad units.
707 <title>Keyhole Markup Language (for Google Earth)</title>
709 This is the format used by Google Earth to provide an overlay
710 within that application. With this, you can use Google Earth to
711 see the whole flight path in 3D.
716 <title>Load Maps</title>
720 <imagedata fileref="load-maps.png" width="5.2in" scalefit="1"/>
725 Before using TeleGPS, you can use Load Maps to load map data
726 in case you don't have access to the internet while
730 There's a drop-down menu of rocket launch sites we know
731 about; if your favorites aren't there, please let us know
732 the lat/lon and name of the site. The contents of this list
733 are actually downloaded from our server at run-time, so as
734 new sites are sent in, they'll get automatically added to
735 this list. If the launch site isn't in the list, you can
736 manually enter the lat/lon values
739 There are four different kinds of maps you can view; you can
740 select which to download by selecting as many as you like from
747 A combination of satellite imagery and road data. This
753 <term>Satellite</term>
756 Just the satellite imagery without any annotation.
764 Roads, political boundaries and a few geographic features.
772 Contour intervals and shading that show hills and
780 You can specify the range of zoom levels to download; smaller
781 numbers show more area with less resolution. The default
782 level, 0, shows about 3m/pixel. One zoom level change
783 doubles or halves that number.
786 The Tile Radius value sets how large an area around the center
787 point to download. Each tile is 512x512 pixels, and the
788 'radius' value specifies how many tiles away from the center
789 will be downloaded. Specify a radius of 0 and you get only the
790 center tile. A radius of 1 loads a 3x3 grid, centered on the
794 Clicking the 'Load Map' button will fetch images from Google
795 Maps; note that Google limits how many images you can fetch at
796 once, so if you load more than one launch site, you may get
797 some gray areas in the map which indicate that Google is tired
798 of sending data to you. Try again later.
802 <title>Preferences</title>
806 <imagedata fileref="telegps-preferences.png" width="2.4in" scalefit="1"/>
811 <title>Voice Settings</title>
813 AltosUI provides voice announcements during flight so that you
814 can keep your eyes on the sky and still get information about
815 the current flight status. However, sometimes you don't want
822 <para>Turns all voice announcements on and off</para>
826 <term>Test Voice</term>
829 Plays a short message allowing you to verify
830 that the audio system is working and the volume settings
838 <title>Log Directory</title>
840 AltosUI logs all telemetry data and saves all TeleMetrum flash
841 data to this directory. This directory is also used as the
842 staring point when selecting data files for display or export.
845 Click on the directory name to bring up a directory choosing
846 dialog, select a new directory and click 'Select Directory' to
847 change where AltosUI reads and writes data files.
851 <title>Callsign</title>
853 This value is transmitted in each command packet sent from
854 TeleDongle and received from an altimeter. It is not used in
855 telemetry mode, as the callsign configured in the altimeter board
856 is included in all telemetry packets. Configure this
857 with the AltosUI operators call sign as needed to comply with
858 your local radio regulations.
861 Note that to successfully command a flight computer over the radio
862 (to configure the altimeter, monitor idle, or fire pyro charges),
863 the callsign configured here must exactly match the callsign
864 configured in the flight computer. This matching is case
869 <title>Imperial Units</title>
871 This switches between metric units (meters) and imperial
872 units (feet and miles). This affects the display of values
873 use during flight monitoring, configuration, data graphing
874 and all of the voice announcements. It does not change the
875 units used when exporting to CSV files, those are always
876 produced in metric units.
880 <title>Serial Debug</title>
882 This causes all communication with a connected device to be
883 dumped to the console from which AltosUI was started. If
884 you've started it from an icon or menu entry, the output
885 will simply be discarded. This mode can be useful to debug
886 various serial communication issues.
890 <title>Font Size</title>
892 Selects the set of fonts used in the flight monitor
893 window. Choose between the small, medium and large sets.
897 <title>Look & Feel</title>
899 Adjust the style of the windows. By default, the TeleGPS
900 application attempts to blend in with the native style.
904 <title>Manage Frequencies</title>
906 This brings up a dialog where you can configure the set of
907 frequencies shown in the various frequency menus. You can
908 add as many as you like, or even reconfigure the default
909 set. Changing this list does not affect the frequency
910 settings of any devices, it only changes the set of
911 frequencies shown in the menus.
918 This closes the current window, leaving any other windows
919 open and the application running.
925 This closes all TeleGPS windows and terminates the application.
929 <title>Connect Device</title>
931 Selecting this item brings up a dialog box listing all of
932 the connected TeleDongle devices. When you choose one of
933 these, AltosUI will display telemetry data as received by
934 the selected TeleDongle device.
939 <imagedata fileref="device-selection.png" width="3.1in"/>
945 <title>Disconnect</title>
947 Disconnects the currently connected TeleDongle or TeleBT
951 <title>Scan Channels</title>
953 Scans the configured set of frequencies looking for
954 telemetry signals. A list of all of the discovered signals
955 is show; selecting one of those and clicking on 'Monitor'
956 will select that frequency in the associated TeleGPS
962 <imagedata fileref="telegps-scan.png" width="3.1in"/>
968 <title>Download Data</title>
970 TeleGPS records data to its internal flash memory.
971 On-board data is recorded at the same rate as telemetry
972 but is not subject to radio drop-outs. As
973 such, it generally provides a more complete and precise record.
974 The 'Download Data' menu entry allows you to read the
975 flash memory and write it to disk.
978 Select the 'Download Data' menu entry to bring up a list of
979 connected TeleGPS devices. After the device has been
980 selected, a dialog showing the data stored in the
981 device will be shown allowing you to select which entries to
982 download and which to delete. You must erase flights in order for the space they
983 consume to be reused by another track. This prevents
984 accidentally losing data if you neglect to download
985 data before starting TeleGPS again. Note that if there is no more
986 space available in the device, then no data will be recorded.
989 The file name for each data log is computed automatically
990 from the recorded date, altimeter serial number and flight
995 <title>Configure Device</title>
999 <imagedata fileref="telegps-configure.png" width="3.6in" scalefit="1"/>
1004 Select this button and then select any connected TeleGPS
1005 device from the list provided.
1008 The first few lines of the dialog provide information about the
1009 connected device, including the product name,
1010 software version and hardware serial number. Below that are the
1011 individual configuration entries.
1014 At the bottom of the dialog, there are four buttons:
1021 This writes any changes to the
1022 configuration parameter block in flash memory. If you don't
1023 press this button, any changes you make will be lost.
1031 This resets the dialog to the most recently saved values,
1032 erasing any changes you have made.
1040 This reboots the device. This will restart logging for
1041 a new flight number, if any log information has been
1042 saved for the current flight.
1050 This closes the dialog. Any unsaved changes will be
1057 The rest of the dialog contains the parameters to be configured.
1060 <title>Frequency</title>
1062 This configures which of the frequencies to use for both
1063 telemetry and packet command mode. Note that if you set this
1064 value via packet command mode, the TeleDongle frequency will
1065 also be automatically reconfigured to match so that
1066 communication will continue afterwards.
1070 <title>RF Calibration</title>
1072 The radios in every Altus Metrum device are calibrated at the
1073 factory to ensure that they transmit and receive on the
1074 specified frequency. If you need to you can adjust the calibration
1075 by changing this value. Do not do this without understanding what
1076 the value means, read the appendix on calibration and/or the source
1077 code for more information. To change a TeleDongle's calibration,
1078 you must reprogram the unit completely.
1082 <title>Telemetry/RDF/APRS Enable</title>
1084 Enables the radio for transmission during flight. When
1085 disabled, the radio will not transmit anything during flight
1090 <title>APRS Interval</title>
1092 How often to transmit GPS information via APRS (in
1093 seconds). When set to zero, APRS transmission is
1094 disabled. This option is available on TeleMetrum v2 and
1095 TeleMega boards. TeleMetrum v1 boards cannot transmit APRS
1096 packets. Note that a single APRS packet takes nearly a full
1097 second to transmit, so enabling this option will prevent
1098 sending any other telemetry during that time.
1102 <title>Callsign</title>
1104 This sets the call sign included in each telemetry packet. Set this
1105 as needed to conform to your local radio regulations.
1109 <title>Maximum Log Size</title>
1111 This sets the space (in kilobytes) allocated for each data
1112 log. The available space will be divided into chunks of this
1113 size. A smaller value will allow more logs to be stored,
1114 a larger value will record data for longer times.
1118 <title>Logging Trigger Motion</title>
1120 If TeleGPS moves less than this distance over a long period
1121 of time, it will not log that location, saving storage space.
1125 <title>Position Reporting Interval</title>
1127 This sets how often TeleGPS reports position information via
1128 telemetry and to the on-board log. Reducing this value will
1129 save power and logging memory consumption.
1134 <title>Flash Device</title>
1136 This reprograms TeleGPS devices with new firmware. Please
1137 read the directions for flashing devices in the Updating
1138 Device Firmware chapter below.
1144 <title>Updating Device Firmware</title>
1146 TeleGPS is programmed directly over its USB connectors.
1149 You may wish to begin by ensuring you have current firmware images.
1150 These are distributed as part of the TeleGPS software bundle that
1151 also includes the TeleGPS ground station program. Newer ground
1152 station versions typically work fine with older firmware versions,
1153 so you don't need to update your devices just to try out new
1154 software features. You can always download the most recent
1155 version from <ulink url="http://www.altusmetrum.org/AltOS/"/>.
1159 Updating TeleGPS Firmware
1161 <orderedlist inheritnum='inherit' numeration='arabic'>
1164 Attach a battery and power switch to the target
1165 device. Power up the device.
1170 Using a Micro USB cable, connect the target device to your
1171 computer's USB socket.
1176 Run TeleGPS, and select 'Flash Device' from the Device menu.
1181 Select the target device in the Device Selection dialog.
1186 Select the image you want to flash to the device, which
1187 should have a name in the form
1188 <product>-v<product-version>-<software-version>.ihx, such
1189 as TeleGPS-v1.0-1.4.0.ihx.
1194 Make sure the configuration parameters are reasonable
1195 looking. If the serial number and/or RF configuration
1196 values aren't right, you'll need to change them.
1201 Hit the 'OK' button and the software should proceed to flash
1202 the device with new firmware, showing a progress bar.
1207 Verify that the device is working by using the 'Configure
1208 Altimeter' item to check over the configuration.
1214 <title>Recovering From Self-Flashing Failure</title>
1216 If the firmware loading fails, it can leave the device
1217 unable to boot. Not to worry, you can force the device to
1218 start the boot loader instead, which will let you try to
1219 flash the device again.
1222 On each device, connecting two pins from one of the exposed
1223 connectors will force the boot loader to start, even if the
1224 regular operating system has been corrupted in some way.
1228 <term>TeleMega</term>
1231 Connect pin 6 and pin 1 of the companion connector. Pin 1
1232 can be identified by the square pad around it, and then
1233 the pins could sequentially across the board. Be very
1234 careful to <emphasis>not</emphasis> short pin 8 to
1235 anything as that is connected directly to the battery. Pin
1236 7 carries 3.3V and the board will crash if that is
1237 connected to pin 1, but shouldn't damage the board.
1242 <term>TeleMetrum v2</term>
1245 Connect pin 6 and pin 1 of the companion connector. Pin 1
1246 can be identified by the square pad around it, and then
1247 the pins could sequentially across the board. Be very
1248 careful to <emphasis>not</emphasis> short pin 8 to
1249 anything as that is connected directly to the battery. Pin
1250 7 carries 3.3V and the board will crash if that is
1251 connected to pin 1, but shouldn't damage the board.
1256 <term>EasyMini</term>
1259 Connect pin 6 and pin 1 of the debug connector, which is
1260 the six holes next to the beeper. Pin 1 can be identified
1261 by the square pad around it, and then the pins could
1262 sequentially across the board, making Pin 6 the one on the
1263 other end of the row.
1273 <title>Technical Information</title>
1275 <title>GPS Receiver</title>
1277 TeleGPS uses the u-Blox Max-7Q GPS receiver.
1281 <title>Micro-controller</title>
1283 TeleGPS uses an NXP LPC11U14 micro-controller. This tiny
1284 CPU contains 32kB of flash for the application and 4kB of RAM for
1285 temporary data storage.
1289 <title>Lithium Polymer Battery</title>
1291 Shipping restrictions may prevent us from including a battery
1292 battery with TeleGPS.
1296 <title>Mechanical Considerations</title>
1298 TeleGPS is designed to be rugged enough for typical rocketry
1299 applications. The 4 mounting holes on the board are sized for
1300 use with 4-40 or M3 screws.
1304 <title>On-board data storage</title>
1306 TeleGPS has 2MB of non-volatile storage, separate from the
1307 code storage memory. The TeleGPS firmware uses this to log
1308 information during flight.
1313 <title>Release Notes</title>
1315 <title>Version 1.6</title>
1317 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
1318 href="release-notes-1.6.xsl"
1319 xpointer="xpointer(/article/*)"/>
1322 <title>Version 1.4.1</title>
1324 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
1325 href="release-notes-1.4.1.xsl"
1326 xpointer="xpointer(/article/*)"/>
1329 <title>Version 1.4</title>
1331 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
1332 href="release-notes-1.4.xsl"
1333 xpointer="xpointer(/article/*)"/>
1337 <!-- LocalWords: Altusmetrum TeleGPS