# TelePyro

This is an 8-channel pyro expansion board for [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum/).

## Motivation ##

It would be nice to support more than the 2 channels of igniter control
included in the stock [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum/) design, so that we can
fly more complex projects involving staging, air starts, and backup ejection
charges.  We also want to experiment with better circuits for testing igniter
continuity, with the hope of being able to measure actual resistance and not
just continuity.

## Features ##

### User View ###

* Small circuit board mounted near [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum/)
* Requires [TeleMetrum](../TeleMetrum/) v0.2 or later, as v0.1 does not 
  have the required companion board interface
* Connections for 8 distinct igniter firing channels provided
* Supports use of separate battery for ejection charges

### Developer View ###

* [Atmel ATmega32U4](http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?category_id=163&family_id=607&subfamily_id=760&part_id=4317) Microcontroller
	* 32k Flash
	* 2.5k + 832 bytes SRAM
	* 1k EEPROM
	* 12-channel 10-bit ADC
	* SPI target interface
	* USB interface which can be used for programming
	* In-system programming interface
* Software Features (planned)
	* programmed in C using gcc-avr
	* Runs from on-chip flash, uses on-chip RAM
* Tools Used
	* [gEDA](http://www.gpleda.org/) for schematic capture and PCB layout
* Licenses
	* The hardware is licensed under the [TAPR](http://www.tapr.org) [Open Hardware License](http://www.tapr.org/ohl.html)
	* The software is licensed [GPL version 2](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html)

## Artifacts ##

A schematic and PC board design exist on [git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com) 
in the project [hw/telepyro](http://git.gag.com/?p=hw/telepyro;a=summary), 
but no prototypes have been built yet.

## Future Plans ##

We currently plan to build prototypes of TelePyro in Spring 2011.