MicroPeak is designed to be easy to use. Requiring no external
components, flying takes just a few steps
- * Install the battery. Fit a CR1025 battery into the plastic
- carrier. The positive (\+) terminal should be towards the more
- open side of the carrier. Slip the carrier into the battery
- holder with the positive (+) terminal facing away from the
- circuit board.
+ Install the battery::
+
+ Fit a CR1025 battery into the plastic carrier. The positive
+ (\+) terminal should be towards the more open side of the
+ carrier. Slip the carrier into the battery holder with the
+ positive (+) terminal facing away from the circuit board.
.MicroPeak and Battery
image::micropeak-back.jpg[width="4.5in"]
- * Install MicroPeak in your rocket. This can be as simple as
- preparing a soft cushion of wadding inside a vented model payload
- bay. Wherever you mount it, make sure you protect the
- barometric sensor from corrosive ejection gasses as those
- will damage the sensor, and shield it from light as that can
- cause incorrect sensor readings.
-
- * Turn MicroPeak on. Slide the switch so that the actuator
- covers the '1' printed on the board. MicroPeak will report
- the maximum height of the last flight in decimeters using a
- sequence of flashes on the LED. A sequence of short flashes
- indicates one digit. A single long flash indicates zero. The
- height is reported in decimeters, so the last digit will be
- tenths of a meter. For example, if MicroPeak reports 5 4 4
- 3, then the maximum height of the last flight was 544.3m, or
- 1786 feet.
-
- * Finish preparing the rocket for flight. After the
- previous flight data have been reported, MicroPeak waits for
- one minute before starting to check for launch. This gives
- you time to finish assembling the rocket. As those
- activities might cause pressure changes inside the airframe,
- MicroPeak might accidentally detect boost. If you need to do
- anything to the airframe after the one minute window passes,
- make sure to be careful not to disturb the altimeter. The
- LED will remain dark during the one minute delay, but after
- that, it will start blinking once every 3 seconds.
-
- * Fly the rocket. Once the rocket passes about 30m in height
- (100 feet), the micro-controller will record the ground
- pressure and track the pressure seen during the flight. In
- this mode, the LED flickers rapidly. When the rocket lands,
- and the pressure stabilizes, the micro-controller will record
- the minimum pressure pressure experienced during the flight,
- compute the height represented by the difference in air
- pressure and blink that value out on the LED. After that,
- MicroPeak powers down to conserve battery power.
-
- * Recover the data. Turn MicroPeak off and then back on. MicroPeak
- will blink out the maximum height for the last flight. Turn
- MicroPeak back off to conserve battery power.
+ Install MicroPeak in your rocket::
+
+ This can be as simple as preparing a soft cushion of wadding
+ inside a vented model payload bay. Wherever you mount it,
+ make sure you protect the barometric sensor from corrosive
+ ejection gasses as those will damage the sensor, and shield
+ it from light as that can cause incorrect sensor readings.
+
+ Turn MicroPeak on::
+
+ Slide the switch so that the actuator covers the '1' printed
+ on the board. MicroPeak will report the maximum height of
+ the last flight in decimeters using a sequence of flashes on
+ the LED. A sequence of short flashes indicates one digit. A
+ single long flash indicates zero. The height is reported in
+ decimeters, so the last digit will be tenths of a meter. For
+ example, if MicroPeak reports 5 4 4 3, then the maximum
+ height of the last flight was 544.3m, or 1786 feet.
+
+ Finish preparing the rocket for flight::
+
+ After the previous flight data have been reported, MicroPeak
+ waits for one minute before starting to check for
+ launch. This gives you time to finish assembling the
+ rocket. As those activities might cause pressure changes
+ inside the airframe, MicroPeak might accidentally detect
+ boost. If you need to do anything to the airframe after the
+ one minute window passes, make sure to be careful not to
+ disturb the altimeter. The LED will remain dark during the
+ one minute delay, but after that, it will start blinking
+ once every 3 seconds.
+
+ Fly the rocket::
+
+ Once the rocket passes about 30m in height (100 feet), the
+ micro-controller will record the ground pressure and track
+ the pressure seen during the flight. In this mode, the LED
+ flickers rapidly. When the rocket lands, and the pressure
+ stabilizes, the micro-controller will record the minimum
+ pressure pressure experienced during the flight, compute the
+ height represented by the difference in air pressure and
+ blink that value out on the LED. After that, MicroPeak
+ powers down to conserve battery power.
+
+ Recover the data::
+
+ Turn MicroPeak off and then back on. MicroPeak will blink
+ out the maximum height for the last flight. Turn MicroPeak
+ back off to conserve battery power.
== The MicroPeak USB adapter
* Once the data are saved, a graph will be displayed
with height, speed and acceleration values computed
- from the recorded barometric pressure data. See the
- next section for more details on that.
+ from the recorded barometric pressure data. See
+ <<_analyzing_micropeak_data> for more details on that.
=== Analyzing MicroPeak Data