== 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>>.