+++ /dev/null
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
-<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
- "/usr/share/xml/docbook/schema/dtd/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
-<book>
- <title>TeleGPS Owner's Manual</title>
- <subtitle>A recording GPS tracker</subtitle>
- <bookinfo>
- <author>
- <firstname>Keith</firstname>
- <surname>Packard</surname>
- </author>
- <copyright>
- <year>2015</year>
- <holder>Bdale Garbee and Keith Packard</holder>
- </copyright>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-v1.0-top.jpg" width="4in"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- <legalnotice>
- <para>
- This document is released under the terms of the
- <ulink url="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">
- Creative Commons ShareAlike 3.0
- </ulink>
- license.
- </para>
- </legalnotice>
- <revhistory>
- <revision>
- <revnumber>1.6</revnumber>
- <date>8 January 2015</date>
- <revremark>
- Major release adding TeleDongle v3.0 support.
- </revremark>
- </revision>
- <revision>
- <revnumber>1.4.1</revnumber>
- <date>20 June 2014</date>
- <revremark>
- Minor release fixing some installation bugs.
- </revremark>
- </revision>
- <revision>
- <revnumber>1.4</revnumber>
- <date>13 June 2014</date>
- <revremark>
- Initial release
- </revremark>
- </revision>
- </revhistory>
- </bookinfo>
- <dedication>
- <title>Acknowledgements</title>
- <para>
- Have fun using these products, and we hope to meet all of you
- out on the rocket flight line somewhere.
- <literallayout>
-Bdale Garbee, KB0G
-NAR #87103, TRA #12201
-
-Keith Packard, KD7SQG
-NAR #88757, TRA #12200
- </literallayout>
- </para>
- </dedication>
- <chapter>
- <title>Quick Start Guide</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS is designed to be easy to use. Requiring no external
- components, flying takes just a few steps.
- </para>
- <para>
- First, download and install the software from <ulink
- url="http://altusmetrum.org/AltOS"/>. This will make sure that
- you have the right device drivers installed.
- </para>
- <para>
- Next, plug in the battery and USB cable and connect TeleGPS to
- your computer. This will charge the battery and allow you to
- configure the device.
- </para>
- <para>
- Start the TeleGPS application and set the callsign and frequency
- on your TeleGPS device; refer to the Configure TeleGPS section
- in the TeleGPS Application chapter for instructions.
- </para>
- <para>
- Unplug TeleGPS when the battery charger light goes green. This
- will enable the radio and logging portions of the TeleGPS
- firmware.
- </para>
- <para>
- Connect TeleDongle to your computer and start TeleGPS or start
- AltosDroid on your android device and connect to TeleBT. Set the
- frequency to match the TeleGPS and you should be receiving telemetry.
- </para>
- </chapter>
- <chapter>
- <title>Handling Precautions</title>
- <para>
- All Altus Metrum products are sophisticated electronic devices.
- When handled gently and properly installed in an air-frame, they
- will deliver impressive results. However, as with all electronic
- devices, there are some precautions you must take.
- </para>
- <para>
- The Lithium polymer batteries have an
- extraordinary power density. This is great because we can fly with
- much less battery mass... but if they are punctured
- or their contacts are allowed to short, they can and will release their
- energy very rapidly!
- Thus we recommend that you take some care when handling TeleGPS
- to keep conductive material from coming in contact with the exposed metal elements.
- </para>
- <para>
- As with all other rocketry electronics, Altus Metrum devices must
- be protected from exposure to corrosive motor exhaust and ejection
- charge gasses.
- </para>
- </chapter>
- <chapter>
- <title>TeleGPS Hardware</title>
- <section>
- <title>Hooking Up Lithium Polymer Batteries</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS has a two pin JST PH series connector to connect up
- a single-cell Lithium Polymer cell (3.7V nominal). You can
- purchase matching batteries from the Altus Metrum store, or
- other vendors, or you can make your own. Pin 1 of the
- connector is positive, pin 2 is negative. Spark Fun sells a
- cable with the connector attached, which they call a <ulink
- url="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9914">JST Jumper 2
- Wire Assembly</ulink>.
- </para>
- <para>
- Many RC vendors also sell lithium polymer batteries with
- this same connector. All that we have found use the opposite
- polarity, and if you use them that way, you will damage or
- destroy TeleGPS.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>On-board Data Recording</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS logs GPS data at a user-configurable rate. Data are
- logged to a 2MB on-board flash memory part, which can be
- partitioned into several equal-sized blocks, one for each
- flight. 64kB of this storage are reserved to hold
- configuration data, leaving 1984kB for flight data.
- </para>
- <para>
- The on-board flash is partitioned into separate flight logs,
- each of a fixed maximum size. Increase the maximum size of
- each log and you reduce the number of flights that can be
- stored. Decrease the size and you can store more flights.
- </para>
- <para>
- To compute the amount of space needed for a single log, you
- can divide the expected time (in seconds) by the sample period
- (by default, 1 second per sample) and then multiply the result
- by 32 bytes per sample. For instance, a sample period of 1
- second and a flight lasting one hour will take 32 * 3600 =
- 115200 bytes. TeleGPS does try to reduce log space used by not
- recording position information when it isn't moving, so actual
- space consumed may be less than this.
- </para>
- <para>
- The default size allows for four flights of 496kB each, which
- provides over four hours of logging at 1 sample per second.
- </para>
- <para>
- TeleGPS will not overwrite existing flight data, so be sure to
- download flight data and erase it from the onboard flash
- before it fills up. TeleGPS will still report telemetry even
- if memory is full, so the only thing you will lose is the
- on-board data log.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Installation</title>
- <para>
- The battery connectors are a standard 2-pin JST connector and
- match batteries sold by Spark Fun. These batteries are
- single-cell Lithium Polymer batteries that nominally provide 3.7
- volts. Other vendors sell similar batteries for RC aircraft
- using mating connectors, however the polarity for those is
- generally reversed from the batteries used by Altus Metrum
- products. In particular, the Tenergy batteries supplied for use
- in Featherweight flight computers are not compatible with Altus
- Metrum flight computers or battery chargers. <emphasis>Check
- polarity and voltage before connecting any battery not purchased
- from Altus Metrum or Spark Fun.</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- TeleGPS uses an integrate GPS patch antenna and won't
- receive GPS signals if installed inside a metal or carbon
- fiber compartment. Test GPS reception and telemetry
- transmission with the system installed and all other
- electronics powered up to verify signal reception and make
- sure there isn't any interference from other systems.
- </para>
- </section>
- </chapter>
- <chapter>
- <title>System Operation</title>
- <section>
- <title>GFSK Telemetry</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS's native telemetry system doesn't use a 'normal packet
- radio' mode like APRS because it's not very efficient. The
- GFSK modulation we use is FSK with the base-band pulses passed
- through a Gaussian filter before they go into the modulator to
- limit the transmitted bandwidth. When combined with forward
- error correction and interleaving, this allows us to have a
- very robust 19.2 kilobit data link with only 10-40 milliwatts
- of transmit power, a whip antenna in the rocket, and a
- hand-held Yagi on the ground. We've had flights to above 21k
- feet AGL with great reception, and calculations suggest we
- should be good to well over 40k feet AGL with a 5-element yagi
- on the ground with our 10mW units and over 100k feet AGL with
- the 40mW devices.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>APRS</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS can send APRS if desired, and the
- interval between APRS packets can be configured. As each APRS
- packet takes a full second to transmit, we recommend an
- interval of at least 5 seconds to avoid consuming too much
- battery power or radio channel bandwidth. You can configure
- the APRS interval using AltosUI; that process is described in
- the Configure Altimeter section of the AltosUI chapter.
- </para>
- <para>
- AltOS uses the APRS compressed position report data format,
- which provides for higher position precision and shorter
- packets than the original APRS format. It also includes
- altitude data, which is invaluable when tracking rockets. We
- haven't found a receiver which doesn't handle compressed
- positions, but it's just possible that you have one, so if you
- have an older device that can receive the raw packets but
- isn't displaying position information, it's possible that this
- is the cause.
- </para>
- <para>
- The APRS packet format includes a comment field that can have
- arbitrary text in it. AltOS uses this to send status
- information about the flight computer. It sends four fields as
- shown in the following table.
- </para>
- <table frame='all'>
- <title>Altus Metrum APRS Comments</title>
- <?dbfo keep-together="always"?>
- <tgroup cols='3' align='center' colsep='1' rowsep='1'>
- <colspec align='center' colwidth='*' colname='Field'/>
- <colspec align='center' colwidth='*' colname='Example'/>
- <colspec align='center' colwidth='4*' colname='Description'/>
- <thead>
- <row>
- <entry align='center'>Field</entry>
- <entry align='center'>Example</entry>
- <entry align='center'>Description</entry>
- </row>
- </thead>
- <tbody>
- <row>
- <entry>1</entry>
- <entry>L</entry>
- <entry>GPS Status U for unlocked, L for locked</entry>
- </row>
- <row>
- <entry>2</entry>
- <entry>6</entry>
- <entry>Number of Satellites in View</entry>
- </row>
- <row>
- <entry>3</entry>
- <entry>B4.0</entry>
- <entry>Battery Voltage</entry>
- </row>
- </tbody>
- </tgroup>
- </table>
- <para>
- Here's an example of an APRS comment showing GPS lock with 6
- satellites in view and a battery at 4.0V.
- <screen>
- L6 B4.0
- </screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Make sure your primary battery is above 3.8V and GPS is locked
- with at least 5 or 6 satellites in view before starting. If GPS
- is switching between L and U regularly, then it doesn't have a
- good lock and you should wait until it becomes stable.
- </para>
- <para>
- If the GPS receiver loses lock, the APRS data transmitted will
- contain the last position for which GPS lock was
- available. You can tell that this has happened by noticing
- that the GPS status character switches from 'L' to 'U'. Before
- GPS has locked, APRS will transmit zero for latitude,
- longitude and altitude.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Configurable Parameters</title>
- <para>
- Configuring TeleGPS is very
- simple; the few configurable parameters can all be set
- using the TeleGPS application over USB. Read
- the Configure TeleGPS section in the TeleGPS Software chapter below
- for more information.
- </para>
- <section>
- <title>Radio Frequency</title>
- <para>
- Altus Metrum boards support radio frequencies in the 70cm
- band. By default, the configuration interface provides a
- list of 10 “standard” frequencies in 100kHz channels starting at
- 434.550MHz. However, the firmware supports use of
- any 50kHz multiple within the 70cm band. At any given
- launch, we highly recommend coordinating when and by whom each
- frequency will be used to avoid interference. And of course, both
- TeleGPS and the receiver must be configured to the same
- frequency to successfully communicate with each other.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Callsign</title>
- <para>
- This sets the callsign used for telemetry and APRS to
- identify the device.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Telemetry/RDF/APRS Enable</title>
- <para>
- You can completely disable the radio, if necessary, leaving
- TeleGPS only logging data to internal memory.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>APRS Interval</title>
- <para>
- This selects how often APRS packets are transmitted. Set
- this to zero to disable APRS without also disabling the
- regular telemetry and RDF transmissions. As APRS takes a
- full second to transmit a single position report, we
- recommend sending packets no more than once every 5 seconds.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Maximum Flight Log</title>
- <para>
- Changing this value will set the maximum amount of flight
- log storage that an individual flight will use. The
- available storage is divided into as many flights of the
- specified size as can fit in the available space. You can
- download and erase individual flight logs. If you fill up
- the available storage, future flights will not get logged
- until you erase some of the stored ones.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Logging Trigger Motion</title>
- <para>
- If TeleGPS moves less than this distance over a long period
- of time, it will not log that location, saving storage space.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Position Reporting Interval</title>
- <para>
- This sets how often TeleGPS reports position information via
- telemetry and to the on-board log. Reducing this value will
- save power and logging memory consumption.
- </para>
- </section>
- </section>
- </chapter>
- <chapter>
- <title>TeleGPS Application</title>
- <para>
- 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. This chapter
- is split into sections, each of which documents one of the tasks
- provided from the top-level toolbar.
- </para>
- <section>
- <title>Telemetry Monitoring</title>
- <para>
- 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
- </para>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- Below the TeleDongle frequency selector, the window contains a few
- significant pieces of information about the altimeter providing
- the telemetry data stream:
- </para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>The configured call-sign</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>The device serial number</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>The flight number. TeleGPS remembers how many
- times it has flown.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <section>
- <title>Map</title>
- <para>
- The Map tab shows the TeleGPS track over time on top of map
- data making it easy to locate the device.
- </para>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-map.png" width="5.5in"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- You can pre-load images for your favorite launch sites
- before you leave home; check out the 'Preload Maps' section below.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Location</title>
- <para>
- The Location tab shows the raw GPS data received from TeleGPS.
- </para>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-location.png" width="5.5in"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Status</title>
- <para>
- The Status tab shows data relative to the location of
- TeleGPS when the application first received telemetry from
- it.
- </para>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-status.png" width="5.5in"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Table</title>
- <para>
- The Table tab shows detailed information about the GPS
- receiver
- </para>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-table.png" width="5.5in"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- </section>
- </section>
- <!--
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- -->
- <section>
- <title>TeleGPS Menus</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS has three or four menus at the top of the window:
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>File</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- New Window, Graph Data, Export Data, Load Maps, Preferences, Close and Exit
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Monitor</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Connect Device, Disconnect and Scan Channels
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Device</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Download Data, Configure Device and Flash Device
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Frequency</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </para>
- <section>
- <title>New Window</title>
- <para>
- This creates another telemetry monitoring window, in case
- you have multiple TeleDongle devices connected to the
- computer.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Graph Data</title>
- <para>
- This brings up a file dialog to load a saved log, either
- a .telem file of recorded telemetry or .eeprom of saved
- data from on-board memory. It looks a bit like the flight
- monitoring window, using a selection of tabs to show
- different views of the saved data.
- </para>
- <section>
- <title>Graph</title>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-graph-graph.png" width="6in" scalefit="1"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Configure Graph</title>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-graph-configure.png" width="6in" scalefit="1"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- <para>
- This selects which graph elements to show, and, at the
- bottom, lets you switch between metric and imperial units
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Statistics</title>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-graph-stats.png" width="6in" scalefit="1"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- <para>
- Shows overall data computed from the flight.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Map</title>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-graph-map.png" width="6in" scalefit="1"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- </section>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Export Data</title>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <section>
- <title>Comma Separated Value Format</title>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Keyhole Markup Language (for Google Earth)</title>
- <para>
- 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 flight path in 3D.
- </para>
- </section>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Load Maps</title>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="load-maps.png" width="5.2in" scalefit="1"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- <para>
- Before using TeleGPS, you can use Load Maps to load map data
- in case you don't have access to the internet while
- receiving telemetry.
- </para>
- <para>
- There's a drop-down menu of rocket launch sites we know
- about; if your favorites aren't there, please let us know
- the lat/lon and name of the site. The contents of this list
- are actually downloaded from our server at run-time, so as
- new sites are sent in, they'll get automatically added to
- this list. If the launch site isn't in the list, you can
- manually enter the lat/lon values
- </para>
- <para>
- There are four different kinds of maps you can view; you can
- select which to download by selecting as many as you like from
- the available types:
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Hybrid</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- A combination of satellite imagery and road data. This
- is the default view.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Satellite</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Just the satellite imagery without any annotation.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Roadmap</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Roads, political boundaries and a few geographic features.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Terrain</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Contour intervals and shading that show hills and
- valleys.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </para>
- <para>
- You can specify the range of zoom levels to download; smaller
- numbers show more area with less resolution. The default
- level, 0, shows about 3m/pixel. One zoom level change
- doubles or halves that number.
- </para>
- <para>
- The Tile Radius value sets how large an area around the center
- point to download. Each tile is 512x512 pixels, and the
- 'radius' value specifies how many tiles away from the center
- will be downloaded. Specify a radius of 0 and you get only the
- center tile. A radius of 1 loads a 3x3 grid, centered on the
- specified location.
- </para>
- <para>
- Clicking the 'Load Map' button will fetch images from Google
- Maps; note that Google limits how many images you can fetch at
- once, so if you load more than one launch site, you may get
- some gray areas in the map which indicate that Google is tired
- of sending data to you. Try again later.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Preferences</title>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-preferences.png" width="2.4in" scalefit="1"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- <section>
- <title>Voice Settings</title>
- <para>
- AltosUI provides voice announcements during flight so that you
- can keep your eyes on the sky and still get information about
- the current flight status. However, sometimes you don't want
- to hear them.
- </para>
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Enable</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Turns all voice announcements on and off</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Test Voice</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Plays a short message allowing you to verify
- that the audio system is working and the volume settings
- are reasonable
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Log Directory</title>
- <para>
- AltosUI logs all telemetry data and saves all TeleMetrum flash
- data to this directory. This directory is also used as the
- staring point when selecting data files for display or export.
- </para>
- <para>
- Click on the directory name to bring up a directory choosing
- dialog, select a new directory and click 'Select Directory' to
- change where AltosUI reads and writes data files.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Callsign</title>
- <para>
- This value is transmitted in each command packet sent from
- TeleDongle and received from an altimeter. It is not used in
- telemetry mode, as the callsign configured in the altimeter board
- is included in all telemetry packets. Configure this
- with the AltosUI operators call sign as needed to comply with
- your local radio regulations.
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that to successfully command a flight computer over the radio
- (to configure the altimeter, monitor idle, or fire pyro charges),
- the callsign configured here must exactly match the callsign
- configured in the flight computer. This matching is case
- sensitive.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Imperial Units</title>
- <para>
- This switches between metric units (meters) and imperial
- units (feet and miles). This affects the display of values
- use during flight monitoring, configuration, data graphing
- and all of the voice announcements. It does not change the
- units used when exporting to CSV files, those are always
- produced in metric units.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Serial Debug</title>
- <para>
- This causes all communication with a connected device to be
- dumped to the console from which AltosUI was started. If
- you've started it from an icon or menu entry, the output
- will simply be discarded. This mode can be useful to debug
- various serial communication issues.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Font Size</title>
- <para>
- Selects the set of fonts used in the flight monitor
- window. Choose between the small, medium and large sets.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Look & Feel</title>
- <para>
- Adjust the style of the windows. By default, the TeleGPS
- application attempts to blend in with the native style.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Manage Frequencies</title>
- <para>
- This brings up a dialog where you can configure the set of
- frequencies shown in the various frequency menus. You can
- add as many as you like, or even reconfigure the default
- set. Changing this list does not affect the frequency
- settings of any devices, it only changes the set of
- frequencies shown in the menus.
- </para>
- </section>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Close</title>
- <para>
- This closes the current window, leaving any other windows
- open and the application running.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Exit</title>
- <para>
- This closes all TeleGPS windows and terminates the application.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Connect Device</title>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="device-selection.png" width="3.1in"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Disconnect</title>
- <para>
- Disconnects the currently connected TeleDongle or TeleBT
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Scan Channels</title>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-scan.png" width="3.1in"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Download Data</title>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- The file name for each data log is computed automatically
- from the recorded date, altimeter serial number and flight
- number information.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Configure Device</title>
- <informalfigure>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="telegps-configure.png" width="3.6in" scalefit="1"/>
- </imageobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </informalfigure>
- <para>
- Select this button and then select any connected TeleGPS
- device from the list provided.
- </para>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- At the bottom of the dialog, there are four buttons:
- </para>
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Save</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Reset</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This resets the dialog to the most recently saved values,
- erasing any changes you have made.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Reboot</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This reboots the device. This will restart logging for
- a new flight number, if any log information has been
- saved for the current flight.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Close</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This closes the dialog. Any unsaved changes will be
- lost.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- <para>
- The rest of the dialog contains the parameters to be configured.
- </para>
- <section>
- <title>Frequency</title>
- <para>
- This configures which of the frequencies to use for both
- telemetry and packet command mode. Note that if you set this
- value via packet command mode, the TeleDongle frequency will
- also be automatically reconfigured to match so that
- communication will continue afterwards.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>RF Calibration</title>
- <para>
- The radios in every Altus Metrum device are calibrated at the
- factory to ensure that they transmit and receive on the
- specified frequency. If you need to you can adjust the calibration
- by changing this value. Do not do this without understanding what
- the value means, read the appendix on calibration and/or the source
- code for more information. To change a TeleDongle's calibration,
- you must reprogram the unit completely.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Telemetry/RDF/APRS Enable</title>
- <para>
- Enables the radio for transmission during flight. When
- disabled, the radio will not transmit anything during flight
- at all.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>APRS Interval</title>
- <para>
- How often to transmit GPS information via APRS (in
- seconds). When set to zero, APRS transmission is
- disabled. This option is available on TeleMetrum v2 and
- TeleMega boards. TeleMetrum v1 boards cannot transmit APRS
- packets. Note that a single APRS packet takes nearly a full
- second to transmit, so enabling this option will prevent
- sending any other telemetry during that time.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Callsign</title>
- <para>
- This sets the call sign included in each telemetry packet. Set this
- as needed to conform to your local radio regulations.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Maximum Log Size</title>
- <para>
- This sets the space (in kilobytes) allocated for each data
- log. The available space will be divided into chunks of this
- size. A smaller value will allow more logs to be stored,
- a larger value will record data for longer times.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Logging Trigger Motion</title>
- <para>
- If TeleGPS moves less than this distance over a long period
- of time, it will not log that location, saving storage space.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Position Reporting Interval</title>
- <para>
- This sets how often TeleGPS reports position information via
- telemetry and to the on-board log. Reducing this value will
- save power and logging memory consumption.
- </para>
- </section>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Flash Device</title>
- <para>
- This reprograms TeleGPS devices with new firmware. Please
- read the directions for flashing devices in the Updating
- Device Firmware chapter below.
- </para>
- </section>
- </section>
- </chapter>
- <chapter>
- <title>Updating Device Firmware</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS is programmed directly over its USB connectors.
- </para>
- <para>
- You may wish to begin by ensuring you have current firmware images.
- These are distributed as part of the TeleGPS software bundle that
- also includes the TeleGPS ground station program. Newer ground
- station versions typically work fine with older firmware versions,
- so you don't need to update your devices just to try out new
- software features. You can always download the most recent
- version from <ulink url="http://www.altusmetrum.org/AltOS/"/>.
- </para>
- <section>
- <title>
- Updating TeleGPS Firmware
- </title>
- <orderedlist inheritnum='inherit' numeration='arabic'>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Attach a battery and power switch to the target
- device. Power up the device.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Using a Micro USB cable, connect the target device to your
- computer's USB socket.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Run TeleGPS, and select 'Flash Device' from the Device menu.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Select the target device in the Device Selection dialog.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Select the image you want to flash to the device, which
- should have a name in the form
- <product>-v<product-version>-<software-version>.ihx, such
- as TeleGPS-v1.0-1.4.0.ihx.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Make sure the configuration parameters are reasonable
- looking. If the serial number and/or RF configuration
- values aren't right, you'll need to change them.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Hit the 'OK' button and the software should proceed to flash
- the device with new firmware, showing a progress bar.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Verify that the device is working by using the 'Configure
- Altimeter' item to check over the configuration.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </orderedlist>
-<!--
- <section>
- <title>Recovering From Self-Flashing Failure</title>
- <para>
- If the firmware loading fails, it can leave the device
- unable to boot. Not to worry, you can force the device to
- start the boot loader instead, which will let you try to
- flash the device again.
- </para>
- <para>
- On each device, connecting two pins from one of the exposed
- connectors will force the boot loader to start, even if the
- regular operating system has been corrupted in some way.
- </para>
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>TeleMega</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Connect pin 6 and pin 1 of the companion connector. Pin 1
- can be identified by the square pad around it, and then
- the pins could sequentially across the board. Be very
- careful to <emphasis>not</emphasis> short pin 8 to
- anything as that is connected directly to the battery. Pin
- 7 carries 3.3V and the board will crash if that is
- connected to pin 1, but shouldn't damage the board.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>TeleMetrum v2</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Connect pin 6 and pin 1 of the companion connector. Pin 1
- can be identified by the square pad around it, and then
- the pins could sequentially across the board. Be very
- careful to <emphasis>not</emphasis> short pin 8 to
- anything as that is connected directly to the battery. Pin
- 7 carries 3.3V and the board will crash if that is
- connected to pin 1, but shouldn't damage the board.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>EasyMini</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Connect pin 6 and pin 1 of the debug connector, which is
- the six holes next to the beeper. Pin 1 can be identified
- by the square pad around it, and then the pins could
- sequentially across the board, making Pin 6 the one on the
- other end of the row.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </section>
- -->
- </section>
- </chapter>
- <chapter>
- <title>Technical Information</title>
- <section>
- <title>GPS Receiver</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS uses the u-Blox Max-7Q GPS receiver.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Micro-controller</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS uses an NXP LPC11U14 micro-controller. This tiny
- CPU contains 32kB of flash for the application and 4kB of RAM for
- temporary data storage.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Lithium Polymer Battery</title>
- <para>
- Shipping restrictions may prevent us from including a battery
- battery with TeleGPS.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>Mechanical Considerations</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS is designed to be rugged enough for typical rocketry
- applications. The 4 mounting holes on the board are sized for
- use with 4-40 or M3 screws.
- </para>
- </section>
- <section>
- <title>On-board data storage</title>
- <para>
- TeleGPS has 2MB of non-volatile storage, separate from the
- code storage memory. The TeleGPS firmware uses this to log
- information during flight.
- </para>
- </section>
- </chapter>
- <appendix>
- <title>Release Notes</title>
- <simplesect>
- <title>Version 1.6</title>
- <xi:include
- xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
- href="release-notes-1.6.xsl"
- xpointer="xpointer(/article/*)"/>
- </simplesect>
- <simplesect>
- <title>Version 1.4.1</title>
- <xi:include
- xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
- href="release-notes-1.4.1.xsl"
- xpointer="xpointer(/article/*)"/>
- </simplesect>
- <simplesect>
- <title>Version 1.4</title>
- <xi:include
- xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
- href="release-notes-1.4.xsl"
- xpointer="xpointer(/article/*)"/>
- </simplesect>
- </appendix>
-</book>
-<!-- LocalWords: Altusmetrum TeleGPS
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