From: Keith Packard Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 20:05:10 +0000 (-0800) Subject: doc: Start work on 1.3 doc updates X-Git-Tag: 1.3~109 X-Git-Url: https://git.gag.com/?p=fw%2Faltos;a=commitdiff_plain;h=152d978dc4be49b6b764e5e1966bd860c46054ea doc: Start work on 1.3 doc updates Add 1.3 release notes. Signed-off-by: Keith Packard --- diff --git a/doc/altusmetrum.xsl b/doc/altusmetrum.xsl index 98a98c19..1df270bc 100644 --- a/doc/altusmetrum.xsl +++ b/doc/altusmetrum.xsl @@ -35,6 +35,15 @@ + + 1.3 + 12 November 2013 + + Updated for software version 1.3. Version 1.3 adds support + for TeleMega, TeleMetrum v2.0, TeleMini v2.0 and EasyMini + and fixes bugs in AltosUI and the AltOS firmware. + + 1.2.1 21 May 2013 @@ -136,13 +145,27 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 The first device created for our community was TeleMetrum, a dual deploy altimeter with fully integrated GPS and radio telemetry as standard features, and a "companion interface" that will - support optional capabilities in the future. + support optional capabilities in the future. The latest version + of TeleMetrum, v2.0, has all of the same features but with + improved sensors and radio to offer increased performance. Our second device was TeleMini, a dual deploy altimeter with - radio telemetry and radio direction finding. This device is only - 13mm by 38mm (½ inch by 1½ inches) and can fit easily in an 18mm - air-frame. + radio telemetry and radio direction finding. The first version + of this device was only 13mm by 38mm (½ inch by 1½ inches) and + could fit easily in an 18mm air-frame. The latest version, v2.0, + includes a beeper, USB data download and extended on-board + flight logging, along with an improved barometric sensor. + + + TeleMega is our most sophisticated device, including six pyro + channels (four of which are fully programmable), integrated GPS, + integrated gyroscopes for staging/air-start inhibit and high + performance telemetry. + + + EasyMini is a dual-deploy altimeter with logging and built-in + USB data download. TeleDongle was our first ground station, providing a USB to RF @@ -173,32 +196,48 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 "starter kit" is to charge the battery. - The TeleMetrum battery can be charged by plugging it into the - corresponding socket of the TeleMetrum and then using the USB A to - mini B - cable to plug the TeleMetrum into your computer's USB socket. The - TeleMetrum circuitry will charge the battery whenever it is plugged - in, because the TeleMetrum's on-off switch does NOT control the + For TeleMetrum and TeleMega, the battery can be charged by plugging it into the + corresponding socket of the device and then using the USB + cable to plug the flight computer into your computer's USB socket. The + on-board circuitry will charge the battery whenever it is plugged + in, because the on-off switch does NOT control the charging circuitry. - When the GPS chip is initially searching for - satellites, TeleMetrum will consume more current than it can pull - from the USB port, so the battery must be attached in order to get - satellite lock. Once GPS is locked, the current consumption goes back - down enough to enable charging while - running. So it's a good idea to fully charge the battery as your - first item of business so there is no issue getting and maintaining - satellite lock. The yellow charge indicator led will go out when the - battery is nearly full and the charger goes to trickle charge. It - can take several hours to fully recharge a deeply discharged battery. + On TeleMetrum v1 boards, when the GPS chip is initially + searching for satellites, TeleMetrum will consume more current + than it can pull from the USB port, so the battery must be + attached in order to get satellite lock. Once GPS is locked, + the current consumption goes back down enough to enable charging + while running. So it's a good idea to fully charge the battery + as your first item of business so there is no issue getting and + maintaining satellite lock. The yellow charge indicator led + will go out when the battery is nearly full and the charger goes + to trickle charge. It can take several hours to fully recharge a + deeply discharged battery. + + + TeleMetrum v2.0 and TeleMega use a higher power battery charger, + allowing them to charge the battery while running the board at + maximum power. When the battery is charging, or when the board + is consuming a lot of power, the red LED will be lit. When the + battery is fully charged, the green LED will be lit. When the + battery is damaged or missing, both LEDs will be lit, which + appears yellow. - The TeleMini battery can be charged by disconnecting it from the - TeleMini board and plugging it into a standalone battery charger - such as the LipoCharger product included in TeleMini Starter Kits, - and connecting that via a USB cable to a laptop or other USB - power source. + The Lithium Polymer TeleMini and EasyMini battery can be charged by + disconnecting it from the board and plugging it into a + standalone battery charger such as the LipoCharger product + included in TeleMini Starter Kits, and connecting that via a USB + cable to a laptop or other USB power source. + + + You can also choose to use another battery with TeleMini v2.0 + and EasyMini, anything supplying between 4 and 12 volts should + work fine (like a standard 9V battery), but if you are planning + to fire pyro charges, ground testing is required to verify that + the battery supplies enough current. The other active device in the starter kit is the TeleDongle USB to @@ -212,13 +251,13 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 ugly bugs in some earlier versions. - Next you should obtain and install the AltOS software. These include - the AltosUI ground station program, current firmware images for - TeleMetrum, TeleMini and TeleDongle, and a number of standalone - utilities that are rarely needed. Pre-built binary packages are - available for Linux, Microsoft Windows, and recent MacOSX versions. - Full source code and build instructions are also available. - The latest version may always be downloaded from + Next you should obtain and install the AltOS software. These + include the AltosUI ground station program, current firmware + images for all of the hardware, and a number of standalone + utilities that are rarely needed. Pre-built binary packages are + available for Linux, Microsoft Windows, and recent MacOSX + versions. Full source code and build instructions are also + available. The latest version may always be downloaded from . @@ -253,14 +292,14 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 strapping them down, for example. - The barometric sensors used on both TeleMetrum and TeleMini are - sensitive to sunlight. In normal TeleMetrum mounting situations, it + The barometric sensors used on all of our flight computers are + sensitive to sunlight. In normal mounting situations, the baro sensor and all of the other surface mount components are "down" towards whatever the underlying mounting surface is, so this is not normally a problem. Please consider this, though, when designing an installation, for example, in an air-frame with a see-through plastic payload bay. It is particularly important to - consider this with TeleMini, both because the baro sensor is on the + consider this with TeleMini v1.0, both because the baro sensor is on the "top" of the board, and because many model rockets with payload bays use clear plastic for the payload bay! Replacing these with an opaque cardboard tube, painting them, or wrapping them with a layer of masking @@ -282,7 +321,7 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 Hardware Overview - TeleMetrum is a 1 inch by 2.75 inch circuit board. It was designed to + TeleMetrum is a 1 inch by 2¾ inch circuit board. It was designed to fit inside coupler for 29mm air-frame tubing, but using it in a tube that small in diameter may require some creativity in mounting and wiring to succeed! The presence of an accelerometer means TeleMetrum should @@ -294,11 +333,11 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 bay for TeleMetrum should have at least 10 inches of interior length. - TeleMini is a 0.5 inch by 1.5 inch circuit board. It was designed to + TeleMini v1.0 is a ½ inch by 1½ inch circuit board. It was designed to fit inside an 18mm air-frame tube, but using it in a tube that small in diameter may require some creativity in mounting and wiring to succeed! Since there is no accelerometer, TeleMini can be mounted - in any convenient orientation. The default 1/4 + in any convenient orientation. The default ¼ wave UHF wire antenna attached to the center of one end of the board is about 7 inches long, and wiring for a power switch and the e-matches for apogee and main ejection charges depart from the @@ -306,11 +345,31 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 bay for TeleMini should have at least 9 inches of interior length. - A typical TeleMetrum or TeleMini installation involves attaching - only a suitable Lithium Polymer battery, a single pole switch for + TeleMini v2.0 and EasyMini are both built on a 0.8 inch by 1½ + inch circuit board. They're designed to fit in a 24mm coupler + tube. TeleMini has an antenna, which must be run straight out + fro the board. Bending or folding it will dramatically reduce RF + performance. For smaller rockets, it's often best to drill a + hole in the bulkhead forward of TeleMini and run the antenna + wire through that and alongside any recovery components + there. Be careful to seal the hole to prevent ejection gasses + from passing through the hole and damaging the electronics. + + + TeleMega is a 1¼ inch by 3¼ inch circuit board. It was + designed to easily fit in a 38mm coupler. Like TeleMetrum, + TeleMega has an accelerometer and so it must be mounted so that + the board is aligned with the flight axis. It can be mounted + either antenna up or down. + + + A typical installation involves attaching + only a suitable battery, a single pole switch for power on/off, and two pairs of wires connecting e-matches for the apogee and main ejection charges. All Altus Metrum products are - designed for use with single-cell batteries with 3.7 volts nominal. + designed for use with single-cell batteries with 3.7 volts + nominal. TeleMini v2.0 and EasyMini may also be used with other + batteries as long as they supply between 4 and 12 volts. The battery connectors are a standard 2-pin JST connector and @@ -326,7 +385,7 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 from Altus Metrum or Spark Fun. - By default, we use the unregulated output of the Li-Po battery directly + By default, we use the unregulated output of the battery directly to fire ejection charges. This works marvelously with standard low-current e-matches like the J-Tek from MJG Technologies, and with Quest Q2G2 igniters. However, if you want or need to use a separate @@ -341,9 +400,10 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 jeweler's screwdriver set. - TeleMetrum also uses the screw terminal block for the power - switch leads. On TeleMini, the power switch leads are soldered - directly to the board and can be connected directly to a switch. + Except for TeleMini v1.0, the flight computers also use the + screw terminal block for the power switch leads. On TeleMini v1.0, + the power switch leads are soldered directly to the board and + can be connected directly to a switch. For most air-frames, the integrated antennas are more than @@ -351,7 +411,7 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 metal electronics bay which is opaque to RF signals, you may need to use off-board external antennas instead. In this case, you can order an altimeter with an SMA connector for the UHF antenna - connection, and, on TeleMetrum, you can unplug the integrated GPS + connection, and, on TeleMetrum v1, you can unplug the integrated GPS antenna and select an appropriate off-board GPS antenna with cable terminating in a U.FL connector. @@ -370,11 +430,12 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 TeleMetrum assumes it's on a rail or rod being prepared for launch, so the firmware chooses flight mode. However, if the rocket is more or less horizontal, the firmware instead enters - idle mode. Since TeleMini doesn't have an accelerometer we can - use to determine orientation, "idle" mode is selected when the - board receives a command packet within the first five seconds - of operation; if no packet is received, the board enters - "flight" mode. + idle mode. Since TeleMini v2.0 and EasyMini don't have an + accelerometer we can use to determine orientation, "idle" mode + is selected if the board is connected via USB to a computer, + otherwise the board enters "flight" mode. TeleMini v1.0 + selects "idle" mode if it receives a command packet within the + first five seconds of operation. At power on, you will hear three beeps or see three flashes @@ -403,14 +464,14 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 machine is disengaged, thus no ejection charges will fire. The altimeters also listen for the radio link when in idle mode for requests sent via TeleDongle. Commands can be issued - to a TeleMetrum in idle mode over either USB or the radio link - equivalently. TeleMini only has the radio link. Idle mode is - useful for configuring the altimeter, for extracting data from - the on-board storage chip after flight, and for ground testing - pyro charges. + in idle mode over either USB or the radio link + equivalently. TeleMini v1.0 only has the radio link. Idle + mode is useful for configuring the altimeter, for extracting + data from the on-board storage chip after flight, and for + ground testing pyro charges. - One "neat trick" of particular value when TeleMetrum is used with + One "neat trick" of particular value when TeleMetrum or TeleMega are used with very large air-frames, is that you can power the board up while the rocket is horizontal, such that it comes up in idle mode. Then you can raise the air-frame to launch position, and issue a 'reset' command @@ -421,10 +482,10 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 installing igniters! - TeleMini is configured via the radio link. Of course, that + TeleMini v1.0 is configured solely via the radio link. Of course, that means you need to know the TeleMini radio configuration values or you won't be able to communicate with it. For situations - when you don't have the radio configuration values, TeleMini + when you don't have the radio configuration values, TeleMini v1.0 offers an 'emergency recovery' mode. In this mode, TeleMini is configured as follows: @@ -454,17 +515,17 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200
GPS - TeleMetrum includes a complete GPS receiver. A complete explanation - of how GPS works is beyond the scope of this manual, but the bottom - line is that the TeleMetrum GPS receiver needs to lock onto at least - four satellites to obtain a solid 3 dimensional position fix and know - what time it is. + TeleMetrum and TeleMega include a complete GPS receiver. A + complete explanation of how GPS works is beyond the scope of + this manual, but the bottom line is that the GPS receiver + needs to lock onto at least four satellites to obtain a solid + 3 dimensional position fix and know what time it is. - TeleMetrum provides backup power to the GPS chip any time a + The flight computers provide backup power to the GPS chip any time a battery is connected. This allows the receiver to "warm start" on the launch rail much faster than if every power-on were a GPS - "cold start". In typical operations, powering up TeleMetrum + "cold start". In typical operations, powering up on the flight line in idle mode while performing final air-frame preparation will be sufficient to allow the GPS receiver to cold start and acquire lock. Then the board can be powered down during @@ -485,10 +546,10 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 computer. - Any operation which can be performed with TeleMetrum can - either be done with TeleMetrum directly connected to the + Any operation which can be performed with a flight computer can + either be done with the device directly connected to the computer via the USB cable, or through the radio - link. TeleMini doesn't provide a USB connector and so it is + link. TeleMini v1.0 doesn't provide a USB connector and so it is always communicated with over radio. Select the appropriate TeleDongle device when the list of devices is presented and AltosUI will interact with an altimeter over the radio link. @@ -514,10 +575,11 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 - Configure altimeter apogee delays or main deploy heights + Configure altimeter apogee delays, main deploy heights + and additional pyro event conditions to respond to changing launch conditions. You can also 'reboot' the altimeter. Use this to remotely enable the - flight computer by turning TeleMetrum on in "idle" mode, + flight computer by turning TeleMetrum or TeleMega on in "idle" mode, then once the air-frame is oriented for launch, you can reboot the altimeter and have it restart in pad mode without having to climb the scary ladder. @@ -526,7 +588,7 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 Fire Igniters—Test your deployment charges without snaking - wires out through holes in the air-frame. Simply assembly the + wires out through holes in the air-frame. Simply assemble the rocket as if for flight with the apogee and main charges loaded, then remotely command the altimeter to fire the igniters. @@ -541,9 +603,10 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 close the window before performing other desired radio operations. - TeleMetrum only enables radio commanding in 'idle' mode, so - make sure you have TeleMetrum lying horizontally when you turn - it on. Otherwise, TeleMetrum will start in 'pad' mode ready for + The flight computers only enable radio commanding in 'idle' mode. + TeleMetrum and TeleMega use the accelerometer to detect which orientation they + start up in, so make sure you have the flight computer lying horizontally when you turn + it on. Otherwise, it will start in 'pad' mode ready for flight, and will not be listening for command packets from TeleDongle. @@ -570,14 +633,14 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 An important aspect of preparing a rocket using electronic deployment for flight is ground testing the recovery system. Thanks to the bi-directional radio link central to the Altus Metrum system, - this can be accomplished in a TeleMetrum or TeleMini equipped rocket + this can be accomplished in a TeleMega, TeleMetrum or TeleMini equipped rocket with less work than you may be accustomed to with other systems. It can even be fun! Just prep the rocket for flight, then power up the altimeter - in "idle" mode (placing air-frame horizontal for TeleMetrum or - selected the Configure Altimeter tab for TeleMini). This will cause + in "idle" mode (placing air-frame horizontal for TeleMetrum or TeleMega, or + selecting the Configure Altimeter tab for TeleMini). This will cause the firmware to go into "idle" mode, in which the normal flight state machine is disabled and charges will not fire without manual command. You can now command the altimeter to fire the apogee @@ -607,7 +670,7 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 data later... - We don't use a 'normal packet radio' mode like APRS because they're + We don't generally use a 'normal packet radio' mode like APRS because they're just too inefficient. 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 @@ -621,12 +684,18 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 altitudes over time, and would of course appreciate customer feedback on performance in higher altitude flights! + + However, TeleMetrum v2.0 and TeleMega can send APRS if + desired, 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. +
Configurable Parameters Configuring an Altus Metrum altimeter for flight is very - simple. Even on our baro-only TeleMini board, the use of a Kalman + simple. Even on our baro-only TeleMini and EasyMini boards, the use of a Kalman filter means there is no need to set a "mach delay". The few configurable parameters can all be set using AltosUI over USB or or radio link via TeleDongle. @@ -689,6 +758,9 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 (10 samples/second), there's plenty of space to store many flights worth of data. + + TeleMetrum v2.0 and TeleMega have 8MB of on-board flash stroage, enough to hold + The on-board flash is partitioned into separate flight logs, each of a fixed maximum size. Increase the maximum size of @@ -2867,7 +2939,8 @@ NAR #88757, TRA #12200 Release Notes - Version 1.21 + Version 1.3 + Version 1.2.1 Version 1.2 Version 1.1.1 Version 1.1 diff --git a/doc/release-notes-1.3.xsl b/doc/release-notes-1.3.xsl new file mode 100644 index 00000000..149e024e --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/release-notes-1.3.xsl @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ + + + +
+ + Version 1.3 is a major release. It adds support for TeleMega, + TeleMetrum v2.0, TeleMini v2.0 and EasyMini. + + + AltOS Firmware Changes + + + Add STM32L processor support. This includes enhancements to + the scheduler to support products with many threads. + + + Add NXP LPC11U14 processor support. + + + Support additional pyro channels. These are configurable + through the UI to handle air starts, staging, additional + recovery events and external devices such as cameras. + + + Add 3-axis gyro support for orientation tracking. This + integrates the gyros to compute the angle from vertical during + flight, allowing the additional pyro events to be controlled + by this value. + + + Many more device drivers, including u-Blox Max 7Q GPS, + Freescale MMA6555 digital single-axis accelerometer, + Invensense MPU6000 3-axis accelerometer + 3 axis gyro, + Honeywell HMC5883 3-axis magnetic sensor and the TI CC1120 and + CC115L digital FM transceivers + + + + + AltosUI changes + + + Support TeleMega, TeleMetrum v2.0, TeleMini v2.0 and EasyMini telemetry and log formats. + + + Use preferred units for main deployment height configuration, + instead of always doing configuration in meters. + + + + + MicroPeak UI changes + + + Add 'Download' button to menu bar. + + + Save the last log directory and offer that as the default for new downloads + + + +