+[[!meta title="TeleMetrum"]]
# TeleMetrum
This is a recording dual-deploy altimeter for high power model rocketry
-with integrated telemetry link.
-
-<a href="v0.2 SMT side"> <img src="v0.2/cimg5164-cropped.jpg"></a>
-<a href="v0.2 connector side"> <img src="v0.2/cimg5171-cropped.jpg"></a>
-<a href="loadedpair.jpg"> <img src="loadedpair-thumb.jpg"></a>
-<a href="rawfront.jpg"> <img src="rawfront-thumb.jpg"></a>
-<a href="rawback.jpg"> <img src="rawback-thumb.jpg"></a>
-
-## Motivation ##
-
-Bdale and Keith both own
-[BeeLine](http://www.bigredbee.com/BeeLine.htm)
-trackers from
-[Big Red Bee](http://www.bigredbee.com), and are pretty happy with them.
-They use a PIC processor and a TI CC1050 transmitter chip, and
-operate in the ham radio 70cm band.
-
-One weekend while attending a conference together, we got to wondering if
-we couldn't adapt one to use as a downlink for the
-[AltusMetrum](../AltusMetrum/) altimeter board in addition to direction
-finding after flight. That caused us to start thinking about other things
-in the design we might want to tweak, and before long we were working on the
-design of a new tracker board derived from the BeeLine design.
-Another friend at the same conference showed us a board he was working on
-using a different part in the same TI series, that integrated a transceiver
-and CPU on the same chip.
-It didn't take us long to realize that with such a part we could combine and
-simplify things by building a new altimeter with integrated RF link! And
-after gaining some experience in 2009 with a first version, we realized we
-always want GPS on board, which lead to our current second generation boards.
+with integrated GPS and telemetry link.
+
+For the latest TeleMetrum firmware and related ground station software, please
+visit the [AltOS](../AltOS) page on this site.
+
+These are photos of previous production version 3.0, we'll try to get around
+to taking some v4 photos eventually:
+
+<a href="v3.0/telemetrum-v3.0-th.jpg"> <img src="v3.0/telemetrum-v3.0-th-thumb.jpg"></a>
+<a href="v3.0/telemetrum-v3.0-smt.jpg"> <img src="v3.0/telemetrum-v3.0-smt-thumb.jpg"></a>
+
+v4.0 was introduced in 2023, and is now available for sale.
## Features ##
* Recording altimeter for model rocketry
* Supports dual deployment (can fire 2 ejection charges)
* 70cm ham-band transceiver for telemetry downlink
-* Barometric pressure sensor good to 45k feet MSL
-* Temperature sensor
-* 1-axis high-g accelerometer for motor characterization
+* Barometric pressure sensor good to 100k feet MSL
+* 1-axis 200-g accelerometer for motor characterization
+* On-board, integrated GPS receiver
* On-board non-volatile memory for flight data storage
-* Serial port for attachment of GPS module
* USB for power, configuration, and data recovery
* Integrated support for LiPo rechargeable batteries
-* 2.5 x 1 inch board designed to fit inside 29mm airframe coupler tube
+* Uses LiPo to fire e-matches, can be made to support separate pyro battery
+* 2.75 x 1 inch board designed to fit inside 29mm airframe coupler tube
### Developer View ###
-* [TI CC1111F32](http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/cc1111f32.html) Low Power RF System-on-Chip
- * Sub-1Ghz transceiver
- * 8051 MCU
- * 32k Flash
- * 4k RAM
- * USB 2.0
- * 6 12-bit analog inputs (11 bits with single-ended sensors)
- * 2 channels of serial I/O
- * digital I/O
-* [Microchip 25LC1024](http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en520389) CMOS serial EEPROM
- * 128k x 8
- * SPI interface
-* Various Sensors
- * [Freescale MP3H6115A](http://www.freescale.com/webapp/search.partparamdetail.framework?PART_NUMBER=MP3H6115A6U) pressure sensor
- * [Freescale MMA2202EG](http://www.freescale.com/webapp/search.partparamdetail.framework?PART_NUMBER=MMA2202EG) 50g accelerometer. Can use 40-200g variants!
- * [Microchip MCP9700A](http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en027103) temperature sensor
-* Software Features (planned)
- * Written mostly in C with some 8051 assembler
- * Runs from on-chip flash, uses on-chip RAM, stores flight data to
- serial EEPROM chip
+* Hardware Features of v3.0
+ * Atmel SAMD21G17D ARM Cortex M0+ based Microcontroller
+ * TI [CC1200](http://www.ti.com/product/cc1200) Low Power, High Performance RF Transceiver
+ * 150mA 3.3V LDO regulator
+ * [Winbond W25Q64CV](http://www.winbond.com/hq/enu/ProductAndSales/ProductLines/FlashMemory/SerialFlash/W25Q64CV.htm) serial flash memory
+ * [u-blox](http://www.u-blox.com/) MAX-8Q GPS receiver
+ * on-board passive patch antenna
+ * async serial interface
+ * Measurement Specialties [MS5607](http://www.meas-spec.com/product/t_product.aspx?id=8499) Micro Altimeter Module
+ * Wide range — 120kPa to 1kPa (approximately -1500m to 31000m)
+ * High precision — 2.4Pa resolution (approximately 20cm at sea level)
+ * Factory calibrated.
+ * Analog Devices [ADXL375](https://www.analog.com/en/products/adxl375.html) 3-Axis Digital MEMS Accelerometer
+ * +- 200g full-scale
+ * on-chip digitizer
+* Software Features
+ * Written mostly in C with some ARM assembler
+ * Runs from on-chip flash, uses on-chip RAM, stores flight data to serial flash
* USB serial emulation for "console" interface
* Tools Used
- * [gEDA](http://www.gpleda.org/) for schematic capture and PCB layout
- * [SDCC](http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/) compiler and source debugger
+ * [Lepton EDA](https://github.com/lepton-eda/lepton-eda) for schematic capture
+ * [pcb-rnd](http://repo.hu/projects/pcb-rnd/) for 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)
-## [Production History](production) ##
+TeleMetrum v4 early units shipped with uBlox MAX-M8C GPS modules, but we had
+a low yield on those boards for some reason. Newer units have the MAX-M10S
+GPS module.
-## [Flight Logs](flightlogs) ##
+## Videos ##
-## Problems ##
+There are a number of TeleMetrum customer and other
+[videos on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=telemetrum)
-* The CC1111F32 is a 36-pin QFN package, which necessitates reflow
- soldering. Since we needed to reflow solder anyway, and because TI used
- them in their reference design, we went a little crazy and used 0402
- passive parts everywhere. That means working under a microscope to
- place parts! Without an inspection microscope, loading and testing these
- boards might be impossible.
+## Artifacts ##
-* The v0.1 artwork has the USB connector footprint placed wrong, so that the
- connector hangs out over the edge of the board instead of being flush with
- the edge.
+There is a single manual for TeleMetrum and all other Altus Metrum products,
+which is available in [html](../AltOS/doc/altusmetrum.html) and
+[pdf](../AltOS/doc/altusmetrum.pdf) formats.
-* The v0.1 artwork has two issues that require cuts and jumps. The first is
- that we need chip select on the SPI memory. To fix that, we give up the
- ability to put the accelerometer into self-test mode and use that GPIO line
- to pull chip select on the memory. The second is that the igniter sense
- circuits each need a second resistor to complete the voltage divider so our
- 3.3V CPU ADC can read the 5V ejection voltage. This is fixed by changing
- two resistor values, and tacking two additional resistors onto the board
- with jumpers to ground.
+An outline of the board with drill hole locations is available in
+[pdf](../AltOS/doc/telemetrum-outline.pdf) format.
-## Artifacts ##
+This board was designed using lepton-eda and pcb-rnd.
-The hardware design current gEDA files are available from
+The hardware design files are available from
[git.gag.com](http://git.gag.com) in the project
[hw/telemetrum](http://git.gag.com/?p=hw/telemetrum;a=summary).
Work on the next version proceeds on the master branch, with occasional
temporary branches created when Bdale is making some major / speculative
-change. The 'v0.2' and 'v0.1' branches document what we're actually flying
-right now on the two respective PCB revisions. The 'ground' branch has a
-cut-down schematic used to generate the BOM for partially loading v0.1 boards
-to used on the ground. We call the on-the-ground version 'TeleDongle'.
+change. Branches/tags with names like 'v4.0' document what we're actually
+flying on the respective PCB revisions.
For those who don't have ready access to the gEDA suite, here are pdf snapshots
-of files in more easily readable form.
-
-* These are from the v0.2 branch:
- * [schematic](v0.2/telemetrum.pdf)
- * [pcb artwork](v0.2/telemetrum.pcb.pdf)
- * [bill of materials](v0.2/partslist.csv)
-* These are as of the working-v0.1 tag:
- * [schematic](v0.1/telemetrum.pdf)
- * [pcb artwork](v0.1/telemetrum.pcb.pdf)
- * [bill of materials](v0.1/telemetrum.bom)
-
-We have firmware that works well enough that we now routinely allow TeleMetrum
-to control flights by firing ejection charges. We've flown v0.1 boards in
-rockets exceeding 50g acceleration, above Mach 1, and to altitudes greater
-than 12k feet AGL with great results. Keith wrote a ground station program
-called
-ao-view that logs telemetry to disk, displays current and max
-values for key parameters during flight, and even includes voice synthesis
-during the flight so that our eyes can stay on the rockets! We have post
-flight analysis software that makes it easy to extract data from the board,
-analyze it, and even generate KML files for viewing flights in GoogleEarth!
-More details on the software, including full source code and pre-built packages
-can be found on the [AltOS](../AltOS) page on this site.
-
-## Future Plans ##
-
-Work is underway on a second revision of TeleMetrum with the following changes:
-
-* stretch board length by 0.25 inches
-* adjust USB connector position to be flush with edge of board
-* eliminate temperature sensor, since baro sensor is already compensated and there's a sensor on the cc1111
-* eliminate serial port connector
-* integrate SkyTraq Venus GPS receiver and patch antenna on-board
-* change debug connector to 4 pin Tyco MicroMaTch
-* add 8 pin Tyco MicroMaTch connector for companion board interface
-* use v_lipo as pyro power, eliminating the huge 1000uF capacitor and instead
- adding ballast capacitance on the 3.3V rail to prevent brownouts
-* move all connectors, beeper, and GPS patch antenna to the "other side" of the board from the surface mount parts
-* add a rectangle of silk screen material for improved serial number labeling
-
-As of early December 2009, the layout work for v0.2 is done and we're busy
-verifying it and deciding exactly how we're going to build them. We hope to
-have first prototypes to test in time to show the new version at LCA in late
-January 2010. If it works out as well as we hope, v0.2 may be made available
-in assembled and tested form to others in the rocketry hobby who have
-expressed interest sometime in 2010.
+of the files for Production PCB version 4.0 in more easily readable form.
+
+* [schematic](v4.0/telemetrum-sch.pdf)
+* [pcb artwork](v4.0/telemetrum-pcb.pdf)
+* [bill of materials](v4.0/partslist.csv)
+
+Rockets we know of flying with TeleMetrum boards have exceeded 50g acceleration,
+been well above Mach 1, and reached altitudes
+greater than 25k feet AGL with great results. Keith's second generation
+ground station program called AltosUI works on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems
+and logs telemetry to disk, displays current and max values for key parameters
+during flight, includes voice synthesis during the flight so that
+our eyes can stay on the rockets, and even includes live display of rocket
+position over moving maps! After flight, altosui can extract the
+complete flight log from TeleMetrum, can display plots of the data from either
+the telemetry received by radio or the onboard flight log, can output a kml
+file for use with [Google Earth](http://earth.google.com), and can also
+output all the flight data as a csv file for easy import to spreadsheet
+programs or other analysis tools allowing you to perform whatever
+custom analysis you can envision! More details on the software,
+including full source code and pre-built packages
+can be found on the [AltOS](../AltOS) page on this site. Feel free to
+download the software and try it before purchasing our hardware!
+
+## [History of TeleMetrum](history) ##
+
projects / web / altusmetrum / blobdiff