TeleStern/doc/telegps-application.inc

352 lines
11 KiB
HTML

== 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>>.