Altus Metrum TeleMetrum v4.0

This device includes everything you might ever need in an electronic device. It does dual deployment, tracks the position of the rocket using GPS technology and it transmits all this data back down to the ground where it can be displayed in real time on a computer.

A ground station unit like the TeleBT is required to receive the relayed data (not included - must be purchased separately).

The TeleMetrum tells you a lot about your rocket:

• GPS Tracking data in real-time, so you know your rocket's position during the flight.
• Barometric recording altimeter. Barometric pressure sensor good to 30000 meters MSL. Allows you to have perfect dual-deployment flights.
• 3-axis 200-g (+/-) accelerometer: used to verify the speed of the rocket, should the vehicle exceed Mach 1. This simplifies setting up dual-deployment settings, because you don't have to worry about mach pressure effects fooling the baro sensor.



A unique feature of the TeleMetrum is the use of the accelerometer to know the rocket's orientation at power-up (nose up, or laying on its side). The TeleMetrum takes advantage of this to make arming of parachute ejection charges safer. With the TeleMetrum, you have the capability of remote arming of rocket on the launch pad (NO other altimeter can do this!). This means you don't need a ladder anymore to arm your altimeter prior to launch. You can do it from a distance through your ground station.

Telemetry transmitter embedded in the TeleMetrum circuit (70cm ham-band transceiver) allows all the flight data to be seen real-time during the mission. The telemetry system sends flight data 10 times per second during ascent, and once per second after apogee. It also transmits an audio tone once every five seconds that is used for tracking purposes on the ground with a directional rocket locator. The range is over 30 Km (line-of-sight distance, and it depends on the antenna you are using).

The dual deployment control is programmable: TeleMetrum will fire the main deployment charge at an elevation of 250 meters above ground by default, but can be set to deploy both the apogee and the main chutes at different altitudes. This "apogee delay" feature is to ensure multiple altimeters don't fire at the same time when you're flying redundant electronics, which is a requirement when flying a Level-3 high-power certification attempt.

The flight data storage memory records data at 100 samples/second from the barometer and accelerometer, it also captures data at 3 samples/second for battery voltage, temperature and deployment charge continuity. GPS is recorded once per second. With 8MB of memory on-board, it can capture over 40 minutes of flight data. This allows you to download flight data after the mission is over, just in case your telemetry signal drops out.

There's actually more data logged (particularly during the ascent phase) than is sent over the telemetry link, so you'll get a huge data cache after you get your rocket back.
There is no need to remove the device from the rocket or hook up any wires. After the rocket has landed you can simply command it to transmit all its stored flight data to your computer.
The rechargeable LiPo battery gets recharged whenever the USB cord is connected to your computer.
Finally, you can use the TeleMetrum as a rocket tracker too. You can use your radio direction finder to home in on the rocket should it land far away or in a wood or other tall vegetation.

Open-source software allows you to expand the functionality of the product should you wish to add extra features.

Features:

• Recording altimeter for model rocketry
• Supports dual deployment (can fire 2 ejection charges)
• 70cm ham-band transceiver (40 mW) for telemetry downlink
• Barometric pressure sensor good to 30.000 m MSL
• 3-axis 200-g accelerometer, 1 axis for motor characterization
• On-board, integrated GPS receiver
• On-board non-volatile memory for flight data storage
• USB for power, configuration, and data recovery
• Integrated support for LiPo rechargeable batteries
• Uses LiPo to fire e-matches, but can be made to support separate pyro battery
• Size: 70 x 25 mm.
• Board designed to fit inside 29mm airframe coupler tube
• Weight: 20 g

DOWNLOAD HERE THE CONFIGURATION AND GROUND STATION SOFTWARE
(runs on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows)

DOWNLOAD HERE THE .PDF MANUAL (ONE MANUAL FOR ALL ALTUS METRUM PRODUCTS)