Altimeter Software
This program is designed to download, view and save data from Altimeter module. It is written in C# language using .NET Framework 2.0. Downloaded records are stored into XML project files. If the Altimeter module is connected, you can perform a real time measuring of pressure, temperature and altitude. Both altitude and temperature waveforms can be plotted into one graph using two y axes.
Graph Controls
- Left mouse button - Pan the graph.
- Mouse wheel - Zoom in/out.
- Middle mouse button - Select a window to zoom into.
- Right mouse button - Context menu.
Context Menu
- Default Zoom/Pane.
- Save graph as an image (PNG, GIF, JPG, TIF, BMP, EMF).
- Print the graph. You can use a virtual printer (PDFCreator) to make a PDF file.
- Show/hide temperature waveform.
- Show/hide legend.
Connect the Altimeter Module
The interface to PC is realized using USB to UART converter cable. The operating system designates a virtual COM port for that cable.
Open the Connect tab and select the the desired virtual COM port. Click Open Port. Then the connecting command is periodically transmitted. When you connect Altimeter to the cable, you will see device information.
Download Records
Once the device is connected, you can download all records. Click Download button and wait to the end of transmission. Then the number of downloaded records appears. Now you can import downloaded data into the project.
Setup Altimeter
In the Setup tab you can discards old records or reset the whole device. There are several parameters used for stand alone operation.
Time Step - This is the time step for storing samples. Note that for UART operation mode (with Timer) the time step is fixed to 0.5 s.
Altitude Trigger - This is the trigger value to start storing samples. You can set about 5 m to start record after model start. Or set about 55 m to start the record after glider is realized from towline.
Record Length - This is the maximal length of record. Set 0 for infinity.
Real Time Measuring
You can perform a real time measuring in Measuring tab. This feature is intended mainly for Altimeter testing.
Sinking Rate Line
Enable and move this line to fit the certain part of graph. It is useful for estimation of total flight time. You can see the sinking rate after DT or climbing rate in thermal.
Graph Customization
Almost every aspect of the graph is adjustable, so you can create an output in the way you like it. It is possible to adjust gradient colors or set background image. Force Fixed Size feature is very useful if you need some outputs with constant size e.g. for presentation.
All text styles and contents are also adjustable.
XML Project Files
This program uses XML language for project files. One project can include one or more records. For example, you can create a project file, which contains flights from whole contest.
XML is an elegant way how to store data, because it includes also some kind of description. You can open XML file in any text editor e.g. Notepad++ or in Firefox and see what each value means.
It is possible to transform XML files into other files (e.g. HTML) using XSLT transformation. I will make this transformation file later to view the whole project as a web page.
There is a sample of some XML project:
MCR2009.xml
You can learn more about XML language here:
http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_whatis.asp