Aim Xtra 4.0 - Flight Issue

[BeardedEngineer]

TRF crew,

I need some brainstorming here. I am part of the University of Texas as San Antonio's - Aeronautics & Rocket Club. This past week we launched our Spaceport America Cup (SAC) 2024 competition rocket on an SRAD/EX O5800. On board for the primary flight computer we had an Aim Xtra 4.0 (primary) and a stratologger CF (secondary).

We were competing in the SAC 30K flight competition. We had strong signal prior to launch and throughout the beginning of the boosted stage; however, when we reached ~5,000 ft AGL we lost all signal from the Aim Xtra and never recovered signal. After 3 days of search patterns we found the rocket and recovered data; however, we can't quite understand why all the sudden the signal cut out. The board, despite a very hard landing of the airframe, showed no damage and recorded the flight without instance.

Specs:
Airframe was wildman fiberglass
Coupler was Blue tube 2.0 with 2 layers of 6 oz fiberglass for coupler reinforcement.
PETG was used for the AV bay support.
Batteries were strong at 6.6 volts and LiFe4PO (non-lithium was required for the competition) & optimal for the Aim Xtra
Signal was set at 915.343 hertz (assigned and control by competition so no other competitors were on this channel)
GPS chip was epoxied to board (14.4 g's accel only but preventative just in case)
Aim Xtra base was approximately 15 feet in the air & LOS to rocket free of obstacles & RF interference

We missed our late May flight opportunity to fly this computer prior to the competition (not smart, we are aware) but I am turning to you the community to see if anyone else has Aim Xtra or tracker experience where signal cut and how was this prevented for future flights.

Thanks!
Jarod

 

[cerving]

What does the flight data say? Could you have lost power during the burn, or at burnout? See if your data stops at that point, if it does then that's the answer.

 

[BeardedEngineer]

What does the flight data say? Could you have lost power during the burn, or at burnout? See if your data stops at that point, if it does then that's the answer.

Cerving,

Flight data showed a continuous record of data for what we can see; I am trying to get the .xtra file re-downloaded as the current data file or possibly the Aim Xtra software version 4.2.0 continues to crash whenever I ask it to open this file.

Regarding the Aim Xtra here is the currently file we have incase someone wants to take a stab at getting to load on their PC. We can pull data still from the Aim Xtra via the usb link but getting the file to open post-download is proving challenging at this point either because of file corruption or a software error where either live data from the Aim Xtra or the included .xtra file continue to freeze or crash my PC.

I just contacted Entacore to see if they might have an answer. I'll try to grab a screenshot of the power management screen when I get the board back as I handed it off to another member to try a different PC.

Thanks for the initial suggestion!
Jarod

On a site note, expect a email for some wifi switches, an eggfinder TX, a dongle, the LCD screen & gps, and possibly a quasar here soon. Getting a few of my personal rockets ready for AIRFest

 

[kjs]

Regarding the Aim Xtra here is the currently file we have incase someone wants to take a stab at getting to load on their PC.

Were you going to attach the file? I don't see an attachment...

 

[BeardedEngineer]

They should be there now. Attached them the first time but realized since they weren't an allowable .ABCD (insert file type) the system deleted them. I'm attaching them along with a .png screen capture in a .zip file. I realize the .png isn't zoomed it it was provided to me by my teammate that currently has the Aim Xtra so I will try and get high resolution and quality data when I get it back.

 

[kjs]

They should be there now.

I looked at the files briefly but they are binary format that you would need to have the vendor debug. [i didn't know if there was text with info that could be salvaged. sorry i can't help here...

 

[BeardedEngineer]

I looked at the files briefly but they are binary format that you would need to have the vendor debug. [i didn't know if there was text with info that could be salvaged. sorry i can't help here...

Kevin,

Thanks for the help regardless, we're all stumped over here right now as well. The .xtra file opened with no issue a week ago, none of us updated our system as Aim Xtra 4.2.0 was and still is the latest and yet all the sudden we can't seem to access any of our data to figure out the root cause of telemetry loss during the flight.

-Jarod

 

[kjs]

The .xtra file opened with no issue a week ago

Was it the same .xtra file or have you downloaded it again and now it is having problems? does anyone have the original download?

Also - did you already contact Entacore about the file open issue?

 

[BeardedEngineer]

was it the same .xtra file or have you downloaded it again and now it is having problems? does anyone have the original download?

The .xtra file I included in the .zip package here was the same/original one we downloaded during post-flight review at Spaceport. We were able to open the Aim Xtra software, view the data via the usb link, and download the .xtra file which we looked at again later that day without issue. Now that file immediately crashes the Aim Xtra program whenever you try to open it, highly likely something within the data package got corrupted when it was shared in Discord. The only thing I'm waiting to see about again is if we can download a new .xtra file of the flight.

Hopefully tomorrow when I am able to link back up with my teammate who has the Aim Xtra right now and also has the original (non-discord shared) file on her computer too something new and useful will come about.

 

[curtisheisey]

Do you have any measurements of received signal strength? Did it fall off as the flight progressed? A loose cable could be the culprit for something like this. Did you check signal/cable integrity after you got it back?

 

[David de Bruyn]

Hey everyone. David here from Entacore.

Firstly, the file attached here is definitely corrupt. I ran our software in debug mode and there are a bunch of parsing errors. Luckily, this doesn't appear to have been caused by the XTRA firmware or software as I was actually able to parse the .bin file which is just a raw snapshot of the flash memory.

I'm attaching that file here for anyone interested.

Some things about the flight:

I can see that there was an attempt to fire an ejection charge by the XTRA, right after another altimeter fired a charge. The decent rate is pretty high (300 ft/s). I'm not sure if that is because it was supposed to be coming down on a drogue?

Anyway, to the RF side of things. It would be great if someone could email me the BASE (receiver) data as then we could check the received signal strength. 5000 ft is very little as the system is designed to be able to track 100k ft without fancy antennas.

Perhaps the transmitting antenna was damaged somehow, or it was in contact with some metal in the airframe?

 

[BeardedEngineer]

Hey everyone. David here from Entacore.

Firstly, the file attached here is definitely corrupt. I ran our software in debug mode and there are a bunch of parsing errors. Luckily, this doesn't appear to have been caused by the XTRA firmware or software as I was actually able to parse the .bin file which is just a raw snapshot of the flash memory.

I'm attaching that file here for anyone interested.

Some things about the flight:

I can see that there was an attempt to fire an ejection charge by the XTRA, right after another altimeter fired a charge. The decent rate is pretty high (300 ft/s). I'm not sure if that is because it was supposed to be coming down on a drogue?

Anyway, to the RF side of things. It would be great if someone could email me the BASE (receiver) data as then we could check the received signal strength. 5000 ft is very little as the system is designed to be able to track 100k ft without fancy antennas.

Perhaps the transmitting antenna was damaged somehow, or it was in contact with some metal in the airframe?

Hey David,

First and foremost, a huge thank you for your assistance while we've been emailing back and forth. Finally after swapping computers last night I was able to get all the data off the Aim Xtra. Not sure why we lost telemetry but the Aim worked outstandingly perfect in all other regards. I sent you a follow up email last night with the excel files, the .xtra file, the .bin file and our .kml as well.

Everything inside the AV bay was PTEG so we may have just lost it because of the other rockets on the launch pad in conjunction with Spaceport's RF black hole from live streams, trackers, personnel trackers, etc. The AIM base data was lost before it could be saved (rookie mistake on our part), the computer running Aim Base was handed from one person to another while we were getting off the roof of my FJ for LOS clearance. That person grabbed the computer by the track pad and by whatever the odds are had the curser over the close program box the rest is self explanatory.

To any TRF personnel looking to buy an AIM Xtra I still 100% recommend it. I have flown a lot of flights with a Strattologger CF, the EggFinder TX and Quantum (and wifi switches too), the Missleworks RRC3 and now the Aim Xtra. I always like flying a rocket with two different flight computers to ensure their isn't a random coding or software error that takes down both. The Aim Xtra is 100% going into my rotation for any of my high flyer stuff.

-Jarod

I am a big proponent of 1 = none and 2 = one so I will probably shift my personal SOP to now running two tracker system with one in the nose cone and one in the AV bay but I can highly attest the Aim Xtra will go into my rotation with my EggFinder TX for an all in one system.