Blue Raven Flights

[ihbarddx]

Just got back from a flying session with the Florida Spacemodeling Association. Great flying weather. Temp ~80 degrees. Winds ~5mph. (All our TARC flying sessions had been about 18 MPH...) Got in two Blue Raven flights. One flight has no summary data, but the download files (which I have not interpreted yet) seem OK on the face of things. And... if the time series data work, who needs summary?

The other flight came in at 783 feet and 259.96 ft/sec - summary data. The downloaded data will not save as files on my phone. Will try downloading again.

So one flight has summary and no time series; the other has time series and no summary. (Of course, I still don't know what I'm doing yet...) All equipment recovered in good shape.

More when I know it.

Any other BR flights from customers?

 

[kjhambrick]

Congrats Larry !

I still don't have any actual flights from the new Android Interface to play with yet.

I've got an Android Phone and if I click any of the Sim'd Flights in my Flight List Dialog and then click low_rate.csv or high_rate.csv the Data File is opened in my Android 'Nearby Share Dialog' where I can send individual files to my gmail account.

I am able to open any of the Data Sets for any of the Flights in my Flight List in this manner.

But I don't see how to save the Files on my Phone ( say, to a micro sd card or to my phone storage ) and then share them later.

Sending the Flight Data via gmail probably won't work at the Launch Site so I was wondering about that ...

Maybe I need some more Addroid Lessons

And maybe this is an Android-only bug here ... ( hints for Adrian and his Phone App Developer )

One thing that would really improve Flight Data Management would be to store the actual Launch Date and Time in the Summaries rather than the Date of the last firmware update.

If that's not possible due to limitations on the Blue Raven side, then store the Date and Time when the Summary was first copied from the Blue Raven to the Phone ?

In addition, the low_rate.xlsx and high_rate.xlsx seem to write the time stamps when the flights were downloaded in the Excel rows rather than actual time for the flights.

HTH and please let us know how it goes !

-- kjh

 

[ihbarddx]

Congrats Larry !

I still don't have any actual flights from the new Android Interface to play with yet.

I've got an Android Phone and if I click any of the Sim'd Flights in my Flight List Dialog and then click low_rate.csv or high_rate.csv the Data File is opened in my Android 'Nearby Share Dialog' where I can send individual files to my gmail account.

I am able to open any of the Data Sets for any of the Flights in my Flight List in this manner.

But I don't see how to save the Files on my Phone ( say, to a micro sd card or to my phone storage ) and then share them later.

Sending the Flight Data via gmail probably won't work at the Launch Site so I was wondering about that ...

Maybe I need some more Addroid Lessons

And maybe this is an Android-only bug here ... ( hints for Adrian and his Phone App Developer )

One thing that would really improve Flight Data Management would be to store the actual Launch Date and Time in the Summaries rather than the Date of the last firmware update.

If that's not possible due to limitations on the Blue Raven side, then store the Date and Time when the Summary was first copied from the Blue Raven to the Phone ?

In addition, the low_rate.xlsx and high_rate.xlsx seem to write the time stamps when the flights were downloaded in the Excel rows rather than actual time for the flights.

HTH and please let us know how it goes !

-- kjh

I analyzed both sets of data and sent Adrian some questions. Both data sets look good. FWIW, I could use gmail to download the data.

Want to check out the hardwired data transfer as well. More soon. Life is rich...

Regards,
-Larry

 

[kjhambrick]

I analyzed both sets of data and sent Adrian some questions. Both data sets look good. FWIW, I could use gmail to download the data.

Want to check out the hardwired data transfer as well. More soon. Life is rich...

Regards,
-Larry

Larry --

I havn't been able to make the Blue Raven dump Raw Flight Data via FIPS.

Edit: I said Raw Flight Data ... I meant to say: I can dump the raw data but not the low_rate and high_rate files.

Please let me know if you succeed and how you did it ...

This is my limited experience:

I couldn't make the FIP Program work in Win10 with the Blue Raven.

And while I could see the Blue Raven BLR_STAT records via a Linux comm program on USB, it did not accept any of the commands from the manual.

But I didn't work too hard at it because Adrian released the Android Blue Tooth Interface App ...

I spoke to Kevin and Adrian and FIP does not recognize the Blue Raven so it does not connect properly.

As for connecting via USB and invoking Blue Raven commands manually, I am going to wait until Adrian has a chance to catch his breath and then ...

Since we've got Bluetooth comms ( BT ) I am looking forward to developing a Linux BT interface instead of working with the old USB Interface ...

All kinds of possibilities for calibrating the pressure transducer, accelerometers and gyro at more than plus-and-minus one-G via BT ( thinking about a 'babbling' Blue Raven in a turntable device in a vacuum jar )

That would be A LOT better than spinning the AltAcc on a string then standing it upside-down on the table under a jar and waiting for Drogue than Main to fire and then downloading via RS232

Messing around for a few minutes, I believe I can 'see' the Blue Raven BT Device on my Linux Box but I live in an Busy BT Neighborhood so I am not sure.

The Bluetooth Assigned Id of my Laptop is C4:23:60:94:3D:CD and from the bluetoothctl session below, I believe my Blue Raven ( S/N 0236 ) is 7C:64:56:99:A0:63

However, I would need to check with Adrian to be sure and I don't want to eat up any more of his time before I am ready to do something productive ( I've got a conference in two weeks and a presentation to finish ) ...

Bottom line for me ... I'll stick with the Excel files for now and work on the fun stuff in July or so ...

-- kjh

[root@kjhlt7 pdal]# bluetoothctl
Agent registered
[CHG] Controller C4:23:60:94:3D:CD Pairable: yes
[bluetooth]# scan on
Discovery started
[CHG] Controller C4:23:60:94:3D:CD Discovering: yes
[NEW] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 C6-65-16-CB-38-89
[NEW] Device 5F:62:92:E4:83:EE 5F-62-92-E4-83-EE
[NEW] Device 04:52:C7:BE:EF:29 LE-Bose Revolve SoundLink
[NEW] Device 4C:7B:64:E4:2B:B7 4C-7B-64-E4-2B-B7
[NEW] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 7C-64-56-99-A0-63
[CHG] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 RSSI: -93
[NEW] Device 9C:B6:D0:01:17:02 ChromeLinux_D3D0
[CHG] Device 5F:62:92:E4:83:EE RSSI: -86
[DEL] Device 4C:7B:64:E4:2B:B7 4C-7B-64-E4-2B-B7
[CHG] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 RSSI: -79
[NEW] Device 4C:7B:64:E4:2B:B7 4C-7B-64-E4-2B-B7

# shut down Blue Raven ...

[CHG] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 ManufacturerData Key: 0x0075
[CHG] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 ManufacturerData Value:
  42 04 01 20 6f 17 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  B.. o...........
  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00                          ........       
[CHG] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 RSSI: -97
[DEL] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 7C-64-56-99-A0-63
[CHG] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 RSSI: -84
[CHG] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 RSSI: -94

# boot Blue Raven ...

[NEW] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 7C-64-56-99-A0-63
[DEL] Device 9C:B6:D0:01:17:02 ChromeLinux_D3D0
[DEL] Device 4C:7B:64:E4:2B:B7 4C-7B-64-E4-2B-B7
[NEW] Device 9C:B6:D0:01:17:02 ChromeLinux_D3D0
[NEW] Device 6B:D8:4C:06:20:B7 6B-D8-4C-06-20-B7
[CHG] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 RSSI: -79
[NEW] Device 49:A7:17:DD:6A:49 49-A7-17-DD-6A-49
[CHG] Device 9C:B6:D0:01:17:02 RSSI: -69
[DEL] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 7C-64-56-99-A0-63
[CHG] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 RSSI: -96
[NEW] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 7C-64-56-99-A0-63
[DEL] Device 5F:62:92:E4:83:EE 5F-62-92-E4-83-EE
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:BE:EF:29 TxPower: 10

# shutdown Blue Raven

[CHG] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 ManufacturerData Key: 0x0075
[CHG] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 ManufacturerData Value:
  42 04 01 20 6f 17 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  B.. o...........
  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00                          ........       
[DEL] Device 9C:B6:D0:01:17:02 ChromeLinux_D3D0
[CHG] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 RSSI: -87
[NEW] Device 9C:B6:D0:01:17:02 ChromeLinux_D3D0
[bluetooth]# power off
[DEL] Device C6:65:16:CB:38:89 C6-65-16-CB-38-89
[DEL] Device 04:52:C7:BE:EF:29 LE-Bose Revolve SoundLink
[DEL] Device 6B:D8:4C:06:20:B7 6B-D8-4C-06-20-B7
[DEL] Device 49:A7:17:DD:6A:49 49-A7-17-DD-6A-49
[DEL] Device 7C:64:56:99:A0:63 7C-64-56-99-A0-63
[DEL] Device 9C:B6:D0:01:17:02 ChromeLinux_D3D0
Changing power off succeeded
[CHG] Controller C4:23:60:94:3D:CD Powered: no
[CHG] Controller C4:23:60:94:3D:CD Discovering: no
[CHG] Controller C4:23:60:94:3D:CD Class: 0x00000000
[bluetooth]# quit

 

[Adrian A]

Just got back from a flying session with the Florida Spacemodeling Association. Great flying weather. Temp ~80 degrees. Winds ~5mph. (All our TARC flying sessions had been about 18 MPH...) Got in two Blue Raven flights. One flight has no summary data, but the download files (which I have not interpreted yet) seem OK on the face of things. And... if the time series data work, who needs summary?

The other flight came in at 783 feet and 259.96 ft/sec - summary data. The downloaded data will not save as files on my phone. Will try downloading again.

So one flight has summary and no time series; the other has time series and no summary. (Of course, I still don't know what I'm doing yet...) All equipment recovered in good shape.

More when I know it.

Any other BR flights from customers?

The top priority task for my app developer right now is to improve the downloading and sharing of the time series data. In the current build, sometimes it doesn't download right after the flight, (going to "forget device" in the manage screen and re-connecting takes care of this) and sometimes it also will re-download a flight that has already been downloaded. I expect we will have this fixed in the next release.

One thing that would really improve Flight Data Management would be to store the actual Launch Date and Time in the Summaries rather than the Date of the last firmware update.

This is another issue I'm working on. The launch time is correct, but the date displayed in the flight summary is the last build date. I'm tracking down whether this is an issue in the firmware or the phone app.

One thing to note, though, is that having the correct launch date/time is dependent on the Blue Raven getting connected to the phone before launch. For the simulated flights, this will always be the case since the simulation is initiated by the phone. But if you're at the pad and you power up the Blue Raven, listen for the beeps and walk away without checking for ready-for-launch with your phone, the Blue Raven will be running off of the last build date/time as a placeholder.

If that's not possible due to limitations on the Blue Raven side, then store the Date and Time when the Summary was first copied from the Blue Raven to the Phone ?

This is a good idea for the case where someone launches without first connecting with their phone.

In addition, the low_rate.xlsx and high_rate.xlsx seem to write the time stamps when the flights were downloaded in the Excel rows rather than actual time for the flights.

This is currently the case for for the high rate data, since it takes some math to recover the time from the low rate data and the time synchronization fields. It's on my developer's to-do list. But the low rate data has the correct time of the flight, or at least it worked fine for me just now on a simulated flight.

 

[kjhambrick]

Thanks for the update Adrian !

No worries, I've working on overload at my real job so I don't plan on really messing with the Data until July or so ...

-- kjh

p.s. The Sync Codes are all one really needs for self-consistent Low and High Rate Data so the Flight Data looks fine to me.

p.p.s. The rule for correct Launch Date and Time is good to know ! I had planned to do that to see my Blue Raven Parameters one last time on the Pad but I'll be sure to always do that, even when it's just along for the ride

p.p.s. being a developer, I know that these things take time so I am not complaining or in a hurry for more features.

 

[ihbarddx]

I flew the Blue Raven twice last Saturday (5/27/2023). Both times in a Green Eggs rocket on a D12-7. Wanted to compare 6 DOF tilt angles with tilt angles from 2 other methods:

1) OVAA - off-vertical accelerometer analysis. The easiest way to describe it is - Take a 2-dimensional trajectory simulator off the shelf, and substitute axial accelerometer reading for the sum of thrust and drag accelerations every time you see an expression (implicitly or explicitly) with that sum.

2) WGX - uses a Hamiltonian analysis of combined axial accelerometer data and barometric altimeter data.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE BLUE RAVEN
SWEET hardware. Smooth baro data and inertial data that aren't just for entertainment.
6-dof 'nat!
I like the fact that it's manually calibrated. Fewer data corrections, and I can sanity check things like launch angle that it returns.

I do get cold hands when I launch it, though. Hate to lose it!


==
Flight 1: Apogee occurred at about 9 seconds








Correspondence of OVAA or WGX with BR is rough.
Correspondence between OVAA and WGX is very close.

==
Flight 2: Apogee occurred at about 9 seconds





Correspondence between OVA and BR is excellent up to apogee.
Correspondence between WGX and BR is very good up to apogee

None of the 3 methods did well beyond ejection. WGX and OVAA require that the rocket be following its nose (aerodynamic stability).





So even the 6 DOF data are not representative after apogee. OVAA data are similar. WGX data, which (to be fair) employ barometric data (But not identically to a simulation), go merrily along until the tilt angle hits 180 degrees. Then they hit a singularity.




OK. I'm beginning to ramble.

 

[ihbarddx]

For completeness



The Baro data end at 200 feet AGL. It was an odd flight. The summary file had nonsense (e.g.; max altitude=0), but the spreadsheets were intact.
But then it was my first experienced. Prolly did something wrong.

 

[kjhambrick]

Very nice analysis Larry.

OVAA and WGX look very interesting !

Can you share the masses of loaded rocket before the flight and the mass of the motor before and after the flight and the diameter of the rocket or better, a .ork file ?

Thanks !

-- kjh

p.s. oops !

I get it ... these flights were in an Estes "Green Eggs" Rocket !

I'll see if I can find the .ork

OMG, I think I want to steal your cutting board mount and buy a Green Eggs Rocket for Ellie and Evie so we can fly the Blue Raven at the School Yard whenever we want to !

Never too early to start learning Newtons Laws and a little Rocket Science

I suppose I'll have to buy a Blue Raven for them as a team or maybe even one-each

My wife Steph doesn't question my spending when it comes to the Grand Kids

And I'll be able to camouflage my spending for a couple orders for me too

 

[kjhambrick]

Larry --

I went back to work on my ( behind-schedule ) project and I was suddenly hit by a distracting Idea ( more like a question )...

Not having onboard GPS nor a compass transducer prohibits all the analysis I would eventually like to do ... but ...

1. Take the GPS coordinates of the launch rod with your Phone before the launch.

2. Take the GPS Coordinates of the Rocket where it landed.

3, Calculate the trajectory of the Rocket from liftoff to apogee using the 6-DOF inertial data.

4. Guestimate the trajectory of the rocket under the chute given #3 and #2 and the Pressure Altitude -vs- time Data

Could one not kludge a kml file for the flight for Google Maps ?

Maybe this has already been done ?

It would be a very rough estimation but it might work ?

Anyhow, back to work.

-- kjh

 

[kjhambrick]

Larry --

I was looking at the Estes Green Eggs Rocket and I see it has a transparent payload bay.

Are you worried about the effects of direct sunlight on the Pressure Transducer ?

There are known issues with the effects of direct sunlight on the chip.

Does your cutting board mounting system block direct sunlight from the underside of the Blue Raven ?

I also found the Estes Olympus for $16.99 at Hobby Lobby -- same rocket more or less, with different colors and different fins.

One difference is the payload tube of the Green Eggs is tinted green while the Olympus has a clear tube.

Maybe the green tint blocks the nasty frequencies from sunlight ?

Or maybe your rolled up cutting board is blocking sunlight ...

Is the material translucent and if so, what color is it ?

Anyhow enough !

Now I am REALLY going back to work

-- kjh

 

[ihbarddx]

Larry --

I went back to work on my ( behind-schedule ) project and I was suddenly hit by a distracting Idea ( more like a question )...

Not having onboard GPS nor a compass transducer prohibits all the analysis I would eventually like to do ... but ...

1. Take the GPS coordinates of the launch rod with your Phone before the launch.

2. Take the GPS Coordinates of the Rocket where it landed.

3, Calculate the trajectory of the Rocket from liftoff to apogee using the 6-DOF inertial data.

4. Guestimate the trajectory of the rocket under the chute given #3 and #2 and the Pressure Altitude -vs- time Data

Could one not kludge a kml file for the flight for Google Maps ?

Maybe this has already been done ?

It would be a very rough estimation but it might work ?

Anyhow, back to work.

-- kjh

That's the beginnings of a great idea, right there!

 

[ihbarddx]

Larry --

I was looking at the Estes Green Eggs Rocket and I see it has a transparent payload bay.

Are you worried about the effects of direct sunlight on the Pressure Transducer ?

There are known issues with the effects of direct sunlight on the chip.

Does your cutting board mounting system block direct sunlight from the underside of the Blue Raven ?

I also found the Estes Olympus for $16.99 at Hobby Lobby -- same rocket more or less, with different colors and different fins.

One difference is the payload tube of the Green Eggs is tinted green while the Olympus has a clear tube.

Maybe the green tint blocks the nasty frequencies from sunlight ?

Or maybe your rolled up cutting board is blocking sunlight ...

Is the material translucent and if so, what color is it ?

Anyhow enough !

Now I am REALLY going back to work

-- kjh

As you say, the altimeter was mounted on a piece of 1.25 mm cutting board plastic. That plastic was curved around the inside of the instrument compartment leaving only about 1/4 of it open for the vent hole. The tint was dark green. So, yes, the thought had crossed my mind.

 

[ihbarddx]

Very nice analysis Larry.

OVAA and WGX look very interesting !

Can you share the masses of loaded rocket before the flight and the mass of the motor before and after the flight and the diameter of the rocket or better, a .ork file ?

Thanks !

-- kjh

p.s. oops !

I get it ... these flights were in an Estes "Green Eggs" Rocket !

I'll see if I can find the .ork

OMG, I think I want to steal your cutting board mount and buy a Green Eggs Rocket for Ellie and Evie so we can fly the Blue Raven at the School Yard whenever we want to !

Never too early to start learning Newtons Laws and a little Rocket Science

I suppose I'll have to buy a Blue Raven for them as a team or maybe even one-each

My wife Steph doesn't question my spending when it comes to the Grand Kids

And I'll be able to camouflage my spending for a couple orders for me too

Launch mass was 107 grams both times. Motor was D12-7 both times.

 

[cerving]

Larry --

I was looking at the Estes Green Eggs Rocket and I see it has a transparent payload bay.

Are you worried about the effects of direct sunlight on the Pressure Transducer ?

There are known issues with the effects of direct sunlight on the chip.

Does your cutting board mounting system block direct sunlight from the underside of the Blue Raven ?

I also found the Estes Olympus for $16.99 at Hobby Lobby -- same rocket more or less, with different colors and different fins.

One difference is the payload tube of the Green Eggs is tinted green while the Olympus has a clear tube.

Maybe the green tint blocks the nasty frequencies from sunlight ?

Or maybe your rolled up cutting board is blocking sunlight ...

Is the material translucent and if so, what color is it ?

Anyhow enough !

Now I am REALLY going back to work

-- kjh

I've flown the Hobby Lobby version of that rocket (the Olympus) for altimeter testing, and the biggest issue isn't the transparency of the payload tube, it's that it's really thin. Easy to crack it... you'll probably end up replacing it with a piece of BT60 like I did with mine.

 

[kjhambrick]

Good Info cerving.

Maybe I'll replace it from the get-go and avoid any issues with sunlight on the Pressure Sensor at the same time.

Thanks !

-- kjh

 

[ihbarddx]

Here are a D12 thrust curve and a Green Eggs Cd/Speed curve from Blue Raven data taken on 27 May. I have a 2-dimensional simulator, which can take these data and essentially reproduce the flight. This sort of thing would be useful for TARC teams, wishing to adjust launch weight to reach a specified altitude. (Yes. There are other ways, and there are things like wind. It's still a leg up.)