Featherweight Tracker Update - Build 130+

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1. It says it has been tracking Tracker#1 for "323d 2...", now with the update it now shows the whole thing, which is good, but how do I get it to stop tracking?
That should be the number of days since it last had a valid location for that unit. If you let it get lock (were you inside?) then the time since last valid location should go away (until you turn it off again).

2. The header on the GPS page flashes something with a rose colored fill once per second. It seems like it is toggling between the two trackers' headers, showing one most of the time and flashing the other for maybe 0.1 seconds, except it is not that simple. When I select the tracker that is on, it flashes blank with the rose back ground. When I select the tracker that is off, it flashes between the two different tracker headers. Tracker#2 has been tracking for 436d 11:56:28, 29, 30,...
This behavior is undesirable, is there a way to make it stop flashing stuff?
The sold 'rose' color would tell you that communication has been lost (and you should see the days/hour/min/sec increasing since last known location). The flashing is telling you that it is communicating but still doesn't have lock. Once you get lock, then the red and flashing should go away.

3. Now that Tracker#1 has found some GPS satellites, when I select Tracker#1, it does not flash the header at all. When I select Tracker#2, which is still turned off, it it flashes the two headers with about equal time, with Tracker#2 still at 436d, etc., but no color banner. The GPS display fields seem to still be showing Tracker#1 data. What does all this mean and what is it trying to tell me?
Do you have both trackers set to the same frequency? If so, it is trying to show that Tracker #2 hasn't been heard from for 436 days and Tracker #1 keeps interrupting with it's location.

4. With both on and Tracker#2 not having any satellites yet, when I select Tracker#2 the banner flashes rose colored but the header content stays the same. When I select Tracker#1 the header flashes back and forth between the two headers with Tracker#2's header in color. With some satellites, it just flashed alternately with no color banner, but with Tracker#2 it still does not flash the other header. This behavior is unclear. Why does it flash for one but not the other? When it is flashing the header back and forth, who's tracker data is it showing?
It sounds like you have them on the same frequency? Generally you would not want to do this as they can interfere with each other - and the display is trying to give you some indication of that.

5. Lastly, I set it down for less than a minute and sometimes it goes back to the tablet's home screen [sometimes it does not], and sometimes from the home screen when I then get back into the app, it has lost part of its knowledge of the ground station and the trackers [but still has comm traffic with both], other times it is fine. This also happens at the LCO table sometimes, which is very disconcerting. Is there a way for it not to need constant attention to keep tracking?
Let me try to reproduce this with my iPad mini. I know it sometimes goes back to the home screen but I don't think that is something I am doing (I don't know how to do that). I know with my phone, I left it on all night, but set it for the screen to not go to sleep, and it was still up the next morning. Let me try that with my iPad with a screen sleep setting and without.

The short answer in regards to the 'rose' flashing and the time since last lock is that it was intended to give a good indication of "you probably don't want to launch right now because something isn't right". With lock and only one unit on that frequency, I think you will see the normal white background etc. I'm certainly open to better ways to convey a "go for launch" vs a "hold at T-3 seconds" ...

Thanks! - and based on 436 days and 323 days, you need to fly more... :)
 
I updated last night too. I'm also getting the red flashes. It appears to have something to do with looking for the other tracker. (I have two trackers and one base unit.)

I love this GPS system, but I wouldn't mind a little feedback about how to manage multiple tracking units on one base system. I have never flown the two of them in the same day. I'm honestly a little nervous about doing that.

Hmmm.... are they both on the same frequency? Let me go back and work with two units and one tracker and see if something doesn't make sense... I'll try to check it out this evening.
 
Hmmm.... are they both on the same frequency? Let me go back and work with two units and one tracker and see if something doesn't make sense... I'll try to check it out this evening.

They are both on the same frequency. I had planned on using them independently and didn't want to mess with changing the frequency on the ground station. Maybe that is creating more trouble than it's worth.
 
They are both on the same frequency. I had planned on using them independently and didn't want to mess with changing the frequency on the ground station. Maybe that is creating more trouble than it's worth.

Once they are both paired, then 'changing the frequency' should just be going to the GPS page and selecting the tracker to track from the right spinning wheel. FIP should command the GS to change to the trackers frequency and start tracking that unit instead. You get confirmation from the title bar changing to be the new selected tracker and should see BlueTooth and Lora symbols. Note that when you first change it, you might see a flash or two of the old tracker in the title bar as the queue of what has been received clears and then you should see just the new tracker (as long as they are on different frequencies).
 
One more note on flashing red. In using two different units last night, I attached a GS to power to charge and two trackers also to power. The trackers got lock pretty quick but the title bar was still flashing red ('rose') and the GS number of satellites showed the red "dash dash" or sometimes some small number (<5) in yellow. Looking at the GS battery voltage, it was down close to 3 volts so the GPS of the GS could not get a lock (too low of voltage). This would have been an inappropriate time to launch as the GS doesn't know *where you are*, so won't be able to tell you where to go to find the rocket. If you did launch in this situation, voice may not work correctly (the GS doesn't know what altitude you are at so doesn't know how high the rocket is) *BUT* all the tracker packets would have been saved - including the last known location. Once the GS was charged enough to get lock, then it could tell you how to find it. I wouldn't normally launch in this situation, but the rocket still could be found eventually.

Note that in the above situation, I could maybe use the phone GPS as instead. [GS doesn't have GPS lock, but phone does.] This is in fact what will be used in a future Ground Station variant where we leave off the GS GPS and just use the radio and the phone's GPS to track to the rocket.
 
Kevin/Adrian,
I flew with my trackers for the first time this weekend, I have to tell you this is an outstanding product you have. Both times walked me directly to my rocket. The first flight landed 1000' further back behind the trees than I thought it landed, saved me a long search.
One thing I noticed before each flight was that IFIP had crashed and I had to reset. I was using the most currently available update.
Is this a common occurrence?
 
I haven't had that happen.

I've flown the tracker in at least 5 flights over the past two months. Every time it has worked flawlessly. Last week, the rocket flew out of sight and buried itself in a ditch full of tall weeds. I followed the arrow on the app right to it.
 
I thought it was me at first but we had another flier who had the same issue before his flight, newer phone.
 
There was actually an issue that got us to build 158 where it was crashing on the track screen (arrow to the rocket screen). I think I fixed that but think the GPS screen might be susceptible as well to what caused that. Does anyone have any data as to whether they were on the GPS screen when it crashed (screen with the coordinates) vs the other screens...?

Thank you for the any info you can provide!

/kjs
 
On the GPS screen every time.

Thanks! I can't currently reproduce where I think it is coming from (and what the crash logs indicate) but I'm going to apply the same fix as was done the Track screen and get it to some of you to try. It sounds like your setups demonstrates it better, so I'll get it to you to verify, and then I'll dig up some older devices to test with.
 
Always on the GPS screen. Thank you for posting the update. I will try to download it when I get home.
 
I did three tests of an hour each today with no issues so far. I'll keep trying some things. Thanks for your help so far.
 
I did three tests of an hour each today with no issues so far. I'll keep trying some things. Thanks for your help so far.

I ran it overnight on an iPhone 5c and an older iPad mini and had no issues. I'm going to make a minor tweak and make it build 161 and make it available to everyone.
 
I use a 5c so that bodes well. Will be flying your system tomorrow at MWP
 
I use a 5c so that bodes well. Will be flying your system tomorrow at MWP

verify you have access to the public link above for build 160. if not, email me. and remember the crash happened in the GPS screen; I think the track screen is clear. you have my email if you need me.
 
verify you have access to the public link above for build 160. if not, email me. and remember the crash happened in the GPS screen; I think the track screen is clear. you have my email if you need me.

Will do. I have not had issues with crashes so I may fly the current firmware build today. I updated it on Wednesday of this week.
 
I upgraded to 160 on Thursday and did suffer one crash today at MWP. In my case it was when I had navigated away from iFIP. I got a pop-up notice that it had crashed so I hit share - but didn't fill in any details since I was waiting for my flight and re-started iFIP as fast as I could :)
 
I upgraded to 160 on Thursday and did suffer one crash today at MWP. In my case it was when I had navigated away from iFIP. I got a pop-up notice that it had crashed so I hit share - but didn't fill in any details since I was waiting for my flight and re-started iFIP as fast as I could :)
My tracker crashed at MWP today also. One was damaged but (i think) still works.
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My tracker crashed at MWP today also. One was damaged but (i think) still works.

Yikes, wow that is quite a crash. I lost mine when the Green Goblin shredded. It was in a Lab Rat case but the forces were strong enough to pull the eye bolts open so I doubt any of the tracker survived the shred. Any way it stopped tracking so it's dead :(
 
any word if an update is coming before this weekend? Have a launch saturday so would like to know if i need to get an update in beforehand.
 
any word if an update is coming before this weekend? Have a launch saturday so would like to know if i need to get an update in beforehand.

The public link earlier in this thread should let you install Build 160 which has the primary crash on the GPS screen fixed. I'm working on an update to that which should be out tonight or tomorrow evening.
 
Kevin, I updated my phone with 161, and did I see right that it said there were no firmware changes from Build 158? What about the devices that have 160 installed, as they do have firmware changes from 158?
 
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