the Fluctus flight computer

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Ulyu

Ulyu

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Hi everyone!

You may have seen the "Fluctus" flight computer over the last few weeks. I'm the developer behind it.

Fluctus is an all-in-one, advanced and versatile model of rocketry flight computer. It embeds all the features of a flight recorder, deployment altimeter, telemeter and gps tracker, in a single and compact module.
Its first version is now up and running, already tested and available for sale.
If you are curious, a complete presentation and documentation of it are available on my website : silicdyne.net

I saw a few people talking about it here on this forum, so I'm starting a thread to answer any questions you may have, and discuss about this project I've been developing for over 2 years now.

PS: For those of you who have pre-ordered on Wildman Rocketry, your units are already manufactured and being shipped to the U.S. as I speak :wavingsanta:.
 

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Ulyu said:
Hi everyone!

You may have seen the "Fluctus" flight computer over the last few weeks. I'm the developer behind it.

Fluctus is an all-in-one, advanced and versatile model of rocketry flight computer. It embeds all the features of a flight recorder, deployment altimeter, telemeter and gps tracker, in a single and compact module.
Its first version is now up and running, already tested and available for sale.
If you are curious, a complete presentation and documentation of it are available on my website : silicdyne.net

I saw a few people talking about it here on this forum, so I'm starting a thread to answer any questions you may have, and discuss about this project I've been developing for over 2 years now.

PS: For those of you who have pre-ordered on Wildman Rocketry, your units are already manufactured and being shipped to the U.S. as I speak :wavingsanta:.
Click to expand...
In your documentation you state "(Note: no license required for this band in the USA.)" This would be true if your product has gone through FCC compliance testing. If you are planning to get this product tested and certified, and if you're not already doing channel hopping, you would need to add that, or change the bandwidth to be >= 500 kHz.

FCC part 15 is what you will want to look into if you haven't already.
 
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Adrian A said:
In your documentation you state "(Note: no license required for this band in the USA.)" This would be true if your product has gone through FCC compliance testing. If you are planning to get this product tested and certified, and if you're not already doing channel hopping, you would need to add that, or change the bandwidth to be >= 500 kHz.

FCC part 15 is what you will want to look into if you haven't already.
Click to expand...
Hi Adrian,

Yes you are right, I will update my documentation with more complete information about this.
I know that my OEM radio circuits are compIiant with the FCC regulation 47 CFR 15, but I haven't passed a certification yet for the products themselves. It's something I'm going to look into as soon as possible.
 
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Ulyu said:
Hi Adrian,

Yes you are right, I will update my documentation with more complete information about this.
I know that my OEM radio circuits are compIiant with the FCC regulation 47 CFR 15, but I haven't passed a certification yet for the products themselves. It's something I'm going to look into as soon as possible.
Click to expand...

If you are using a self contained "Radio Module" that has certification, there is no need to certify the rest of that product. That is why they sell certified modules; just like used on LoRa Wans on 900mhz.
 
Art Upton said:
If you are using a self contained "Radio Module" that has certification, there is no need to certify the rest of that product. That is why they sell certified modules; just like used on LoRa Wans on 900mhz.
Click to expand...

Hi, yes I'm aware of that, but the self-contained radio I am currently using don't have "passed" an actual FCC certification. I will contact the manufacturer to see if there's anything they can do.
 
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Ulyu said:
Yes I'm aware of that, but the "radio modules" I am currently using don't have passed an actual FCC certification. I will contact the manufacturer to see if there's anything they can do.
Click to expand...

Also to be Clear, the FCC does not do any testing for a certification anymore for decades and decades. Generally the manufacture submits a testing report to the FCC and they then Issue you a Cert number.,
 
Got a call from the "Wildman" himself today. He has the Fluctus in stock now and asked me if he can send all my Black Saturday order that isn't Hazmat. That wasn't a very hard question to answer.
Just got shipping info., USPS says it will be here on Thursday the 18th.
 
Ulyu said:
Hi everyone!

You may have seen the "Fluctus" flight computer over the last few weeks. I'm the developer behind it.

Fluctus is an all-in-one, advanced and versatile model of rocketry flight computer. It embeds all the features of a flight recorder, deployment altimeter, telemeter and gps tracker, in a single and compact module.
Its first version is now up and running, already tested and available for sale.
If you are curious, a complete presentation and documentation of it are available on my website : silicdyne.net

I saw a few people talking about it here on this forum, so I'm starting a thread to answer any questions you may have, and discuss about this project I've been developing for over 2 years now.

PS: For those of you who have pre-ordered on Wildman Rocketry, your units are already manufactured and being shipped to the U.S. as I speak :wavingsanta:.
Click to expand...
Do you happen to have any tilt limiting on the fluctus?
 
I just received mine from Wildman. I must admit that I am really excited to put this in one of my rockets, first flight will be in my polecat fatman as backup to the RRC3 system (to verify operational setup) and then onto my Wildman 98 Blackhawk to be flown at Balls 32 in September. one feature the Fluctus has is a remote Runcam 2 record on/off command that i am looking forward to using, I just need to figure out how to wire it up to make it work.
 
Just heard about this device on the Rockets VLOGS YouTube video. Before I purchase via Wildman I wanted to check out the ground station software on my laptop. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to like high res laptops and I can't seem to expand it.

-Chris

1706022235655.png
 
Here is the screen settings for this laptop:

1706024114993.png

nvrdunn said:
Just heard about this device on the Rockets VLOGS YouTube video. Before I purchase via Wildman I wanted to check out the ground station software on my laptop. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to like high res laptops and I can't seem to expand it.

-Chris

View attachment 625650
Click to expand...
 
Hi,

I have taken note of this scaling issue on Windows 11 and I'm working on a patch as I speak.
I'll release it on my website in a few hours.
Sorry for that.
 
Seems interesting. Be more interesting, for me at least, for separate components. Combined together pricewise about same as Featherweight, but without the mobile apps. But certainly not at the Eggtimer price point.
 
TR24 said:
Is there plans to sell just the flight computer in case it were to be damaged so that the system can still be used? And if so, do you have a price range?
Click to expand...

Hi, I plan to allow that, yes. I'm not doing it at the moment because I don't have enough volume and it's much easier to manage bundled productions.
When I'll offer this option, the flight computer alone will be between 70 and 80% of the current retail price (so on wildman, between 210 and 240 USD).
 
Ulyu said:
Hi, I plan to allow that, yes. I'm not doing it at the moment because I don't have enough volume and it's much easier to manage bundled productions.
When I'll offer this option, the flight computer alone will be between 70 and 80% of the current retail price (so on wildman, between 210 and 240 USD).
Click to expand...
Great, thanks!
 
Hi everyone,
Just a few news here on what has been made during the last 2 months.

The softwares has been extensively updated, with a host of new features including:
- better speed measurement and apogee detection
- better telemetry speaker
- better user interface (yes... finally scalable windows !!)
- integrated flight event configuration examples
- new RunCam™ remote-control feature
- propulsion and aerodynamic characterisation tools for BlackBox data
- and some other non-critical upgrades (the full changelogs are here)

The documentation has also recently been updated, so feel free to take another look if you're already a Fluctus owner.

But the best thing about these updates is that they're not the last! I'm already working on the next one, which will include an automatic emergency pyro cutoff for short-circuits protection, telemetry display in imperial units, plus lots of other exciting stuff...)

Among these exciting things, there's one I promised a few weeks ago:
The Fluctus Telemetry mobile app:
app.png
This application is used as an extension to the original PC software. It's a real solution for people who don't want to carry around a Windows laptop on the launch pad (which I admit used to be a bit of a hassle 😅).

As for now, the Fluctus Telemetry application can:
  • Display basic telemetry info (status, times, altitude/speed/accel/angle/batt/continuity)
  • Track Fluctus on a map and guide you to your rocket
  • Send commands (arming, custom rules, pyrotechnic manual triggers, runcam remote-control, etc...)
  • Speak telemetry out-loud during the flight (as in the original PC software)
You can expect a first version of this application to be released in less than a month, but only on Android at first.
(The explanation to that is that I'm unfortunately going to have some troubles implementing the wired communication between the ground station and an iPhone running iOS, so the release might come a little later).

If you have any feature you would like on this up-coming app, this is the moment to let me know!

PS: Wildman Rocketry just received a few dozen Fluctus flight computers, so if you don't already have one, you know what you've got to do!
 

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Thanks, @Ulyu! Ordered in March...patiently waiting on the order.

On question I had...how do you recommend having 4 charges (main, main backup, drogue, drogue backup), with only 3 pyro outputs?

Will print out the new documentation...
 
Wait.... Runcam 2 remote control? Whoa whaaat... Android app?? OK that did it.... I'm buying one. Hello, Tim, please add to my bill....

Thanks @Ulyu for all your hard work and supporting the community. As an altimeter junkie and electronics geek you made my day. (DONT TELL MY WIFE)
 

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