Flight Recorder
- Hardware
- Disclaimer
- Bill of materials
- Buttons
- microSD card slot
- Barometric pressure sensor
- Quick start
- Settings
- Credits
ATTENTION !
This Flight Recorder is NOT certified by IGC GFAC as an "approved" flight data logger.
And there is no any intention to apply for the certification procedure either soon or in the future.
This equipment is designed to give a simple and affordable way to record a flight:
- straight into IGC 1 data format, and
- direct onto an SD card storage.
1 - A and B record types are the only two supported out of full IGC FR technical specifications.
Below is an illustration of how the recorded file is shown in most commonly used SeeYou flight analysis software:
If you have reasons not to buy a complete product, you may consider to build the device by yourself:
In general a lot of Chinese DIY electronics manufacturers are known to behave this way:
- sometimes they may not apply necessary Q.C. before releasing of a product from factory ;
- they may arbitrary change schematics and electronic components from one batch to the next one ;
- they may terminate manufacturing of a board just few months after initial production.
Because of that, author of Flight Recorder:
- will reject any hardware related claims associated with TTGO T-Watch product. Ask for support from seller or manufacturer ;
- reserves the right to suspend or terminate support of TTGO T-Watch in the firmware at any time.
For the time being ( August '19 ) there were no critical hardware issues reported for current version of the T-Watch product. However things my change over the time...
If you have issues with bringing up your new TTGO T-Watch or just not happy with the product - be prepared to execute your Purchase Protection plan.
| Number | Part | Qty | Picture | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TTGO T-Watch with NEO-M8N GPS (H326) |
1 |  |
AliExpress 1 2 3 Banggood 1 + 2 |
Built-in T-Watch battery's capacity is rated for 200 mAh only.
The battery life time when Flight Recorder firmware is running - about 4 hours. 2
2 - valid for most recent (not released yet) firmware revision.
If you need more endurance - think about external battery or a power bank, like this one:
| Number | Part | Qty | Picture | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magnetic Power Bank Type-C |
1 |  |
AliExpress 1 2 |
Power button function
When unit is Off:
- press and release power button to turn the unit On.
When unit is On:
- when backlit is Off:
- press and release power button to turn backlit on
- when backlit is On:
- press and release power button for 2-3 seconds to put the unit in Sleep mode, or
- press and keep holding the button for 6+ seconds to put the unit in complete Power Off state.
The Watch has 4-pin connector for (optional) external BMP/BME280 I2C barometric pressure sensor:
When the sensor is detected - both pressure and GNSS altitudes will be recorded.
If not - IGC type B records will contain GNSS altitude only.
Use these instructions to start operating with your delivered T-Watch.
To alter logger's default settings onto your own ones:
-
download settings.py file ;
-
copy the file into root directory of your SD card ;
-
edit settings.py file on the SD card as follows -
Substitute:
- 'John Doe' with 'Your Name'
- 'Jessica Alba' with 'Your copilot's Name', if any
- 'Duo Discus' with 'your aircraft's Model'
- 'RF-012345' with 'your aircraft's Registration'
- 'ZZ' with 'your aircraft's tail/CN'
- 'Doubleseater' with 'your aircraft's Class'
While doing these modifications, be careful and keep the syntax within the Python programming language one's.
Your device will likely fail to boot properly otherwise. If this happens to you - remove settings.py file from SD card, then repeat the instructions from the beginning.
| Name | Subject |
|---|---|
| Tobias Bieniek | Python IGC format encoder |
| LilyGO company | TTGO T-Watch |
| Boris Lovosevic | port of MicroPython on ESP32 |
| Lewis He | MicroPython library for AXP202 |
