Ground Station

QtQuick desktop app of the ground station + Arduino code of the LoRa

Contribute

QtQuick application

Via the Qt Maintenanced Tool, install the following dependecies:

• Qt 6.4.3
• QtQuick
• QtCharts
• QtSerialPort

Then set up your environement:

1. Clone the repository
2. Qt Creator > File > Open File or Project
3. Browse to the CMakeList.txt file
4. Select the development kit (should be Qt 6.4.3)

Arduino code

1. Install and open the Arduino IDE
2. Install the library "LoRa_E220"
3. File > Open > ./arduino/main/main.ino

Messages

Rocket board — Ground-Station

These messages are sent via radio from the rocket to the ground station (↓), viceversa (↑) or in both directions (↕). All the messages received via radio by the ground-station board are then forwarded to the application via Serial communication. In the case of received [C], the board always repeats back a [C] to the rocket;

code	name	load type	payload description	direction
C	COM check	-	-	↕
E	Error	1 byte	which error occured (see error codes) (not yet implemented)	↓
D	Data	9 float	pressures, temperature, linear acceleration, gyroscope	↓
P	Parachute opened	1 byte	1 for drogue, 2 for main (not yet implemented)	↓
F	Frequency change	1 byte	0 to 81 (see LoRa library)	↑

Internal (serial) messages

To denote the start of a message from the board to the application, a ~ charachter is prepended to the message itself; the size of the payload is then inferred based on the code. In addition to the previous messages, two new ones are used for internal communications (↑ = from app to board, ↓ = viceversa):

code	name	payload	direction
G	Internal COM check	–	↕
L	Local frequency change	1 byte: 0 to 81 (see LoRa library)	↑
R	Frequency rollback	–	↓

The local frequency change issues only the change of frequency of the GS LoRa, and does not initiate the whole procedure of frequency change (which is done using the F message).

The R message is sent when the (complete) frequency change procedure has failed, i.e. no message was received from the rocket at the new frequency.

Errors codes

number	description
1	IMU not working
2	Barometer not working
3	GPS not working

Release

Windows

Following the official guide:

1. Switch to "Release" build type and build the project
2. Copy the generated /path/to/release/build/folder/appground-station.exe file into a new folder
3. Open the cmd in the bin directory inside the Qt directory in your local machine (usually C:/Qt/<version>/<compiler>/)
4. Run windeployqt /path/to/the/executable/you/copied.exe --qmldir /path/to/release/build/folder/ground-station