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Products : Ground Control : Documentation : Quick Tour

A (very) quick tour of uThere Ground ControlTM

Getting started

Run the Ground Control installer (Requires Windows Vista or higher)

Run Ground Control.

Obtain a ".utd" flight data file from your plane, or [download this sample file] (a two hour electric glider flight with many thermals!)

To open the .utd file, drag its icon from your desktop into the Ground Control window, or select File:Review past flight and locate it.

 

Graphs of flight data

Select menu "View: Variables"

Browse through variables, find one of interest, right-click and select "add to strip chart"

Experiment with various functions listed when you right-click on the strip chart window.

Other views

The other windows accessed through the View menu should be fairly self explanatory.

Note: many of these displays are under development or experimental, and some simply don't work. See list below.

Playback

Click on "Play" at bottom right to bring data to life in realtime

 

Position map

View: Position Map

To superimpose a satellite or other map on this window, you currently need to manually enter "registration" data which correlates the pixels in the map image file to latitude and longitude. Add the screenshot of google earth or other map as a graphics file (.jpg, .tiff) to <your user directory>/Documents/Uthere/Ground Control/Maps/ and add an XML entry to <your user directory>/Documents/Uthere/Ground Control/Configuration/map_catalog.xml.

Also note that you can export flight data to a Google Earth .kml file using File: Export: Google Earth.

 

 

Configuration

**** CONTACT jim@uthere.com before attempting this.

Currently, no nice user interface for editing configuration files. You must edit files in <your user directory>/Documents/Uthere/Ground Control/Configuration/ manually.

These files are loaded in a "cascading" manner, starting with <your user directory>/Documents/Uthere/Ground Control/Configuration/master_selected.xml which specifieds a file in the /Master subdirectory, which in turn <includes> files from other directories, and so on.

To generate a ".utcfg" file that Ruby can load, select menu Developer: Create Configuration Download UTCFG.

Error Reporting

The software will generate log files including detailed error reporting if you have created the following directory:

C:\Users\<your name>\Documents\Uthere\Ground Control\Logs

.A new file is created every time you start Ground Control.

If you encounter an error, please retrieve the most recenly genenerated file from the above directory and send to support@uthere.com.

 

In general:

Note that many functions only appear when you right-click on a window.

 

Here's a video showing various screens opened and resized, variables plotted, etc... [video]

Current status / notes

This software is very "pre-release". It is still a work in progress, and there are many functions listed on those menus that are experimental, dead-ends, or only for uThere internal use. We have used it extensively in-house for years during Ruby's development but it is not yet intended as a consumer product yet. For one thing, we plan to provide a "basic" user mode which will hide all but the most essential functions.

GC has been tested thoroughly on Vista 64 bit and Windows 7 32 bit, and tested in past on Win XP.


Here are the screens which are currently supported and used frequently:

File:

(all items)

View:


Heads Up Display (may have problems on slower systems)
Controls (experimental / in-house)
System Status
Events
Instrument Bar
Position Map
Variables
Variable Detail
Strip Chart
Cage (experimental / in-house)

Tools:


Bind Spektrum Receiver
Review Logs

 

Ignore battery, motor, and esc temperature indications. Those are only valid if temperature sensors are connected. (In practice, I've found that with sensible choice of components, there's no need to monitor these temperatures. I haven't hooked up temperature sensors on my own planes for years.)


"Position - Google Earth" sends position updates to in realtime to Google Earth. It requires a 3rd party intermediary application called "GooPs", it was tricky to get it working, and it has been a long time since I have tested it or had a need for it. I'm not sure when it will be resurrected since the most essential info can be presented with a higher update rate without opportunity for issues in the "Position" display inside the GC application, and we plan to continue to enhance that display.

 

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