Effective Ground Systems for Amateur and Research-Oriented Rocketry

The introduction of dynamic ground systems to amateur and research-oriented rocketry projects allows for additional flexibility in monitoring launch data. Effective ground station software provides real-time telemetry, along with tools for live and post hoc data analysis. The presented system implements this through a lightweight cross-platform library, which can be set up to meet diverse requirements with minimal configuration. During flight, recorded data is maintained through a web API, supporting the provided multi-display graphical interface and third-party logging software. The inclusion of command-sending and message-logging functionality allows for remote debugging capabilities. Post-flight analysis is simplified through the documentation of all data in an SQL database. Utilizing a custom packet structure, the ground station maintained a 96.8% packet success rate during testing on an L2 rocket launch with an apogee of more than 475 meters. During that launch, all corrupted and incomplete packets were successfully flagged by the software. Through its modularity and user-oriented interface, this ground station design serves as an effective tool to collect data during both the short burn time of a rocket and during larger, long-term tests. In doing so, the software enables the creation of larger-scale avionics projects with more complex objectives through sophisticated data collection and telemetry.