Level 0 Guide

Target Audience

Suppose for a moment you want to avoid electronics and software all-together. Maybe you tried programming once and wrote some fine spaghetticode before deciding that programming was not for you. Maybe you burned your hand on a soldering iron and have lasting trauma. Maybe Professor Gary Gillespie gave you a professionalism infraction. It happens.

This guide is for you.

For those who wish to avoid designing and programming their own flight computer from Arduino and breakout board components, this guide provides a few recommendations for off-the-shelf avionics packages that can be simply purchased and flown on the rocket.

Purchase an All-in-One Package

Luckily, the problem of finding the maximum altitude of a small rocket is a solved problem. There exist many all-in-one avionics packages that accomplish this task. This level of avionics involves just purchasing one of these solutions.

RocketsEtc maintains a list of the notable ones here. This might be a good place to start looking.

My Recommendation

If you just want something that works, I have heard good things about the PerfectFlite FireFly. It has a fairly lean pricetag ($29.95) along with accessible documentation.

The module itself can report max altitude through a pattern of LED blinks. If you get the optional field display (Additional $34.95, but can be shared across teams) then you can get additional information about the flight.

Considerations

• Only your have a full understanding of your specific avionics needs. Be sure to do thorough research to select the best pre-built solution for your rocket.
• Read any documentation and datasheets carefully. Different altimeters have different accuracies, operating parameters, data recording capabilities, and other features. Make sure you are covered.