A two-part telemetry system for model rockets: an airborne package that logs flight data onboard while transmitting it live, and a ground station that receives and graphs the stream in real time. The goal was to stop treating a flight as a single number recovered afterward and start seeing the whole profile as it happens.

The flight package pairs a BMP388 barometric pressure and temperature sensor for altitude with an LSM303 6-DoF accelerometer and magnetometer for acceleration and orientation, running on a Raspberry Pi with a PowerBoost 500 supplying regulated power. Data is written to onboard SD storage and transmitted simultaneously, so a lost radio link degrades the live view without costing the flight record. An onboard camera captures video for the duration of the flight, and electronics are secured in the airframe on 3D printed mounts.

Downlink runs over an RFM95W LoRa transceiver, chosen for long range at low power, which is the correct tradeoff for telemetry where packet rate matters far less than maintaining a link at altitude. A packet protocol handles transmission and receipt acknowledgment between the rocket and the ground station. On the ground side, incoming packets are graphed live in Processing, with scripted control to start, stop, clear, and replay recorded data, letting a flight be reviewed after the fact against the live capture. Post-flight analysis covers peak altitude, speed, and acceleration.