GPS Tracking and Logging...finally

Well it's about time that things are coming together. I have one week left before the launch, so it's getting a bit tense. I have decided to scrap the idea of steering the payload back to the launch location. I don't have the time to make the mechanical pieces, the code would be simple though. I also scrapped the SD cards since they were not being very reliable. I am now logging the data to the microcontroller's flash memory. I have three things left to finalize. The first is the parachute ejection system, the second is the pressure sensor logging, and the final one is the finishing touches of the payload. I should have it all tidied up by the end of the weekend...I think I've said those words several times on this blog and have yet to live up to it...
Anyway, below are some pictures of a car trip I took with the flight computer GPS logging and my computer tracking the trip live. I've written a windows application to read the serial data coming from my GM862 cellular module. It displays the most current reading and writes all the captured data to a .kml file to be displayed in Google Earth. In Google Earth you can create a network location that points to the .kml file and has a refresh rate so the data is updated in "real time."

• My windows tracking application and source code
• My AVR Studio project for the flight computer firmware
• The tracking application .kml file
• A .kml file created from the flight computer log

My glorious tracking application!

The track generated by my tracking application (~1 GPS point per second)

The track generated from the flight computer log (10 seconds of averaged data per point)