Xtracer XC Tracer V1.0 User manual

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

Quick Start Guide

XC Tracer is a proven and reliable flight instrument for paraglider pilots, using data multiple

sensors (9 DOF IMU, pressure sensor, GPS to compute the real time climb rate and altitude,

avoiding the undesired time lag that conventional variometers suffer from due to data

filtering. The GPS also provides real time flight speed and direction. All the relevant data is

then sent in a custom data string to an iOS or Android tablet or phone via Bluetooth Low

Energy. Of course the variometer still indicates the lift / sink rate with beeping tones!

Use the velcro to attach XC Tracer to the shoulder strap of your harness, or to your cockpit,

or onto your thigh. (NB. Do not attach it to your helmet or hang it round your neck using a

cord!)

Switch on XC Tracer by pressing and holding the red button until you hear beep-beep. The

GPS will then search for a fix. The vario will make some beeping sounds once the GPS has

a fix, and the orange LED will start blinking every 2-3 seconds. Don’t worry if you forget to

switch on XC Tracer before taking off, you can switch it on whilst flying.

The vario won’t beep on the ground, but as soon as you’re flying XC Tracer will indicate the

lift / sink rate with beeping tones. XC Tracer has four volume settings: mute, gentle, medium

and loud. You can change the volume setting with a short push of the red button, always

cycling from mute –gentle - medium –loud –mute –gentle etc.

Once you’ve landed, turn off XC Tracer by pressing and holding the red button until you hear

beep-beep (after approximately 3 seconds). XC Tracer will then switch off and the LED will

stop blinking.

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

Introduction

XC Tracer is a proven and reliable flight instrument for paraglider pilots. Many pilots use XC

Tracer for competitions and for long XC flights. The lag-free indication of lift / sink makes it

much easier to find and core thermals than when using a conventional variometer. You can

also use XC Tracer as an IGC logger –the files are accepted by the FAI for competitions.

XC Tracer has a built-in lithium polymer battery –when fully charged the battery will power

XC Tracer for more than 14 hours. The battery is charged using the Micro USB cable that

was shipped with XC Tracer. The device as a built-in Bluetooth Low Energy BLE 4.0 module

–the BLE strings that your phone, tablet or e-reader needs are configured in the XC Tracer

configuration file. A list of compatible iOS and Android apps and their corresponding BLE

string seetings can be found on www.xctracer.com.

Of course XC Tracer also indicates the climb / sink rate with beeping tones and the good

thing is that you can modify the tone settings using the tone simulator on www.xctracer.com.

Mounting

XC Tracer uses data from a 9-DOF IMU (9 Degrees Of Freedom Inertial Measurement Unit),

and from a pressure sensor, to compute the real-time climb rate and altitude, avoiding the

undesired time lag that conventional variometers suffer (due to data filtering). For this reason

mount your XC Tracer in such a way that it moves as little as possible whilst you’re flying.

Important: make sure the XC Tracer isn’t dangling from a cord or attached to your helmet.

The best approach is to attach XC Tracer to your cockpit, or on the shoulder strap of your

harness, or on your thigh.

Switch On/Switch Off

Turn XC Tracer on by pressing and holding the red button until you hear beep-beep. Next the

battery charge status is indicated by a series of beeps (this feature is described further

below). It will then take a further 5-60 seconds for the GPS to get a fix. XC Tracer will then

make beep-beep-beeeeep and it’s now ready for flight.

Turning XC Tracer off is just the same –press and hold the red button until you hear beep-

beep. XC Tracer will write the log file to the SD card and switch off.

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

Battery Indicator

After switching the device on the battery charge status is indicated with a sequence of short

beeps:

5x Beep means that the battery is charged 95% or more.

4x Beep means that the battery is charged 75% or more.

3x Beep means that the battery is charged 55% or more.

2x Beep means that the battery is charged 35% or more.

1x Beep means that the battery is charged 15% or more.

When the battery is less than 15% charged you will hear a constant beep for one second

after switching the device on.

After indicating the battery charge XC Tracer’s GPS now searches for a fix. A beep-beep-

beeeeeep indicates that the device is now ready for flight.

Adjusting The Volume

XC Tracer has 4 volume settings: Mute, gentle, medium and loud. You can change the

volume setting with a short push of the red button, always from mute –gentle - medium –

loud –mute –gentle etc.

Charging the battery

You can charge the battery using the Micro USB cable that was shipped with XC Tracer. A

red LED indicates that the device is charging. Once fully charged the red LED turns off and

the green LED turns on. The red and green LEDs are only used for indicating charging

status. These LEDs are only on when XC Tracer is connected to a power source.

Low battery power

XC Tracer’s low-voltage detection will switch the device off if the battery voltage drops below

3.3V. (NB. The log file is written to the SD card before the device turns off).

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

XC Tracer Configuration File

Connect XC Tracer to a computer using a Micro USB Cable and once connected, switch the

device on by briefly pressing the red button until you hear a beep-beep-beep. XC Tracer is

now running in USB-MSD (Mass Storage Device) mode. XC Tracer’s internal Micro SD Card

will appear as an external drive in Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder. You will find a PDF

copy of the user manual on the SD card, and also the XC_TRACER.TXT configuration file.

Editing this file in Notepad (Windows) or Text Editor (Mac) allows you to adjust XC Tracer’s

settings. The various options are described below:

# XC Tracer Configuration File

serialNumber=20C38FE9E556

Serial number of XC Tracer, is used for the IGC logger.

firmwareVersion=XC_Tracer _V1.0_R01

Indicates the device’s firmware version.

reset=no

Setting reset=yes resets XC Tracer to the factory default settings. In order for this to work all

the entries below reset=yes must be deleted, otherwise the same settings will be read in

again. Reset=no is the default setting.

# supported Bluetooth protocols are None, XCTRACER, LK8EX1, LXWP0, FlyNet, and

BlueFly

Select the BLE protocol her. NB. Only one protocol can be selected at once. Please check at

www.xctracer.com which protocol to choose for your app.

bluetoothProtocol=LXWP0

In this case the LXWPO protocol will be will be used.

forwardGPSSentences=yes

With forwardGPSSentences=yes the NMEA strings from the GPS will be sent directly over

BLE. Again, please check at www.xctracer.com if this is necessary of not for your App.

# supported log formats are None, IGC, and KML

Here you can choose the log format that will be saved on the SD card. You can log nothing,

or you can log a signed IGC file for XC Contest and the like, or you can log a KML file that

you can import directly to Google Earth. IGC files are logged at 1Hz, and KML files are

logged at 5Hz, meaning that position and altitude will be logged 5x per second.

logFormat=KML

With logFormat=KML you will record a KML file. With logFormat=IGC wou will log an IGC file,

and with logFormat=None nothing will be recorded.

logOnlyWhenFlying=yes

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

When logOnlyWhenFlying=yes is set then a log file will be recorded once the GPS has

recorded a speed greater than 4m/s. The logging will get stopped when you have landed.

When you make a toplanding the log file will be stopped, and a new log file will get created

when you take off again. When logOnlyWhenFlying=no is set then a log file will be recorded

as soon as you switch on XC Tracer, and the logging will only be stopped when you switch

off the device.

pilotName=Koni Schafroth

Enter your name here. Please don’t use accidentally use any tabs as they will invalidate the

IGC file. Spaces are fine.

passengerName=

You can enter the name of a tandem passenger here if you like.

gliderType=Gin Carrera

Enter your glider make and model here.

gliderId=14049

Enter the immatriculation number (if you have one) of your glider here.

# create your own vario tone settings below

beepOnlyWhenFlying=yes

When this is set XC Tracer will be silent before takeoff. This is very helpful when you have

configured some kind of a thermal sniffer. With beepOnlyWhenFlying=yes the variometer will

be silent until XC Tracer detects a climb/sink rate of +/- 0.75m/s for roughly 2-3 seconds.

With beepOnlyWhenFlying=no the variometer will beep not only in flight, but also when you

walk or move.

setVolume=2

There are four volume settings, 0-3. With this option you set the volume that the vario will

use for beeping. When beepOnlyWhenFlying=yes is set then the vario will be silent until you

fly. Once you’re flying the vario will beep with the volume that you have set. Remember

though, that you can change the volume during flight with a short press of the red button.

ClimbToneOnThreshold=0.2

With this setting the vario will begin to beep when the climb rate is higher than 0.2m/s. When

you want to use a thermal sniffer then you can set ClimbToneOnThreshold=-0.5 for example.

In this case the vario will begin to beep when the sink rate is less than -0.5m/s. In this way

you can adjust the beeping tone so that you know when you’re flying in lifting air, despite the

fact that you’re actually sinking gently. This can be helpful to find and core thermals in weak

conditions.

ClimbToneOffThreshold=0.1

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

With this setting the vario will stop beeping when the climb rate is below 0.1m/s. You can

also use negative values here, for example -0.51m/s when you use a thermal sniffer.

SinkToneOnThreshold=-3.0

The sink tone will be activated when the sink rate is below -3m/s.

SinkToneOffThreshold=-3.0

The sink tone will be deactivated when the sink rate is less than -3m/s.

tone=-10.0,200

tone=-3.0,280

tone=-0.51,300

tone=-0.5,300,800,5

tone=0.09,510,600,5

tone=0.1,510,600,50

tone=1.16,579,527,50

tone=2.67,698,450,50

tone=4.24,824,360,50

tone=6.0,1037,283,50

tone=8.0,1314,219,50

tone=10.0,1661,190,50

You must define exactly 12 tones. Additional tones will be deleted from the configuration file,

and missing tones will be complemented with values stored in the Eeprom. The tones must

be defined ascending from tone 1 of -10m/s to tone 10m/s of tone 12.

Important: Please avoid using exactly the same climb rate on adjacent tones as it will create

problems.

tone=1.16,579,527,50 means that with a climb rate of 1.16m/s the vario will beep with a

frequency of 579Hz, that the complete tone interval will last 527ms, and that the tone will be

audible for 50% of the tone interval. This is a typical tone that is used when indicating

climbing.

tone=-3.0,280 means that with a sink rate of -3.0m/s a tone of 280Hz will be emitted. As soon

as the sink rate changes the tone frequency also changes, depending on the configuration.

It‘s a good idea to only set sink rate and frequency for the sink alarm, and not set tone

interval and duty cycle. This creates a nicer sink tone (not that a sink tone is ever nice!)

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

You can create your own tone settings using the tone simulator on www.xctracer.com and

then copy and paste them to the configuration file, or you can simply copy and paste other

people's tone settings to the configuration file.

XC Tracer doesn't actually save the new configuration into its internal memory until it starts

up in normal flight mode. So, press the red button briefly to unmount / eject the device from

your computer, disconnect it from the USB cable, then turn XC Tracer on as normal.

Important: Always close the configuration file before you unmount / eject XC Tracer!!!

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

XC Tracer Firmware Update

Connect XC Tracer to a computer using a Micro USB Cable and once connected, switch the

device on by briefly pressing the red button until you hear a beep-beep-beep. XC Tracer is

now running in USB-MSD (Mass Storage Device) mode. XC Tracer’s internal Micro SD Card

will appear as an external drive in Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder. Download the

newest firmware for XC Tracer V1.0 from www.xctracer.com and copy the new firmware

using drag and drop to the SD card. Now press the red button briefly and the new firmware

will start to be installed. During installation XC Tracer will make a few beeps, then delete the

firmware file from the SD card and finally switch off. The new firmware is now installed and

the device is now ready to use.

Important: The information about the firmware version will only be updated once the device

has been started up in normal flight mode.

If the firmware you copy to the SD card is the same version as the one that is already

installed then XC Tracer will simply delete the firmware from the SD card. It’s impossible to

install incorrect firmware on the XC Tracer–all that happens is that the incompatible firmware

remains on the SD card waiting to be deleted by the user.

Troubleshooting

In the rare event that XC Tracer doesn’t respond when you push the red button, you can

perform a hard-reset by pressing and holding the red button for approximately 1 minute. The

battery will then get disconnected from the electronics. After that you can restart XC Tracer in

flight mode, and the device will be functional again.

Warranty

XC Tracer grants a 24 month warranty for material and workmanship. Unsuitable or improper

use (for example strong impact, water landing, opened enclosure, software modification etc.)

normal wear and tear (battery) are excluded from the guarantee.

User Manual XC Tracer V1.0 Rev 01 22.2.2016

Technical Data

Time-lag free indication of climb / sink rate

Data transmission to cell phone / tablet / e-reader using BLE 4.0

Many compatible Apps for Android / iOS

IGC / KML Logger

Extremely easy operation

Firmware update by Drag & Drop

User configurable acoustics / tone setting with tone simulator at www.xctracer.com

State of the arte electronics including a 9-DOF IMU, GPS, BLE and mems pressure sensor

Runtime with fully charged battery min. 14h

Size: 57.5 x 57.5 x 19.25 mm

Weight 61g

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