Chapter 7. Bluetooth Low Energy iPhone Rocket

About This Chapter

Prerequisites

Read Chapter 6 first to get a basic understanding of Bluetooth low energy technology and the Texas Instruments SensorTag used in this chapter.

Equipment

You will need an iPhone 4S or later or an iPod 5th Gen or later, running iOS 5 or later; a Texas Instruments SensorTag with the CC Debugger; and various parts for building the rockets. An iPad is best for analyzing the data, and can be used with the smaller rocket to collect data. See Tables 7-1, 7-2, and 7-3 for detailed parts lists. You will also need access to a Windows computer to update the SensorTag firmware.

Software

You will need a copy of techBASIC or techBASIC Sampler, the Flash Programmer, and the 8G firmware for the SensorTag. The Flash Programmer and 8G firmware are free downloads.

What You Will Learn

This project shows how to use a SensorTag as a sensor platform. It is used in two rockets, one that carries just the SensorTag and one that carries both the SensorTag and an iPhone as a recording device.

A Bit of Rocket Science

It was a beautiful fall morning as I carefully packed the parachute, slid in the engine, and installed the igniter in my model rocket. I started the data collection program and slid the payload with a TI Bluetooth low energy SensorTag and an iPhone 4S into the payload bay, as shown in Figure 7-1.

The ST-2 rocket, carrying an iPhone and a TI SensorTag
Figure 7-1. The ST-2 rocket, carrying ...

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