Usage Guide

This guide explains how to use Starship Analyzer for extracting and analyzing telemetry data from SpaceX Starship launch videos.

Getting Started

1. Place your Starship launch videos in the flight_recordings folder

2. Run the application:

   python main.py
   

3. Follow the interactive menu to process videos and generate analyses

Workflow

Flight Recording → Frame Processing → Data Extraction → Analysis → Visualization

1. Input: Add SpaceX webcast recordings to the flight_recordings directory
2. Processing: Extract telemetry data through parallel frame processing
3. Analysis: Clean data, calculate derived metrics, and detect patterns
4. Output: Generate visualizations and comparison plots in the results directory

Available Commands

The application's main menu provides several options:

Menu Option	Submenu	Description
Video Processing		Options for extracting data from videos
	Process random video frame	Test extraction on a single frame to validate setup
	Process complete video	Extract data from all frames in a recording
Data Visualization		Options for visualizing extracted data
	Visualize flight data	Generate plots from processed launch data
	Visualize multiple launches data	Compare metrics across different flights
Download Media		Options for downloading Starship launch videos
	Download from launch list	Download videos from curated list of Starship launches
	Download from custom URL	Download videos from custom YouTube or Twitter/X URLs
Toggle Debug Mode		Enable/disable detailed diagnostic information
Exit		Exit the application

Logging System

The application maintains detailed logs to help with troubleshooting:

• Each session creates a timestamped log file in the logs directory
• Log files follow the format starship_analyzer_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.log
• Console output shows essential information while full details are saved to log files
• System hardware and software details are logged at startup for troubleshooting
• For debugging issues, check the latest log file in the logs directory

Debug Mode

Debug mode provides enhanced logging and diagnostic information to help troubleshoot issues:

• Enable/disable debug mode directly from the main menu using the "Toggle Debug Mode" option
• When enabled, detailed diagnostic information is logged about:
  • OCR processing and text extraction
  • Engine detection with pixel values
  • Memory usage and CUDA device information
  • Detailed data processing steps and statistics
• Use debug mode when:
  • Troubleshooting extraction issues with specific frames
  • Diagnosing performance problems or accuracy issues
  • Developing new features or fixing bugs
  • Analyzing the internal behavior of the application

Performance Tips

• Processing high-resolution videos requires significant computing resources
• GPU acceleration dramatically improves OCR processing speed (5-10x faster)
• Adjust batch sizes in the menu for optimal performance on your system:
  • For systems with <16GB RAM: Use batch sizes of 5-10
  • For systems with >16GB RAM: Batch sizes up to 20-30 are effective
• Consider pre-processing large videos to trim them to relevant segments
• The application automatically detects and uses CUDA if available
• For large videos, increase sample rate (e.g., process every 5th frame) to speed up processing

Example Commands

Processing a video file:

# From the main menu, select:
# 1 -> Video Processing
# 2 -> Process complete video
# Then select your video file and configure processing parameters

Visualizing extracted data:

# From the main menu, select:
# 2 -> Data Visualization
# 1 -> Visualize flight data
# Then select the processed data file to visualize

Downloading a launch video:

# From the main menu, select:
# 3 -> Download Media
# 1 -> Download from launch list
# Then select the launch you want to download