"Do It Yourself" airborne proximity warning device

On 12/09/2013 04:22 PM, Linar Yusupov wrote:

I would like to present you PDF slides of one DIY R&D project.
The slides are about open platform airborne proximity warning device.
It operates at ISM band radio but also capable to receive ADS-B reports at aviation frequency.

I wonder how easily this device could be converted into one that can
transmit glider airspeed during a winch launch back to the winch driver?
It would require an extra hardware module with a pressure sensor to
measure pitot/static pressure, an analogue to digital converter, a USB
interface and additional software in the main radio unit.

You would need a 2nd radio device in the winch coupled with a suitable
display unit.

Dedicated devices for transmitting airspeed from glider to winch have
been made before, both on an experimental/development basis as well as
on a commercial basis. However every glider that gets winched from a
site needs the device to benefit from the technology.

The proposal describes a low cost anti collision device. If it could be
extended to provide winch launch airspeed feedback, it would provide an
additional function at an incremental cost. It might be attractive for a
club where the whole fleet is targeted for fitting of these devices, to
incorporate this additional functionality, if that club also operates a
winch.

Obviously this device is an alternative to Flarm. Adding this new
functionality might differentiate it enough from Flarm to create a niche
market.

Good luck with your project.

Ian

On Thursday, December 19, 2013 1:23:08 AM UTC+4, Ian wrote:

I wonder how easily this device could be converted into one that can
transmit glider airspeed during a winch launch back to the winch driver?

Ian, the functionality you've mentioned about is falling into category of
"remote monitoring of an aircraft's telemetry".
There could be numerous applications of that functionality. One of the examples
is a first solo flight. Instructor, while on the ground, can prevent inadvertent low altitude stall.

Ground station device ("winch" device is your case) could be not necessarily "dedicated device".
Beacause of commonly used Wi-Fi technology, average Android tablet will likely be able to receive
and display the telemetry from an aircraft doing a close traffic pattern work.
Provided that tablet's built-in or external USB module is supported to work
in "monitor mode" ( http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers ) .

Sensors, such as barometric, are typically low power consumption devices.
It is not necessary to feed them from USB bus. They can operate from a coin-sized battery for weeks
while submitting the measurement data troough Low Energy Bluetooth ver.4 protocol.
One known good example is the SensorTag ( http://www.ti.com/tool/cc2541dk-sensor ) USD25 device from Texas Instruments.
One can attach similar sensor to the pitot tube and submit data to Argus PM module by Bluetooth.


What I can do for now is - I can create a "Feature requests" list. And I'll put the count "1" on this particular feature.
When once upon a time the counter's value will become sufficent and there will be enough volunteers
to contribute something into this project - I will suggest them to implement this feature.