HUD dashboard development

[the.Legend 54]

@Annik Which type of lens were you using? And did you use them with clear visor or tinted visor? How do they stand against bright daylight?

After deeper investigation and consultations, I'll be experimenting with them because the platform seems very promising, easy to integrate and solves a lot of technical & safety challenges.

If all goes well, there gonna be a pretty cool announcement soon :)

 

[Annik 4]

@the.Legend sorry for the late reply, I have Engo 2 Large with tinted lens and a clear visor on my helmet. They are visible pretty good in a bright daylight (and also brightness is adjustable)

[the.Legend 54]

The first prototype that will be used by someone other than me :)

I've pretty much settled on hardware configuration. There's still some space for optimization (like size for example) but that shouldn't affect the codebase too much.

ENGO 2 indeed pretty good for this purpose. Although there was no SDK for ESP32, I was able to write some basic implementation using the documentation available.

 

Still there's a lot of work to be done. In the sort term:

* Complete "Competition mode' - UI tweaks, navigation, score computation

* Implement data input - home DZ coordinates, altitude offset, target coordinates for competition, etc.

* Stability overhaul

 

In the long run it'd be good to have some smartphone app to manage all the settings, as well as create custom screen layouts, but there's still long road ahead

[Dddddd 1]

On 11/5/2023 at 1:10 AM, Annik said:

What about ActiveLook eyewear platform? It looks like they already did everything necessary. For example Engo 2 glasses are available and have connectivity to Garmin wearables/Android/iOs devices.
Also ActiveLook provides open API to build specific applications, but for me it looks like we even don't need app development - just connect them to Garmin watches and setup what you want to see on the display (needs confirmation from those who have these glasses)

@the.Legend

I have being using ActiveLook glasses as an altimeter for almost one year.
I have a Viso II in my wrist and two audible altimeters in my helmet, so do not fear for my life in this experimental process.

There is a way to create a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) with the software available on the market.
What do you need?

- Patience. I will not work perfectly first time
- Full face helmet. This glasses are not airtight
- Active look glasses. I use Cosmo Vision (discontinued) because they were cheap. But Engo should work.
- An Android phone with barometer. I use an old Samsung S8, which has a refresh rate of 10hz (10 times per second) in the barometer. Pixel 6 and newer may work better, as they had a higger refresh date and accuracy in the barometer. If I am not wrong 25hz. Not tested yet
I would avoid Iphones and Garmin as their barometer refresh date is of only 1Hz (¡¡1 TIME PER SECOND!! Too many things happen in 1 second in freefall)
- XCTrack app. This is a paragliding app, but it have integrated barometer capabilities and ActiveLook
- Subscription to XCtrack PRO (around 1€/$ per month). Being subscribed allows you to edit the active look layout.

How I make it work?
1- In the XCTrack app, create a layout were ONLY barometric altitude is shown.
There are more options as Glide Ratio, distance to a waypoint, etc, but I have not tested them (I am not wingsuiter)

2- Connect to the glasses through bluethooth, etc

3- Prior to the take-off, make the barometric altitude show 0. How?
     a- In the sensor calibration of the app, check the barometric pressure.
     b- Adjust the QNH to the current pressure, so the app thinks you are at sea level. Altitude =0

Jump into the plane, and see your glasses make some magic and the diference with your well paid altimeter.

Things to consider.
- Update rate of the activelook glasses is 1 per second. Do not expect more than that.
- Adjustment of the layout and glasses will take some jumps. If you have a head mounted camera, helmet may rotate slighly backwards, move the glasses up and move the numbers up. Maybe you have to put the numbers down in the layout.
- During the takeoff you will see strange things with the altitude shown. You have just find that your altimeters does not tell you all the truth in order not to fear you. Read about dinamic and static pressure, speed, and how pitot tube works and you will understand everything.
- Do not expect Minority Report result, or fighter HUD. You will not see the altitude all the time. You have to focus your view slightly up and left to see the screen. This is easier and quicker than looking at your cheststrap (moving the head) or your wristband (moving the head and the arm)

If you are intererested in making the same experiment than me, I can record the screen of the configuration steps, or even share a configuration file of the app. Make me know.

This is quite experimental, use additional altitude awareness devices (akka official altimeters) as primary source for altitude awareness

 

Blue and digital skies
 

[the.Legend 54]

So far this prototype that can display whatever data I need, and I'm working on different layouts and overall stability.

Since the device doesn't have a barometer, the altitude is based on GPS. It has some pros and cons:

+ Displays real altitude relative to the ground (after MSL/AGL offset is stored in memory via corresponding menu)

+ Burble does not impact readings - true altitude displayed regardless of back/belly position

+ You see the same altitude as the one used by judges during scoring ( because Exit and Start/Finish gates are read from GPS, and AGL offset if preset in the beginning of competition) - last year during championship there was a case when Visio and FlySight altitudes were different by few hundred meters, and competitors were to exit an aircraft at 3700m AGL according to GPS, not barometer reading

 

- If signal is weak (i.e. too few satellites in view) the altitude readings swing back and forth by astronomical margins (sometimes as much as 400m) - I'm working on improving signal reception

 

With time I'll release a web-tool for creating custom layouts so anyone could see whatever they want (actually, the tool is already in working state, but now I need to implement support for JSON definition of layouts)

[Annik 4]

@the.Legend can you give more information about your project? It looks like you are designing new hardware for the project, but I didn't get, why you decided to do that? It seems possible to use just phone or garmin watch to get desired functionality.
Also it would be interesting to check if Flysight 2 is capable to work with ActiveLook. Flysight 2 has bluetooth connectivity and also an open source firmware, so it might be way easier to get desired results just adding some programming to the equation.
Blue skies
 

[Annik 4]

Just got a message from FlySight guys about ActiveLook connectivity. They are aware of the glasses platform and have already done some of the development to connect both devices. It looks like we can get a working solution in a few months.

[the.Legend 54]

When I started, there was nothing of that kind, so through trials and errors it's now where it is.  Smartphones aren't good enough because their GPS is too slow (only 1 reading per second).

Since I don't have Garmin watch I can't comment on that.

 

ActiveLook became available only about a year or two ago, but when this project has started there was no hardware on the market that could provide the solution at a reasonable price and scalability.

 

Yes, FlySight 2 has technical capabilities of working with ActiveLook, it's only a matter of firmware update. Although its UI will be a bit cumbersome because there's only 1 button on FlySight and proximity sensor on goggles (which doesn't recognize swipe directions, only that there's a swipe). Or it will rely on config files that have to be uploaded from PC.

I've been considering making custom firmware for FlySight but at this point it's faster for me to experiment with the code I already know because functionality is constantly changing.

Who knows, maybe at some point it will be merged into FS.