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OG-Tahiti

FlySight GPS

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Navigation aid: By entering a waypoint (by computer or whatever) have the FlySight guide you back to it by making a sound from the direction you should be going (need stereo headphones - also front/back will be tricky, maybe different pitch?). This would be cool for people flying base on their back for navigation, or when there's limited ground visibility due to clouds (yea I know, you shouldn't be jumping, but it happens anyway).



This could be done, but without the stereo output. Although FlySight uses a stereo jack, the left and right channels are connected internally, so they aren't capable of putting out different signals. However, it occurs to me that the same thing could be accomplished (possibly more accurately) using different tones for "go left" and "go right".

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Canopy mode: it would be cool if it gave you feedback while under canopy. When out on a long spot (sometimes you end up in the wrong place), it would be nice to find that optimum glide on your canopy so you have the best shot at making it back.



Definitely. At the moment, FlySight's state is pretty simple--you turn it on, and it starts logging/producing tones. However, there's definitely enough information to distinguish "under canopy" from "in freefall", and separate modes could be used for the two states.

I've put together a "beta" firmware which allows users to set modes for the tone pitch and rate separately. One of the main drivers behind this has been an idea I have for swoopers. In particular, I think it might be helpful if horizontal speed was indicated by the pitch of the tone, and vertical speed by the rate. This would, in principle, allow pilots to practice landing up high, with a solid indicator of when they are flying level, and how fast they're going when it happens.

In the next couple of weeks, I'm hoping to post the firmware somewhere that interested users can download it--perhaps GitHub. Ultimately, I see FlySight partly as a platform for people to experiment with audible indication of position and velocity, and I look forward to seeing what everyone does with it.

Michael

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Would it be possible to connect this device to some kind of HUD screen like Oceanic datamask uses?



It should be possible, provided the display has an external power supply. Basically, a custom firmware could control the two audio lines directly, and use them for digital communication instead. However, it would be a pretty impressive piece of work to get it done.

One thing I've noticed, however, is that visual feedback is much less useful in fast-paced activities like skydiving, compared to something like scuba. In my tests with a 4-digit LED display, I found that just the act of reading the display seemed to take me completely out of the skydive, although it required no change in the focus of my eyes or direction of my gaze. I think it was simply that the part of the brain which parses numbers doesn't parallel very well with the part that's active during a skydive.

Audible feedback, in contrast, seems to parallel surprisingly well. It takes almost no focus to interpret the tones--it's nearly a subconscious process.

Michael

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I use now old installation of Paralog version 5.3.1 (Free Trial) with my Wintec WBT-201.
Can I use this version with FlySight GPS or should I re-install new (at present time 5.3.9 Free Trial ???) version for Paralog?



You'll need to get in touch with Klaus and ask for the most recent beta version, I believe.

Michael

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Ok, I updated the Add-in, and its a bit more complex now.

There is still three things the user has to do manually.
1. Find where the freefall starts and ends, and delete the rows above and below.
2. When you deleted the rows as explained above type "0" in K3.
3. Save the workbook as a xls or xlsx-file.

The Velocitys, Altitudes and Distances will be converted to what you choose (only need to choose once, it will save your setting).

4 Charts are created.

5 columns are added. velH, vel3D, Glide, hDistance and Angle of flight.

Numberformat is set to "0" (no decimals) except on glide (0.000), to make it easier to read.



IMPORTANT
This macro will create a csv-file with the settings you choose.
The file will be created in the folder C:\Flysight\ and will be named FlysightExcelSettings.csv.
If you want to change the settings on the macro just delete the file and open a FlySight GPS CSV-file.


Just as i said in my previous post i can not take responsibillity for damages to your system becasue i dont know how your computer is set up.
But if your computer/MS Excel is "standard" everything will be fine.

Installation Excel 2007

1. Download file. (Flysight.xlam)
2. Place file in your AddIns folder. C:\Users\ \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\AddIns
3. Open Excel
4. Click on the Excel "main button" in top left corner and choose |Excel options|.
5. Click on Add-Ins on the left.
6. At the bottom of the window it says Manage |Go|, choose Excel Add-Ins and press Go.
7. A window with avalible Add-Ins should pop up, mark Flysight and press |Ok|.
8. Close Excel and open a Flysight CSV file.


Below i attached the xlam file, the file that does the job and a samplefile.
The samplefile is the file that is on Flysight webpage.
Please note that the samplefile on the webpage is named sample.csv, files that are created on the GPS is named

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Hi Michael,

When calculating GR does fly-sight make any compensation for change in air-pressure as altitude decreases, similar to SAS/TAS in Pro-Track?

I assume this has a much greater impact on vertical speed rather than horizontal?

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Glide ratio is a constant, regardless of air-pressure.
Higher altitude (thinner air) means increased vertical, but also increased horizontal speed. So of no effect to GR.


Is this true? Just by looking at it I'd say that higher up you get:
1. higher vertical speed because of thinner air
2. less forward drive because of thinner air (this one is iffy)
3. reduced air resistance for forward drive

Do these 3 (2?) really negate or is this a case of "close enough" for practical reasons?
I understand the need for conformity. Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense. -David Thorne

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When calculating GR does fly-sight make any compensation for change in air-pressure as altitude decreases, similar to SAS/TAS in Pro-Track?

I assume this has a much greater impact on vertical speed rather than horizontal?



FlySight doesn't compensate for changes in altitude. Judging by Jarno's response, this has no effect on glide ratio. However, it is something to consider about for vertical or horizontal speed modes.

That said, as far as real-time feedback goes, my feeling is that very few people can tell precisely what tone they are hearing. FlySight's strength is not in the absolute values, but in the changes. This is also why there is no compensation for wind. For an interesting demonstration of the ear's ability to detect change in tone, and not so much absolute tone, check out Shepard Tones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_tone

When viewing logged data after the fact, it may be valuable to correct for these things. I noticed that Paralog seems to compensate for altitude differences in plotted data.

Michael

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Not sure if this is going to work for anyone, but attached here is a start on a Windows Viewer for FlySight data.

Just 'drag and drop' the .csv files into the lower left corner box in the application, and it will automatically add them by date and time. Select one jump and you should basically be able to see the trajectory of your jump in the satalite view, and in the graph tab you can see the altitude, velocities and glide ratio.

The altitude is also displayed in a second graph in the bottom, in this graph you can select a range using the mouse.. this range is then displayed in the top graph.

I included a screenshot for clarity.

DISCLAIMER: no warranty if it doesn't work, make your computer go up in smoke, or other bad things. Many bugs are probably still there, features are missing, etc.
Just let me know what you think, PM me with bugs or other comments.

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Don't use the file menu to open the log files.

Leave them with the .csv extension and drag and drop them onto the bottom left corner of the viewer.

Only open one file at a time as there is a bug if you open multiple files and try to switch between them.

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Hmm, thought I'd tried that first, that's when I renamed the file extension and tried opening. Maybe not. It's working now B|

Could it also provide zoom and pan controls on the map and imperial/metric options for the units please? :)

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

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sorry for the confusion with the file menu and the drag&drop behavior. I'll see what I can do about that.

I basically intended the file menu to allow you to save/load a set of log files... but like LukeH said, there is a small issue I need to fix with selection, which crashes right now..

As for zoom/pan, this is already there, if you click on the map first, you can use to pan, and the mouse wheel to zoom in/out.

imperial/metric options, sure thing, several people have asked for that... right now I just display the units as I get them from the logfile, so I guess that is all meters and meters per second etc..

I guess I need some documentation too ;)

Also, I'd be happy to support other GPS devices, if people want to provide me with the documentation, or files that come from those things. I'm currently trying to import data from the QStar I have.

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K, new version... couple bugs fixed hopefully, and added the unit (imperial/metric) switch.

And for those where the drag/drop didn't work, there is now an alternative maybe less confusing way to import flysight data through the file menu. select the "import csv" option.

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Sorry dude, still not working for me.

I get the error message "Input string was not in a correct format"



Latest version now here:
http://tomvandijck.com/flysight/

I hope the above issue is now solved.
If not, please just email me [email protected] or PM me.

I got a bunch of feature request that I'm working on, and will obviously fix bugs as people run into them. If you have any other requests feel free to email or PM.

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The FlySight firmware source and schematics (as well as source code for the two viewers) are now available on the following GitHub page:

http://github.com/flysight/flysight

In addition, I've started a user/developer wiki here:

http://flysight.ca/wiki

For the moment, changes to the main development branch are moderated through "pull requests". The plan is to keep the main branch fairly lean for now. Additional features can be developed in a separate fork, and easily incorporated into the main branch later on if need be. What I have in mind is to add a page on the wiki where additional compiled firmwares can be listed and shared.

Feel free to PM me with questions/comments.

Michael

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I'm sorry for the spam, but this will actually be the last one I'll post here.

I just made another update.. version 0.2.2.0, which has a ton of new features suggested by several people.

- You can now drag the entire folder from the FlySight Device into the view to import all jumps at once.

- Added online version check, so if I post a new version, at startup the application will notify you of a newer version if available.

- I now import GPX, as well as directly download GPX data from devices supported by gpsbabel. You need to setup the path to gpsbabel in the preferences. I tested it with my QStarZ logger, and it appears to work.

- and a ton more, and work still in progress, but with the auto update I don't need to post anything here anymore, so again sorry for this last spam here.

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