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How much interest would there be in an Ultrasonic Altimeter for ultralights?

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jrsteensen

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2012
Messages
60
Location
Sierra Vista, AZ
How much interest would there be in an ultrasonic altimeter for ultralights? I found a sensor with a 10 meter/30 foot range, self calibrating for temp/humidity. Should be useful at 60mph forward speed according to the vendor, down to zero. Environmentally sealed.

I'm building/programming a prototype now.

Features:
  • Visual readout in feet or meters (daylight readable 2x16 OLED)
  • Audio output to a 3.5mm stereo jack - plays a series of tones every (TBD) feet/inches, goes to a solid tone at 6 inches. Able to enable/disable the R/L channels independently.
  • Offset - to allow you to account for the vertical distance from the mounting location down to the landing gear. Adjusting this offset does reduce the range by the same amount.
  • Runs on 12V down to 3V input.
  • Sensor is at 10hz, which means plenty fast.

I'm going to do some ground testing (i.e. stick it on the top of a piece of pipe, move at a good clip down a dirt road, and have a passenger raise and lower it) then (since I don't have my ultralight done yet) find someone to flight test it for me.

This unit will be a dash top - I will be able to build it into a instrument form factor if there is desire in the future. Package shouldn't be more than 3.35x1.75x3in total. Sensor will be mounted remotely.
 
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