As I mentioned in another thread, I am interested in using some of the DIY electronics available today like the Arduino family of microcontrollers to create affordable instruments for homebuilt aircraft. All the components for a DIY GPS: an excellent GPS receiver and antenna, microcontroller, back-up (or primary) battery, display and controls can be had for about $100-150. And it would be small, easily fitting in a standard instrument hole or maybe a little portable device stuck with velcro on the glare shield.
I am not talking about creating a moving map, highway-in-the-say, all-singing, all-dancing competitor to a fancy Garmin or the latest GPS hardware and software for your Apple or Android tablet. Rather I am talking about something very simple, just a navigation aid for VFR flight that you could program with the 50-100 nearest airports or other waypoints near your home field. In flight, you just select the appropriate local destination and it keeps you on course, more like an old-fashioned NAV course-deviation indicator (CDI) than a modern mapping GPS.
John Benedict of Gipsi Navigation tried something similar with his Gipsi voice-only GPS that just reads out your course and speed or the distance and direction to your desired waypoint or the nearest airport when you press a button, so you keep your eyes looking outside. His Gipsi app for Android also keeps the distractions to a minimum. (That's a shameless but non-commercial plug, as those links are both to posts on my own Clutton FRED site.)
So here's my question...what information do you really NEED in a basic GPS, and what can you do without?
The types of displays I have in mind are numeric (numbers only), alphanumeric (numbers and letters) and graphic (a representation without numbers or letters). For this purposed
MINIMUM
Your ground track (numeric)
Your speed (numeric)
Selected waypoint (alphanumeric)
Distance to waypoint (numeric)
Course deviation indicator (graphic)
OPTIONAL
Your GPS-derived altitude (numeric)
Direction to waypoint (graphic)
Direction to waypoint (numeric)
So at a bare minimum, I think we're talking about four sets of numbers or numbers or numbers and letters with a graphic course correction indicator. That's two about you (course, speed) and two about your destination (name, distance). The deluxe version would include two additional values, one about you (GPS-derived altitude) and one about your designation (direction to waypoint) plus a graphic representation of the latter.
What do you think?
I am not talking about creating a moving map, highway-in-the-say, all-singing, all-dancing competitor to a fancy Garmin or the latest GPS hardware and software for your Apple or Android tablet. Rather I am talking about something very simple, just a navigation aid for VFR flight that you could program with the 50-100 nearest airports or other waypoints near your home field. In flight, you just select the appropriate local destination and it keeps you on course, more like an old-fashioned NAV course-deviation indicator (CDI) than a modern mapping GPS.
John Benedict of Gipsi Navigation tried something similar with his Gipsi voice-only GPS that just reads out your course and speed or the distance and direction to your desired waypoint or the nearest airport when you press a button, so you keep your eyes looking outside. His Gipsi app for Android also keeps the distractions to a minimum. (That's a shameless but non-commercial plug, as those links are both to posts on my own Clutton FRED site.)
So here's my question...what information do you really NEED in a basic GPS, and what can you do without?
The types of displays I have in mind are numeric (numbers only), alphanumeric (numbers and letters) and graphic (a representation without numbers or letters). For this purposed
MINIMUM
Your ground track (numeric)
Your speed (numeric)
Selected waypoint (alphanumeric)
Distance to waypoint (numeric)
Course deviation indicator (graphic)
OPTIONAL
Your GPS-derived altitude (numeric)
Direction to waypoint (graphic)
Direction to waypoint (numeric)
So at a bare minimum, I think we're talking about four sets of numbers or numbers or numbers and letters with a graphic course correction indicator. That's two about you (course, speed) and two about your destination (name, distance). The deluxe version would include two additional values, one about you (GPS-derived altitude) and one about your designation (direction to waypoint) plus a graphic representation of the latter.
What do you think?
