>>Do you think a GPS system could be developed that would be able to
>>download data that would let you see the flight in 3D? That would be too
>>cool!!!
Yes if the market was there, one can buy small GPS units that are
about the size of a large postage stamp with a weight of ~8grams.
Add an antenna ~8 gms and a small battery and one could have a system
good for several hours the size of a mini servo.
This is purely a question of market size, If one were to sell only 1 unit,
it would cost 10K+, if one sold 10K units then it would be about $150.00
To give you an example:
The 8gm GPS is made by uBlox, it has an internal CPU that is idle
40% of the time, so it has more than enough CPU horsepower to log
all of the flight data, the caveat being that the software development kit that
allows you to download your own custom code to the ublox receiver
is $5000 (this was the price 18 months ago when I last checked)
Next Item to consider:
without local correction GPS altitude is not so accurate, +/- 50m and
barometric pressure has al sorts of problems with a good static reference
port that is not effected by airspeed.
The GPS can be made much more accurate, (+/-10cm) , but this requires more
equipment
a ground station that records the current atmospheric distortions of the
GPS signals,
and a more capable receiver in the plane. One can do amazing things with the
technology, it is simply a problem of wether or not the market would
support such efforts.
Using the similar (slightly larger) technology I built a small unit the
size of a computer mouse to
put in my teenagers car......
The whole purpose of the device:
Friend: How fast is this car......
Son: I can't show you, my Dad is an AS***OLE and put this
tracking device in that records when I speed.
I don't even need to look at the data, it's just there as a reminder that
"Dad" is watching and as a outlet
to avoid peer pressure.
Paul
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