Hi Paul.
I never used the commercial version of XCSoar, but John Wharington and myself
took the code that was released then and named it version 4. I have pretty much
never used anything else for cross country since then (late 2005). I helped
with some of the beta hardware building and testing for the Vega, and used that
as my glide computer.
Initial setup was:
* GPS -> Vega glide computer -> ipaq 1900 XCSoar 4
and then updated to
* FLARM -> Vega glide computer -> ipaq 1900 XCSoar 5
and this year
* FLARM -> Vega glide computer -> Altair XCSoar 6
I built all my own cables from scratch. Made a few mistake, wires were too thin
for charing initially. Voltage drop was only about .25 volts, but it was enough
to cause the ipaq not to charge.
However with my new setup, they are just short RJ45 UTP cables for
communications, and direct wires for everything else. I am currently in the
process of a rebuild of my glide connections to my SZD36a Cobra - then the Vega
will have input for Brakes, Speed control (via trim), and Wheel up/down.
XCSoar being software more than hardware makes your job a little harder.
Opportunities might be higher, but combinations of hardware is greater. If
anything I would look at how to connect older windows mobile devices and more
modern Android devices to Flarm. Flarm is probably the easiest to deal with. No
one is manufacturing the whole experience yet for Android, but you can build
your own cable/box with an IOIO card, a couple of other components and mounted
in a box.
Although I fly my own glider with the Vega & Altair, I also fly club gliders,
and it would be nice to have a Dell Streak mini and a little box I can plug
into the output connector (RJ45) on the FLARM and be up and running.
On the older windows mobile front, it would also need a DCDC converter. Lots of
people speak against using cheaper regulated controllers because you
effectively throw away 60% of your power. This is true, however the
requirements for my old iPaq were so low, it was fairly minor point. My old
radio chews most of my power. But some combination of DCDC converter,
regulator, and components to again connect the RJ45 output from the FLARM
(which I believe includes 12 volts through from the input) would be ideal.
Once you get into all the other glide computers there is yet more variation on
cables etc. It depends then if that hardware accepts NMEA through their device.
E.g if glide computer outputs NMEA, but doesn't get FLARM in, then you need to
have two serial ports into your device. This can be done on the IOIO and
Altair, but I don't believe any of the older iPaqs do multiple serial ports.
I am personally very excited about your involvement Paul, and have bought
equipment from you in the past - it is nice to have your interested. I am happy
to spend more time answering questions if it helps. I also think it would be
worth talking to the guys on the dev list about their progress on building an
IOIO controller for Android, because I believe they are making their designs
free, it would be worth teaming up with someone to build them - if you don't
know any one, maybe SWIFT avionics in Australia who build the OZ Flarm etc.
Good luck.
Scott
> Questions:
> - What hardware platform (PDA/PNA/phone) are you running XCSoar on?
> - What GPS are you using with XCSoar? Is it built-in to your PDA/PNA or
> connected to your PDA using a cable connection, or BlueTooth, or…?
> - Is your PDA/PNA connected to a soaring flight computer? If so, is it a
> cable connection or BlueTooth, or …?
> - If you are using a BlueTooth connection – is it reliable and easy to use?
> - If you are using cables, where did you get them? I’d love to be able to
> supply Goddard built cables for XCSoar users. Any PDA/PNA connector wiring
> diagrams would be greatly appreciated.
>
> I’m sorry for these basic questions. I look forward to your feedback.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Paul Remde
> Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
> Serving the soaring community
> http://www.cumulus-soaring.com
> 1-952-445-9033
>
>
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threats, fraudulent activity and more. Splunk takes this data and makes
sense of it. Business sense. IT sense. Common sense.
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