Experimental Aircraft EFIS

[adamw]

I've been working on a "glass cockpit" for aircraft.
I have the Pine64+ 2GB, and I'm using Ubuntu.
I made a few circuit boards to stack on the Pi connector: a triple-output (12V, 5V, 3.3V) power supply, a GPS/Pressure/9DOF board, and a 6-input thermocouple board.
(If you want to make your own PCBs, PCBway is unbelievably cheap, and my boards all worked...no problem).

On a 1024x600 LCD, I will provide:
- Attitude indicator (from accelerometer)
- Directional Gyro/Compass (from magnetometer and accelerometer)
- True Airspeed (from differential pressure sensor)
- Turn Coordinator (from accelerometer/gyro)
- Altitude (from GPS...though I might add another pressure sensor for added accuracy/backup)
- Vertical speed (from GPS, same comment on pressure sensor)
- Cylinder head temperature (up to 6 cylinders, from thermocouples)
- Exhaust gas temperature (up to 6 cylinders, from thermocouples)
- Moving Map GPS Navigation
- I still need to make another board to handle inputs for engine RPM, fuel level, oil pressure/temp

The GPS module is using Serial Port 1.
The 9DOF sensor board and differential pressure are using I2C (TWI1).
Temperature sensors are using SPI, and I have a bunch of GPIO and decoders to address individual sensors.

So far, I've tested out the I2C and serial port to confirm they're working.
Still waiting for SPI support.
I also have the attitude indicator designed and rendering (via SDL) based on readings from the accelerometer.
It's been fun so far...
Next, I'll do the compass.
After that, I'll start into rendering the moving map GPS navigation.

Thanks to all on the forums for your support!

[Luke]

Wow, what a great project. I'm so impressed. I, as surely many others, would be grateful if you would upload a picture or two of how this looks / is coming along.

[adamw]

Will do.
I'll post some video maybe later this weekend.

Most of my experience has been in deeply embedded stuff, so doing graphics has been a brand-new experience...and it's kind of fun!

[Luke]

Great!

[ViperVi]

Great Project. I would like to see how this is coming along as well. Looking forward to your vdo.

[adamw]

Pictures and video coming shortly...
I was trying to improve the performance, but just learned that there's no GPU support for the MALI.
That's why I'm only getting 1 fps or so.

So, when I do post the video, you'll see it's a little jittery at that slow update rate.

[Luke]

Pictures and video coming shortly...
I was trying to improve the performance, but just learned that there's no GPU support for the MALI.
That's why I'm only getting 1 fps or so.

So, when I do post the video, you'll see it's a little jittery at that slow update rate.

Good stuff

[rickinca84]

Hi, Pine is my first sbc, or microcontroller...
So I read that you have utilized temperature sensor, directly with gpio
I want to start with something simple, like a weather station : temperature/ humidity sensor
It's possible? how?
can you write a simple how to?

[adamw]

Hi, Pine is my first sbc, or microcontroller...
So I read that you have utilized temperature sensor, directly with gpio
I want to start with something simple, like a weather station : temperature/ humidity sensor
It's possible? how?
can you write a simple how to?

Well, there's a million ways to skin that cat.
The first thing you'll need to do is select your sensors.
Some use I2C...others use SPI, some are analog even.

I2C seems to be working really well on Pine, so if possible, I'd find some sensors with I2C output.
Once you've selected which sensor(s) you'll be using (I recommend using breakout boards from Adafruit or something similar to make your life easy), it should be as simple as connecting up the SDA and SCL with jumper wires.

Once you get that far, there are some simple shell commands you can run (I'm assuming you're running Linux) to verify your devices are connected properly, and to read/write data.

[rickinca84]

Hi, Pine is my first sbc, or microcontroller...
So I read that you have utilized temperature sensor, directly with gpio
I want to start with something simple, like a weather station : temperature/ humidity sensor
It's possible? how?
can you write a simple how to?

Well, there's a million ways to skin that cat.
The first thing you'll need to do is select your sensors.
Some use I2C...others use SPI, some are analog even.

I2C seems to be working really well on Pine, so if possible, I'd find some sensors with I2C output.
Once you've selected which sensor(s) you'll be using (I recommend using breakout boards from Adafruit or something similar to make your life easy), it should be as simple as connecting up the SDA and SCL with jumper wires.

Once you get that far, there are some simple shell commands you can run (I'm assuming you're running Linux) to verify your devices are connected properly, and to read/write data.

I choose this cause cheaper and near to me... China was an half cheaper but far far away...
http://www.ebay.it/itm/191847848197 It's a Module BME280 by bosh... or a china fake... so with this i have no need of libraries and realtime kernel, only a script, right?