Android app released under GPL

The android app has now been released under the GPL. You can find the source on GitHub. 

Website and ordering prototypes

I put together a simple website to summarize the important stuff. Also you can now purchase limited quantities of the prototypes.

http://alistairdickie.com/blueflyvario

Prototype 0.4b

I have updated the hardware slightly for the next batch of prototypes. The circuit board size and layout is almost exactly the same, and it is still in a TicTac box. The new v4 circuit diagram is below.

Essentially, I have just added a line from pin 17 of the PIC to pin 5 of the RN42. This allows me to hold the RN42 in reset. I updated the PIC code to do this if the battery voltage is too low on start (below 3.6V). This means it is impossible to connect via bluetooth if the battery is too dead. If you are connected, it will keep on discharging all the way past 3.6V. To provide some feedback to the user, on startup the green LED2 now flashes fast if the battery is full, if it is below 3.6V it flashes slow (1 second on/off).

There is also a test point (TP1) to access PIO4 on the RN42 if that is needed. 

Android App Updated

Just a minor bug fix to stop the "BlueFlyVario has stopped working" that was happening when you exited the app. It was the way I was shutting down the audio stuff. All fixed now. It should push out via Google Play today. 

Audio Updates

I just updated the audio aspects of the app, pushed the code to GitHub, and uploaded version 0.3b(4) to Google Play. Apart from a few little bug fixes the new things are:

• Added preferences (in Setting|Vario|Audio) for:
• Vario Audio Threshold - Above this value the vario starts beeping. The default is 0.2m/s
• Vario Audio Cutoff - Below this value the vario stops beeping. The default is 0.05 m/s. This means that the vario continues to beep during the range 0.5 to 0.2 m/s. 
• Sink Audio Threshold - Below this value the the sink Alarm sounds. The default is -2.0 m/s. The current sink alarm is a pleasant female English voice saying "Sink-Sink-Sink..." Should you not want to hear it set the sink alarm to something like -10. 

The sink alarm audio file is currently not user settable. I intend to do that at some stage. In the meantime I am seeking a better default sink alarm sound. I am not quite sure what the best sound is. Although I am sure there is something better than being told over and over again that you are in sink. If you have suggestions let me know.

I have not implemented it yet, but I do intend to change the speed of playback if the sink is greater (more sink = slower playback = lower pitch).