I just uploaded an updated version of the BlueFlyVario app to Google Play. The update will take a few hours to propagate.
New Hardware Settings
The main new feature is the addition of new hardware settings to work with the new version 7 prototype hardware. You should read this previous blog post to understand how hardware settings work. The new hardware settings for version 7 allow the BlueFlyVario to output pressure and vario data in new ways. This means it is compatible with a wider range of applications via the bluetooth SPP connection. The new settings are:
You will only see the new hardware settings if you have the new version 7 prototype hardware or have upgraded the firmware on version 6 hardware. Firmware upgrade requires a microchip programmer and the hex file. If you think you can do this yourself contact me and I will send you the hex file (or you can send me your version 6 prototype and I will do it for you).
Other changes
Most other changes to the app are minor such as bug fixes associated with some European locals that use ',' as a decimal separator.
I have added rudimentary support for the new BlueFlyVario_Twin, which has two pressure sensors and can be used to calculate pitot speed and total energy compensated vertical speed. More on that in a future blog post when the new device is ready for release...
New Hardware Settings
The main new feature is the addition of new hardware settings to work with the new version 7 prototype hardware. You should read this previous blog post to understand how hardware settings work. The new hardware settings for version 7 allow the BlueFlyVario to output pressure and vario data in new ways. This means it is compatible with a wider range of applications via the bluetooth SPP connection. The new settings are:
- outputMode (default = 0) - Sets the output mode. The available output modes are:
- 0 - The standard BlueFlyVario output mode. This sends raw pressure measurements in the form:
- "PRS XXXXX\n": XXXXX is the raw (unfiltered)pressure measurement in hexadecimal pascals.
- 1 - The LK8EX1 output mode for use with LK8000. This sends pressure and vario data in the form:
- "$LK8EX1,pressure,altitude,vario,temperature,battery,*checksum\r\n": pressure is sent as a decimal integer number of pascals, altitude is not sent (99999 is sent instead), vario is the decimal integer vertical climb rate in cm/s, temperature is in degrees Celsius (1 decimal place), and battery is the battery voltage of the on-board battery (2 decimal places).
- 2 - The LXWP0 output mode for use with a range of apps:
- "$LXWP0,loger_stored (Y/N), IAS (kph), baroaltitude (m), vario (m/s),,,,,,heading of plane,windcourse (deg),windspeed (kph)*CS": The BlueFlyVario only has a partial implementation of this sentence. It only outputs the baroaltitude and vario (all other fields are blank). Note that baroaltidude is determined from filtered pressure using the outputQNH setting.
- 3 - The FlyNet protocol:
- "_PRS XXXXX\n": In this case XXXXX is output as the filtered pressure stream. The filtering parameters used are those from the other hardware settings.
- outputFrequency (default = 1). Sets the frequency of output sentences from the BlueFlyVario. The BlueFlyVario hardware runs on a 20ms cycle (50 cycles per second). If outputFrequency is set to 1 then the hardware will send a sentence on each cycle. If set to 2 it will send a sentance every second cycle and so on (if set to 50 is will send a sentence every 50th cycle, i.e. once per second). You might use this with the LK8EX1 output mode to send a sentence five times per second (set to 10).
- outputQNH (default = 101325). See outputMode = 2 above.
You will only see the new hardware settings if you have the new version 7 prototype hardware or have upgraded the firmware on version 6 hardware. Firmware upgrade requires a microchip programmer and the hex file. If you think you can do this yourself contact me and I will send you the hex file (or you can send me your version 6 prototype and I will do it for you).
Other changes
Most other changes to the app are minor such as bug fixes associated with some European locals that use ',' as a decimal separator.
I have added rudimentary support for the new BlueFlyVario_Twin, which has two pressure sensors and can be used to calculate pitot speed and total energy compensated vertical speed. More on that in a future blog post when the new device is ready for release...
