DIY Electronic Nerd Project Ideas for Aviation

ArrowFlyer86

ArrowFlyer86

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Chicago suburbs
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The Little Arrow That Could
Several years ago I got big into DIY electronics as a hobby. The vast majority of my time was spent building Arduino projects, but I dabbled a bit in Raspberry Pi too.
In the peak of my obsession with those I went overboard buying up all sorts of microcontrollers, sensors and servos and I kind of forgot how much stuff I amassed. Due to work, flying and general life priorities I abandoned it for a few years.

But now since I have some free time (work is slow + airplane is in annual) I've busted those boxes back out and I'm looking for something to build, preferably something applicable to aviation.

Anyone have any suggestions on aviation-esque stuff that would be fun/challenging? I know most things you can buy commercial off the shelf these days but its more fun to build it yourself and see it work.
 
If you could cobble something together with a raspberry pi to measure rotary position of a small bellcrank with a Hall effect sensor or some other airgapped sensor I would be eternally grateful :)

Nauga,
and his jugular vane
 
nauga said:
If you could cobble something together with a raspberry pi to measure rotary position of a small bellcrank with a Hall effect sensor or some other airgapped sensor I would be eternally grateful :)

Nauga,
and his jugular vane
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Curious what such a component would do? I'm guessing it's a component where you wouldn't want something like a rotary encoder directly touching the bell crank to measure the position?
 
Probably too large a project, but I thought it would be cool to build a glass/steam combo. It would be covered by a couple of wooden "doors" that, when closed, would give the appearance of steam gauges (the doors would have holes in them and the screen would put representations of circular steam gauges behind them). When you open the doors, you get the traditional glass layout.
 
Not super challenging but useful… in a year I’ve collected SIX working radios that’ll never see the inside of a plane again.

I’ve sourced power supplies, audio amps and old microphones… gonna make base stations out of them housed in nice hand dovetailed wooden boxes. I’ll build the antennas.

You could probably build the power supply’s and audio amps even…
 
Become a ham
Build a ADS-B receiver
Build a radio for the hangar
Lots and lots of options

73
 
nauga said:
If you could cobble something together with a raspberry pi to measure rotary position of a small bellcrank with a Hall effect sensor or some other airgapped sensor I would be eternally grateful :)

Nauga,
and his jugular vane
Click to expand...
Would you need a display on that, or just some sort of output to some other device?
 
It will be recorded by the same raspberry pi that is managing the sensor. I’ve got the basics working on that I can read the sensor and record it, but I’m having trouble getting decent resolution over a -2” nonlinear range of motion.

To the OP’s questions, I’m using a Hall effect sensor because pots add too much friction for one application and the resolution of affordable encoders doesn’t begin to approach the resolution I’m looking for.

Nauga,
and more orange wire.
 
He about an arduino based engine monitor? Something simple that can measure CHT/EGT/Oil temp/Oil Pressure sensors. A cheap and simple monitor would be great for simple experimental and ultralights and the arduino seems like an ideal platform for measuring and displaying simple sensors.
 
nauga said:
It will be recorded by the same raspberry pi that is managing the sensor. I’ve got the basics working on that I can read the sensor and record it, but I’m having trouble getting decent resolution over a -2” nonlinear range of motion.

To the OP’s questions, I’m using a Hall effect sensor because pots add too much friction for one application and the resolution of affordable encoders doesn’t begin to approach the resolution I’m looking for.

Nauga,
and more orange wire.
Click to expand...
Can't do it with a tone ring like ABS on a car?
 
nauga said:
.....the resolution of affordable encoders doesn’t begin to approach the resolution I’m looking for.
Click to expand...

What resolution do you need, and what do you consider "affordable?" I've used Netzer encoders in missile applications and found the resolution and accuracy to be extremely good, though we did have a few quality issues. I have no idea what the pricing is like in low quantities.

Example - https://netzerprecision.com/products/dl-66/ 20 bit resolution, 0.005 deg accuracy.

Heads up: Netzer is an Israeli company, so they might be a little, uh, preoccupied at the moment if you try to contact them.
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
Anyone have any suggestions on aviation-esque stuff that would be fun/challenging?
Click to expand...

A simple voice recorder that you interface with your radio and have a single button push to make radio calls for you.

Button Message
1 "Podunk traffic, Bugsmasher 123AB, crosswind runway 9, Podunk"
2 "Podunk traffic, Bugsmasher 123AB, downwind runway 9, Podunk"
3 "Podunk traffic, Bugsmasher 123AB, base runway 9, Podunk"
4 "Podunk traffic, Bugsmasher 123AB, final runway 9, full stop, Podunk"
5 "Podunk traffic, any traffic in the pattern please advise, Podunk"

and so forth.
:biggrin:
 
nauga said:
To the OP’s questions, I’m using a Hall effect sensor because pots add too much friction for one application and the resolution of affordable encoders doesn’t begin to approach the resolution I’m looking for.

Nauga,
and more orange wire.
Click to expand...
That makes sense. I actually never found a use for my encoder until you wrote that so I busted it out and the resolution is pretty poor indeed. Granted, it's a budget unit that cost me about $5 so... I got what I paid for...
 
If you have a significant other that doesn’t fly with you much, when ADSB recognizes that your tail number is airborne, a light goes on, then a mechanical arrow or pointer-finger points to your position.

Maybe the color of light changes depending on your distance. If it’s nearby, like almost pointing straight up, they can go outside and look for your plane.

Or program your favorite tail number or select a target to point out. Geeky.
 
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It would be handy to have a device that monitors GPS and triggers my ADSB-Out to transmit a false tail number when I’m spraying chem trails over Tennessee.
 
nauga said:
It will be recorded by the same raspberry pi that is managing the sensor. I’ve got the basics working on that I can read the sensor and record it, but I’m having trouble getting decent resolution over a -2” nonlinear range of motion.

To the OP’s questions, I’m using a Hall effect sensor because pots add too much friction for one application and the resolution of affordable encoders doesn’t begin to approach the resolution I’m looking for.

Nauga,
and more orange wire.
Click to expand...
I'd be tempted to go with a slotted disk and optical sensor. Depends on the physical setup, available space, yadda yadda.
 
Couple thoughts…
First, since you’re in the Chicago area, you need something to remotely control a weed burner for preheat.

The second I’m a little afraid to bring up, but maybe a fuel gauging system that’s as accurate as you want.
 
How about a stand alone INS that can feed NEMA data to a tablet as if it's a GPS. Sensors would be fluxgate compass and you'd need airspeed, maybe solid state gyros for roll/yaw and acceleration. It would get starting position, winds, starting course from GPS ideally, and then you'd need a method to determine when GPS in wasn't reliable or accurate and it would keep track on it's own.
 
Albany Tom said:
How about a stand alone INS that can feed NEMA data to a tablet as if it's a GPS. Sensors would be fluxgate compass and you'd need airspeed, maybe solid state gyros for roll/yaw and acceleration. It would get starting position, winds, starting course from GPS ideally, and then you'd need a method to determine when GPS in wasn't reliable or accurate and it would keep track on it's own.
Click to expand...
That would actually be a lot of fun to build. Most, if not all of the required sensors/MCU for building that are things I have handy, too.

I've got several GPS sensors which I've used for navigation stuff, too. I suppose I could have it cheat and periodically update/recalibrate based on the latest data :)

MauleSkinner said:
Couple thoughts…
First, since you’re in the Chicago area, you need something to remotely control a weed burner for preheat.

The second I’m a little afraid to bring up, but maybe a fuel gauging system that’s as accurate as you want.
Click to expand...
Thankfully I'm in a heated hangar so winter is a less dreadful experience despite being in Chicago!
Were you referring to the fuel gauges installed in the aircraft? Doubtful that I'd be able to rely on that (certified airplane). Though I am jealous when people have accurate fuel totalizers.

RussR said:
I was.looking at doing something with a BMP280 temp/pressure/altitude sensor. I'd think with those inputs you could easily calculate an approximate DA as well.

projecthub.arduino.cc

BMP280: Measure Temperature, Pressure and Altitude

+ OLED display, measures in imperial and metric.
projecthub.arduino.cc
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When I was pacing around microcenter yesterday I managed to buy that exact same sensor :)
That could be a quick, fun thing to build. It would be nice to be able to tote it along with you


One of the top projects I was spitballing on was building a poor man's radar altimeter (or similar device) that could be mounted (not-permanently) to the wing. I thought it'd be a cool sort of way to get AGL at low altitudes when you're on final/flaring. But turns out it's a bit more challenging than I thought :).

Appreciate the suggestions thus far!
 
Several years ago when I was tinkering with RPi's, I thought auto-aiming/leveling landing lights would be cool. Never got around to actually chasing it down though.

Was watching a Mark Rober YT video the other day with my two boys and he was introducing his new 'HackBox' - a microcontroller based monthly 'kit' box subscription where you build interesting stuff with his direction. Got me re-interested in Arduino/RPi stuff. I have a buddy with a good 3D printer, so we're just trying to figure out what to start out with.
 
Get a MQ-7 gas sensor and make yourself a CO monitor where you see specific values.
 
Half Fast said:
It would be handy to have a device that monitors GPS and triggers my ADSB-Out to transmit a false tail number when I’m spraying chem trails over Tennessee.
Click to expand...
Or when below the legal minimum altitude, like flying under a bridge? :devil:
ArrowFlyer86 said:
One of the top projects I was spitballing on was building a poor man's radar altimeter (or similar device) that could be mounted (not-permanently) to the wing. I thought it'd be a cool sort of way to get AGL at low altitudes when you're on final/flaring. But turns out it's a bit more challenging than I thought :).
Click to expand...
I knew a guy who tried that on his ultralight. He used one of those "parking assist" devices with a sonar distance sensor and green, yellow, and red lights, supposed to tell you before you hit your garage wall. He said it wasn't very useful.
 
Mahneuvers said:
Get a MQ-7 gas sensor and make yourself a CO monitor where you see specific values.
Click to expand...
As an added bonus, you can also sample for methane for when you might be flying someone back from RR :)
 
RussR said:
I was.looking at doing something with a BMP280 temp/pressure/altitude sensor. I'd think with those inputs you could easily calculate an approximate DA as well.

projecthub.arduino.cc

BMP280: Measure Temperature, Pressure and Altitude

+ OLED display, measures in imperial and metric.
projecthub.arduino.cc
Click to expand...
Spent some time this evening tinkering with the BMP280. I like it. Super easy to wire up and better than my other one which is the same price, the MPL115A2.

Over 5 minutes of 1x/second observations it didn't wander off from the altitude by more than 6 inches (it was stationary during that time). No spikes or other anomalies some of the cheaper sensors have.
When I moved it up/down (measured) +/-2 meters it was essentially spot on after it settled. Only complaint is that it behaves like a laggy VSI. It takes about 10-15 seconds after reaching a new "altitude" (me physically moving it) before the value stabilizes.

Anywho - if you're looking to have it compute DA it could be a quick fun build!
 

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ArrowFlyer86 said:
Nice! did you build those?
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Yeah - they run on the Tufty 2040 displays with embedded RP2040 microcontrollers. The biggest pain in the ass was getting them talking to the flight sim. It's annoying that the USB HID specifications for flight sim hardware is rather limited, because it means everybody has to write their own system for interfacing with simulators rather than just setting it up as the appropriate HID device.

Development on my displays stalled somewhat when I realized I would have to do a bit of a rewrite to support more than one display; By the time I got to that point I was bit burned out from all the dead ends I'd gone up getting the basics of it to work. I need to get back to it at some point.
 
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