hackuiowa2019

Inspiration

Two of our four team members are private pilots, with a passion for aviation. It can be difficult for private pilots on a budget to have the same features available on a commercial plane, so our goal this hackathon was to make as many of these features available in a phone application as possible.

What it does

Our project implements a Primary Flight Display(PFD) which usually costs thousands on an airplane, for free using the sensors available in a simple android phone. It implements a fully functional compass, artificial horizon which live adjusts to changes in roll and pitch, a readout of current altitude of the device, an attitude meter to show the pitch of the plane relative to completely straight, artificial wings to make the display and values easier to interpret, and dynamic pitch line values to show the user.

How we built it

We built the app using java in Android Studio

Challenges we ran into

Getting the compass to read accurately and display proper values for the proper axis.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our team had minimal to no experience in Android Studio prior to this hackathon, so to overcome the learning curve of a whole new software, as well becoming incredibly familiar with all of the sensors within our android phone, to be able to tie everything together and end up with a fully functional product was certainly an accomplishment.

What we learned

We learned how to better code in a team in a fast paced environment, as well as how to implement a ton of new technology we all had no experience with.