DE3732100A1 - Electronic altograph (altitude recorder) - Google Patents

Abstract

Published without abstract.

Description

The invention relates to an electronic Height recorder according to the preamble of claim 1.

The devices known since then for recording the height profile are based

• - a) on a mechanical method by a clerk is mechanically controlled by a pressure cell and the movement of the pen on a spinning Disk is recorded circularly.
• - b) on an electronic method in which the altitude values stored in an electronic memory and evaluated after the end of the recording and on a Printer can be displayed graphically.

The recording method a) has the disadvantage that it is very sensitive to mechanical shocks and handling is cumbersome. Also lets the scale of the height diagram does not change. In method b), a special device must be used as an additional device Printers are carried along to follow the height curve after the Make the record visible. During the recording no conclusions can be drawn from the altitude.

The invention has for its object an electronic Train height recorders so that the measured  Altitude values graphically in during recording Can be displayed and saved in the form of a curve can.

So it is z. B. possible during the flight Observing the course of the altitude and drawing conclusions from it and the z. B. Recorded flights during a vacation to look at flight after flight again in peace later and evaluate.

This object is achieved with the characterizing features of claim 1 solved.

As a result of the training according to the invention, one Input of the analog / digital converter to the atmospheric Pressure or an analogue corresponding to the height Signal. About the microprocessor can with a preset sampling rate this input of the Analog / digital converter queried and the binary value in stored in the preferably battery-buffered memory will. Is not a height equivalent but an atmospheric one Pressure equivalent analog signal before, so can with the help of the microprocessor on the barometric Height formula from the binary pressure equivalent value of corresponding binary height value is calculated and stored will.

In parallel, the remote values can be sized of the display standardized and graphically in the form of a curve can be represented over time. This can lead to one already during the recording of the elevation can be observed, on the other hand, through long-term storage the data previous records of each Time can be shown on the display again.

In a further embodiment of the invention, it is possible a recording via control elements (e.g. buttons) start, stop or resume, or a display or delete previous record or initialize a new recording. The start / stop time, the  The date, the recording duration and the minimum and maximum measured height and a text to be entered Identification of the record stored in the memory. The saved values can be transferred via an interface transferred to a host computer (e.g. personal computer) and further evaluated there, e.g. B. in the form a graphic representation on a screen or a printer.

The following is based on the accompanying drawings Embodiment of the subject of the invention closer explained. It shows:

Fig. I is a block diagram of an electronic height recorder according to the invention,

Fig. II shows the elevation of the height recorder mounted in a housing according to Fig. I, with an externally visible display and controls.

FIG. II shows a housing 10 in which an altimeter 14, which is only indicated schematically, is arranged. However, this can also be connected to the height recorder as a separate device using a connecting cable. The housing 10 can be arranged, for example, on a hang glider in the pilot's field of vision.

The electronics of the height recorder are housed on a circuit board 15 . There are, among other things, a preamplifier 1 , an analog / digital converter 2 , a microprocessor 4 , a timer / calendar module 3 , a battery-buffered memory unit 6 , a V.24 module 7 , a program memory 16 with software and connecting lines a liquid crystal display 5 , a potentiometer 8 and the controls 9 .

Individual blocks can also be combined as a module, for. B. microprocessor 4 with program memory 16 , timer / calendar module 3 and analog / digital converter 2 in one module. Electricity-saving CMOS components are preferably used as components, so that the device, for. B. can be powered by a battery.

From Fig. I it can be seen that a height-equivalent voltage of an electronic altimeter reaches a channel of an analog / digital converter 2 via the preamplifier 1 . With the help of the preamplifier 1 , the voltage can be adapted to the input voltage range of the analog / digital converter.

A specific sampling rate is set via the timer / calendar module 3 , which cyclically prompts the microprocessor 4 to collect the height-equivalent binary value from the analog / digital converter 2 and to store it in the battery-buffered memory 6 .

The microprocessor 4 controls the liquid crystal display 5 , on which the height profile is plotted over time in the form of a curve, the X axis corresponding to time and the Y axis corresponding to the height.

In order to achieve the highest possible display accuracy of the height profile for the available pixels, the coordinate axes are standardized to the maximum / minimum values of the recording when the respective maximum resolution in the X or Y direction of the display type used is exceeded. For a usual display resolution of 128 points in the X direction and 64 points in the Y direction, this means: with a recording duration of more than 128 time units, the recording duration is standardized to 128 points, with a height difference (maximum measured height minus minimum measured height ) during a recording of more than 64 height units, the maximum height difference is standardized to 64 points and the height curve is displayed again.

The wiper voltage of the potentiometer 8 is present on another channel of the analog / digital converter, with which the user can influence the standardization of the time axis. For this purpose, the potentiometer position is determined via the analog / digital converter 2 and the microprocessor 4 . Left stop means: standardization of the time axis as described above. With every other potentiometer setting, a section of the entire recording is shown, a unit of time corresponding to a pixel in the X direction and the start of the display on the display 5 can be shifted with the potentiometer 8 over the entire recording period.

With the control elements 9 different function blocks can be selected such as. B. start or stop a new recording or continue again or display or delete an earlier recording or initialize a new recording or transfer the data of a completed recording via a V.24 interface 7 to a personal computer.

If a new recording is initialized, a new record is created in the memory 6 via the program in the program memory 16 . Among other things, this record contains fields for the characteristic data, such as start / stop time, date, recording duration, minimum / maximum measured height and a text field. The starting address of the record is stored dynamically in a table for later retrieval. At first all fields are empty. After starting the recording, the time is read from the calendar / timer module 3 and entered in the Start time field. The other fields are constantly checked during the recording with the current values and possibly replaced by these, e.g. B. if the maximum height measured since then is exceeded, this is replaced by the new measured value. The measured altitude values are continuously appended to the end of the record.

After stopping the recording, the time is read again from the calendar / timer module 3 and entered in the Stop time field. If a new recording is initialized, the previous one is marked as completed and cannot be resumed. The real-time clock and the date of the timer / calendar modules 3 and the sampling rate of the analog / digital converter 2 can also be set via the control elements 9 and a text for identifying the respective recording can be entered.

As controls such. B. Keys can be used. When a key 9 is pressed, the function last selected is output as plain text on the display 5 and can be confirmed with another key 9 or skipped with the same key and switched to the subsequent function block.

A function block can consist of several sub-functions, which can be activated according to the same scheme, e.g. B. Function block timer / calendar with the three Sub-functions set time, set date and Set the sampling rate.

In another form of representation, the recording time is reduced to e.g. B. 2/3 of the length of the X axis of the display 5 normalized, so that 5 space is free in the right part of the display for the output of the current time with date and the data stored for each recording 13 such. B. start / stop time, date, recording time, sampling rate, minimum and maximum measured height, the remaining recording time depending on the memory size and number of recordings and for a text to identify the recording. These data are output at fixed time intervals (preferably seconds) so that the current values are always displayed.

Claims (8)

1. Electronic height recorder, in particular for aviation, such as gliding, hang-gliding and the like., Characterized in that the height recorder has an analog / digital converter ( 2 ) for querying a height and / or pressure-equivalent analog signal ( 2 ) a microprocessor ( 4 ) is connected, that the microprocessor ( 4 ) is connected to a storage unit ( 6 ) for storing the determined height values, that the microprocessor ( 4 ) is connected to a display ( 5 ) for graphically displaying the height profile ( 12 ) . 2. Height recorder according to claim 1, characterized in that the display ( 5 ) is a liquid crystal display. 3. Height recorder according to one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that in the preferably battery-buffered memory unit ( 6 ) several height profiles ( 12 ) and the associated characteristic data can be stored over a longer period, preferably months. 4. Height recorder according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the height recorder is connected to control elements ( 9 ) with which to start, stop and / or continue recording the height and / or to initialize a new recording and / or a previous recording must be selected and / or deleted and / or shown graphically as a curve on the display ( 5 ). 5. Height recorder according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the analog / digital converter ( 2 ) is connected to a potentiometer ( 8 ) for changing the coordinates of the graphical height profile representation ( 12 ). 6. Height recorder according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that in a second type of representation in addition to the graphical representation of the height profile, the characteristic data stored for each recording, such as start / stop time, date, recording duration, minimum and maximum measured height, remaining Recording time and the current time and date can be shown as text on the display ( 5 ). 7. Height recorder according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the microprocessor ( 4 ) for transmitting the stored height values and characteristic data to a host computer with an interface ( 7 ), preferably a V.24 interface, is connected. 8. Height recorder according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the microprocessor ( 4 ) is connected to a program memory ( 16 ), preferably EPROM, in which the software for the function of the device can be stored.