Custom Altitude Alert + V/S Panel

This customised Altitude Alert Panel was supplied with its own USB controller, and we wrote a small program which allows it to operate with FS9, FSX, ESP, and P3D. 

The Altitude Alert controller uses a 12 Volt DC power supply and we normally suggest using a spare computer power supply for the 12V, as these are cheap, easy to find, and reliable. All of our control boards are fitted with the correct type of socket for this.

Also included was a small beeper for the 'alert' sound.

Below is a screenshot of our software running; the digits actually change whilst the unit is operating too, so that the incoming information can be verified in real-time.

Pushing the ENG button allows the user to change the vertical speed settings. This will also light up the VS text next to the ENG button.

Pushing the ARM button will allow you to change the altitude alert settings. This will also light up the ALT text next to the ARM button.

The SET knob is a dual encoder. The lower knob changes the value in 1000's and the upper knob changes the value in 100's.

The above photograph shows the panel during the initial test phase, with the illuminated text and one illuminated button. 

The especially keen-eyed reader will also notice that the width of the display is not uniform across all of these photos. This was because we actually had to re-make the front panel halfway through the process on account of forgetting about the extra 'minus' digit ... !

Customised Vertical Speed Unit

Always good for keeping us on our toes, we were recently asked by a customer in South Africa to build a customised Vertical Speed Unit based around a truncated version of the Operational Altitude Alert System that we already make, and which was ordered at the same time.

Some new code had to be written especially for the Vertical Speed processor chip of course, which had to allow for both positive and negative values etc, and after much testing and fine-tuning this is all now working as expected. We should have taken a video(!) but instead a few photographs will have to suffice as evidence.

As something as an aside here, our Altitude Alert software has also recently been updated so as to allow for altitude settings below 1000ft; functionality that's often a requirement for helicopter simulators.