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phillik747
Joined: 04 Apr 2012
Posts: 73
Location: Birminham, AL USA
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 Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 7:54 pm Post subject: iLevil send RS232 Icarus to GTX327 |
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Well, I'm excited to discover that I have successfully been able to send the pressure altitude reading received from the iLevil 3 AP to the Garmin GTX327 transponder. As you probably know, the GTX327 accepts altitude messages over RS232 from a Garmin 480, RS232 from fuel/air Data Computer (if configured with ALT), gray code, Icarus, or Shadin.
Looking into the Icarus format, it was very easy to send over my computer's serial cable using Putty. This gave me the idea that if I could get pressure alt from a source, I could then convert that to Icarus format and send it over RS232. I chose the Raspberry Pi Pico to be the 'handler' of this conversation. It has two serial interfaces that communicate on RS232.
I was hesitant to purchase the iLevil3 due to no information about the output and was considering using an MGL Blaze just for a backup/altitude encoder. I did some testing and discovered there are many options for data output on the iLevil, one being 'Data output.' I connected this pin to my RX port on my computer's serial cable and started to receive binary data. Not easy to read but knew it had some good info. A quick email to Levil gave me the information needed to decode the protocol and find the pressure altitude. Armed with this knowledge, I wrote a program in Python 3 to read the iLevil data and store the pressure alt as a variable. Then the program converts that to Icarus format (ALT 12345\r) and sends it to the GTX327.
Also, the iLevil3 (with the GPS upgrade) works with the EchoUAT as a GPS source. Right now I'm trying to determine the protocol the EchoUAT uses to populate the pressure altitude over RS232 on COM1. I'm guessing it's GLD90, but not sure of the message ID or framing.
Other thoughts are with being able to 'export' the live data from the iLevil3, you can run other instruments like a digital display for ground speed, etc. I hope this is helpful for someone. Please message/email me if you have any questions.
In this photo from left to right, first is the ground (connected to both sender and receiver), the middle is the TX to the GTX327, left is the RX from the iLevil3.
Here, you can observe the pressure altitude at 515 feet. I've observed that on the GTX327, the output is also in Icarus format, rounded, but I'm not certain about the resolution without conducting further testing. I can readily adjust the program to match this format, but currently, it's reflecting the resolution that the iLevil is transmitting (1 foot).
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Kyle
Europa Tri-gear (under construction) |
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Area-51
Joined: 03 May 2021
Posts: 429
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| Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 5:03 am Post subject: Re: iLevil send RS232 Icarus to GTX327 |
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Thats very cool! You created the whole translator board?
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phillik747
Joined: 04 Apr 2012
Posts: 73
Location: Birminham, AL USA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2024 8:24 pm Post subject: Re: iLevil send RS232 Icarus to GTX327 |
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No its a Raspberry Pi Pico that you can get for around $6.00. I installed micro python on it, and saved the code to the file system. The only investment is the pico, 5v power source, and a few wires.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5526
You could actually do the same thing for $4.00 with the non 'W' version (non-wireless).
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4864
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Kyle
Europa Tri-gear (under construction) |
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