You can’t fail to have heard that Apple released the latest incarnations of the iPhone, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, on Tuesday 9 September.
The interesting news for free flyers was that Apple have now added a barometer to the iPhone’s array of sensors. While Apple have touted the ability for the phone to use this sensor to let you know how many flights of stairs you have climbed, far more exciting for pilots is that in theory this should make it possible to have more accurate varios in flying apps. No more need for the added complication of bluetooth varios.
We spoke to Rene Dekker the developer of Flyskyhy he told us:
Apple had kept the fact that it has a barometric sensor a secret even from the developers. I heard the rumours, but have not been able prepare anything for it. I also don’t have the details of the sensor, especially not its sensitivity.
Even if the sensitivity of the sensor is not super, then a combination with the accelerometers could compensate for that, and give an accuracy comparable to, if not better than, a high-end dedicated flight instrument. So you would only need an extra battery to turn the iPhone into a first class flight instrument.
There is another benefit of the iPhone 6 (Plus) as well: the better contrast in the screen. That should make it better readable in direct sunlight. The bigger size is a benefit as well especially for the 6 Plus, it is a better size to fly with, and you can present more information on it.
Flyskyhy will support the barometric sensor. However, that could take quite some time. I first need to get my hands on an iPhone 6. Then I need to adapt the app and do a number of test flights with it, adjust the algorithms, and do some more test flights. I would count on at least a couple of months.
After some research Rene came back with some more information on the sensor which may not be such good news for pilots.
The rumours say that the pressure sensor is based on the BMP280 chip of Bosch. That chip has a relative accuracy of only 0.12 hPa, equiv. to 1 m. That is pretty poor for variometer use (the best varios have 10 cm accuracy), so it will be a challenge to get a good vario performance out of it.
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