By Phil Lightstone, Richmond Hill, Ontario
The cool thing about building your own airplane is endless engine selection opportunities. Essentially, you can put an engine into your aircraft which will take you well above 10,000 feet where a lot of certified non- turbocharged aircraft cruise. The challenge with flying above 10,000 feet is hypoxia, which can impact cognitive and decision-making skills. Not good. In fact, some safety conscious pilots will don supplemental oxygen at 8,000 feet. For pilots flying around the west coast, oxygen is a must. Certainly, as pilots age, healthcare becomes more top of mind.
At SUN ‘n FUN 2023, an interesting company, Aithre Aviation, which focuses on aviation health informatics systems, was showcasing their new Healthview avionics display system. Aithre has created a Bluetooth-connected environment of sensor-enabled devices including: carbon monoxide detectors (Shield); smart oxygen tanks (oximetry sensors (Illyrian)); in-flight weather beacons (Metis); Angel smart button; and Healthview. Aithre’s connected technology provides both data logging and instantaneous alerting. Hypoxia and carbon monoxide poisoning are both kissing cousins and can create the same results, a loss of cognitive skills followed by unconsciousness and death. Their products are not only well built, but also quite affordable ($895 US).
Heatlhvtew, a panel-mounted, NORSEE-certified touchscreen device is designed to consolidate and display health data. Healthview is the first dedicated avionics display for health information, including gauges for blood oxygen, heart rate, respiration rate, flow rate, cabin pressure, cabin temperature, carbon monoxide, oxygen tank pressure, and wing tip temperature/dewpoint spread. It is also the first dedicated avionics display that controls your oxygen dosage per station based on altitude, carbon monoxide, blood oxygen, and heart rate.
This avionics display is approved under NORSEE (non-required safety enhancing equipment) for all Part 23 aircraft in the U.S., including pressurized aircraft and all amateur-built/experimental aircraft. The display features a 240 x 320 pixel TFT resistive touch LCD display with rich and vibrant graphical gauges, enclosed in a compact aluminum anodized laser-etched case. Healthview is powered by three parallel low-energy processors and a BLE (Bluetooth) wireless communication module delivering low heat and low power display.
Healthview works as a standalone device for cabin pressure altitude, using an internal barometric pressure sensor. The real power lies in Healthview’s ability to dynamically expand to feature any available Aithre device, wirelessly and with or without the use of the Aithre Connect iOS app. Healthview is compatible with all Aithre devices, including the Shield series of carbon monoxide detectors, the Illyrian oximeter, the Meso oxygen pressure, the AVI oxygen systems, and the Metis wingtip temperature/dewpoint sensor. Up to six Illyrian oximeters can be linked to Healthview at any moment. Many of the connections are wireless using BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy formerly known as Bluetooth Smart), but Healthview also features serial channels linking directly to the AVI built-in oxygen systems. Additionally, Healthview can control a built-in Aithre AVI oxygen system with dedicated serial communication, including pulse dosage based on pressure altitude and blood oxygen saturation levels. For advanced oxygen users, Healthview provides an auto mode functionality that automatically turns your oxygen on and off on a station-by-station basis, using parameters of pressure altitude, SPO2, heart rate, and carbon monoxide.
Healthview power requirements are 12-18V and 150 mA (0.15 A). Wiring is simple with only power and ground required. Optional wiring includes serial TX, RX wires to Aithre’s AVI built-in oxygen systems. Existing built-in AVI oxygen systems require a software and hardware upgrade to be compatible with the serial com features. This upgrade requires the AVI control unit be shipped to Aithre (or at an aviation event such as AirVenture) for a no-cost upgrade which is part of the purchase of Healthview.
You can pre-order Healthview on Aithre’s website. Shipping is expected to have started in early May 2023. Healthview costs USD $895 plus $10.00 shipping and includes a one year warranty.
For information about why you should consider such a device read this report of a Canadian hypoxia induced crash.
If you would like to know more about Phil’s achievements you can read more at www.planetalk.ca. Ed