rwanttaja
03-09-2025, 03:03 PM
(From the March 2025 issue of the Chapter 26 newsletter)
Engineers and their toys.....
OK, I got a fancy watch for Christmas, the kind that connects to your phone and has all sorts of features. It includes several modes to optimize for what you're doing...sleeping, exercising, etc. In the exercise mode, it continuously records your heart rate.
Hmmmm....I have a device in my airplane that continuously records where I'm at. Occurred to me to try to CORRELATE that data...see what my heart rate is doing during various phases of flight.
It wasn't necessarily easy. My watch does not output data, just graphics....so I needed to transcribe its results with some home-grown time hacks. The position data (ADS-B) only records when I'm in flight (typical altitude ~800 feet or higher) and IT records it vs. GMT.
But...as a systems engineer, I'm used to merging these separate systems.
The diagram on the next page shows my heart rate vs. what I'm doing in the airplane at the time. I'm amused that my highest heart rate is just CLIMBING INTO the thing and strapping on the aircraft.
The yellow boxes are approximations of events, the vertical hacks show the ADS-B position. Note, again, the ADS-B shuts down close to the ground so the heart rate peaks don't necessarily match.
Generally, though, I'm a cool cat. My typical sitting heart rate is about 80 BPM, and for "normal" flying, it just rises a bit. It does go up when I enter the pattern at my home field...there were a lot of planes in the air at the time.
Also, there's a curious spike at 2:39 PM. Might have spotted another aircraft.....
9636
Ron Wanttaja
Engineers and their toys.....
OK, I got a fancy watch for Christmas, the kind that connects to your phone and has all sorts of features. It includes several modes to optimize for what you're doing...sleeping, exercising, etc. In the exercise mode, it continuously records your heart rate.
Hmmmm....I have a device in my airplane that continuously records where I'm at. Occurred to me to try to CORRELATE that data...see what my heart rate is doing during various phases of flight.
It wasn't necessarily easy. My watch does not output data, just graphics....so I needed to transcribe its results with some home-grown time hacks. The position data (ADS-B) only records when I'm in flight (typical altitude ~800 feet or higher) and IT records it vs. GMT.
But...as a systems engineer, I'm used to merging these separate systems.
The diagram on the next page shows my heart rate vs. what I'm doing in the airplane at the time. I'm amused that my highest heart rate is just CLIMBING INTO the thing and strapping on the aircraft.
The yellow boxes are approximations of events, the vertical hacks show the ADS-B position. Note, again, the ADS-B shuts down close to the ground so the heart rate peaks don't necessarily match.
Generally, though, I'm a cool cat. My typical sitting heart rate is about 80 BPM, and for "normal" flying, it just rises a bit. It does go up when I enter the pattern at my home field...there were a lot of planes in the air at the time.
Also, there's a curious spike at 2:39 PM. Might have spotted another aircraft.....
9636
Ron Wanttaja