Request for 5% Wide EMS Screen!!!!

[Bill_H]

Mostly I fly the Skyview as 40%PFD, 40%MAP, 20%(Engine.) I rearranged my RV12 layout as shown. All the widgets are vertical for an easier scan.
Oil Pres, Temp and Battery Volts/Amps on Top row.
Fuel Level, Pressure, and Flow, and Trim on second row.
CHT/EGT 3rd row.
Useful numbers at the top, with Stall and Spar Pins.

Now, on the right hand side is something I am posting here to the Dynon forum as a suggestion. For TAKEOFF and LANDING I like the 20% view. I like the context that the ranges provide. In CRUISE, I would really like a bigger PFD and Map but I do not like totally getting rid of the engine monitoring! (Yes, I know, even with voice alerts.) This is a 5% wide strip (One-FOURTH the width of the standard one!) That would let the PFD and MAP both be 47.5% rather than 40%!

Note that the example is for a conventional aircraft with 2 fuel tanks and 4 CHT/EGT possibilities. Ignore the values of the numbers, this is a sizing-spacing example.

You can see all the numbers. I would add the coding of a green background when the number is in that part of the range (current widgets do not do that.) Comments are welcome on this too!

Regards,
Bill H.
RV12, N412BR "Sweetie"

 

[DonFromTX]

I love that idea Bill, I would assume that we would get a red background when something got to that stage?

 

[Bill_H]

Yes, red would show conventionally as well, like on the fuel psi gauge.

 

[purlee]

Yes, I quite like this idea too, as a quick, "everthing in the green" reference for cruise.

Personally, I don't usually display the map on take off, using 50% for PFD & Engine with the map up on the left side of the co-pilot display, (simply because I have a co-pilot display), and then bring the map over my side with the engine on the co-pilot display for cruise, but having a "field of view" check on the engine is a great idea.

One thing I like about Dynon is how receptive they are to these ideas, and, even if they think this is not a practical idea, they always come up with a lucid reason why not

 

[apkp777]

LIKE!

That would be PERFECT!

 

[swatson999]

Boy, that would really be a nice addition...for long cruises, with everything nice and stable, there's no reason to take up so much room as the 20% EMS page does, since nothing is really changing.

Neat idea...I vote for it!

 

[N941WR]

How about designing a small screen that can be put on the Bus that only displays the engine instruments? Say use the D1 screen? Then we can use the SV for a split screen display.

 

[jc2da]

I like it too. I can see myself toggling between that and the 20% view a lot.

 

[DonFromTX]

I keep going back to see it again. I would sure love it if Dynon gave this some thought, the scan to see "all green" would be far quicker and more accurate in spotting a problem. Even better than the bottom or top strip we have been discussing.

 

[swatson999]

Trim would be nice to have on the PFD is this became an option...perhaps a simplified graphic, with something like a simple "cross" and a marker to show both trim positions on a single item? E.g., right roll and slight down would have the marker in the lower right quadrant, etc.

Just thinking out loud...

 

[Bill_H]

The main need for the trim indicator is to set for takeoff. For takeoff, the 20% EMS screen is fine. Just a click away. Trim indicator is not really needed in cruise since it is by feel. But a tiny horizontal trim indicator would fit on the 5% EMS page. My idea wasn't to try make the 5% screen ideal for all phases of flight but to make maximum use, in cruise, of the PFD/MAP pages. I don't have a 2-screen system.

It could be considered to have trim as a translucent image on the PFD instead of the EMS.

 

[DonFromTX]

I see Dynon is not commenting, must mean they are thinking about it, as usual.

 

[Bill_H]

Hey, give them a weekend off! I didn't post until Saturday!

 

[dynonsupport]

Bill,
It's an interesting idea, but it's a ton of work. Is your primary goal to get more space on the PFD, MAP, or both? What is it about the 40% PFD or MAP that feels particularly constrained? Just wondering if there is a different solution to the problem that doesn't involve a whole new EMS size.

P.S. Thanks for recognizing that while we do our best, sometimes the lack of a response between 5pm on a Saturday and 7am on a Monday doesn't mean we are planning a conspiracy on our end. Well, at least not conspiracies about Dynon Customers. Some of us were out flying and enjoying the first really nice weather in Seattle this year!

 

[purlee]

I don't think any of us expect to see this in a new upgrade next week, but the more I think about it, it is one of the better ideas on here in a long time, so stick it on the list.

Lets face it, while we keep giving you guys a ton of work, you get to sell us cool new stuff and we keep you in food. I call that a win/win! 

 

[dynonsupport]

Eric,
Are you saying you are going to buy more screens from us if we implement a 5% EMS? Seems like the reason for it is to buy LESS Dynon products, not more. Not that there is anything too much wrong with that

Food donations to hungry programmer-pilots can be sent directly to Dynon Avionics. It will go to good use!

It is a good idea. Still want to know if it's the PFD or the MAP that you primary want more space for. Not sure adding 7.5% (0.65 inches) width to both the PFD or the MAP will do much.

 

[purlee]

No, no, you misunderstand, certainly this idea won't lead on to more sales to current customers, but it is just one of those things that will so differentiate your product that no new customer with any brains will think of buying anything else.

And of course, some of the ideas on here lead to the cool new gear, like radios and control panels that you can sell us, I mean, wouldn't a Dynon Lightning Detector be cool, and probably not cheap either. I'm still waiting for a Dynon Nav radio! For guys like me, out of range of US weather systems, a Dynon version of Garmin's GSR56 Global Weather system would be cool, but I am getting a bit carried away now.

I guess the point of the idea is that we have a small strip down the side of the screen which simply tells us the engine is fine, unless it isn't, regardless of what else is on the screen.

Most of the info shown on the EMS is stuff we don't need to see all the time unless something is trending wrong. Let's be honest, if you have enough fuel to get there, you don't need to know, every single second, how much fuel you have, unless, all of a sudden it starts to disappear, in which case you are a button press away from a full screen EMS.

This can give a single screen user a bit more room for the stuff he needs to see now, particularly for somone with only a 7" screen to start with.

Less important for someone like me with two 10 inch screens, I can display a full EMS screen on the right if I want to.

But having this strip right in my field of scan , while navigating a tight approach in unfriendly terrain, without having to constantly move my head and induce vertigo, by looking across to an EMS, or reducing the size of the PFD or map, by using 20% of the screen for something I don't really need to see, (if I can monitor "all green") is a good idea to me.

 

[apkp777]

The sum total of my programming knowledge is ZERO, so I understand a 5% EMS may be a programming issue. For me, I generally use a 20%EMS and 40/40 PFD/MAP and usually go 20/80 EMS/PFD on base to final. Ideally, a 5%EMS, 55% PFD and 40% MAP would be the perfect layout.

I do plan to add another sweet 10" Touch Screen then all my Layout desires will be solved since the 80/20 PFD/EMS and 100% MAP would be the ideal situation. However, there are many who don't have panel space for the second screen. As Bill R. suggested, maybe a 3x3 EMS screen would be a good addition to the Dynon line?

By the way, I LOVE the round gauges! Nice job Dynon with that! Get's crowded in the 40% view, but in the 80% it's sweet.

 

[Bill_H]

The 40% MAP page has so much neat stuff on it now, with popup info, for example, and the INFO widgets you can add, that it seems constrained. The 40% PFD also seems pretty crowded. I did not do a 47.5%-47.5%-5% mockup because all I could do would be to stretch the content of an existing 40% horizontally. That wouldn't give an impression as to how it would look different. (Hmmm - might look VERY close to two 50% screens of PFD and MAP - Maybe I can do a bit of cut and paste with that and post as an example...)

I think there is a big difference between the 40% and 50% MAP or PFD view. 47.5% is pretty close to 50%...

Could you do a mockup of that maybe on your development system? Just a black strip for the 5%? (Don't mockup new widgets.) And post what it would look like?

I foresee the HMI issues of adding a 5% strip into the rotation and layout methods. I can see you needing to resist resisting adding a lot more potential sizes with all their combinations (Like 40,55,5!) . I think it might be manageable/solveable if you constrained it this way:

95%-5% of either the PFD or MAP is NOT allowed. (80-20 is just fine for that case).

ONLY if you are in any of the 40-40-20 views is there a new selection button labeled like "5%EMS". What that button does when you press it is - whatever position the 20% EMS strip is in (left, middle, right) - it stays there but swaps to the 5% version. The other two swap to the 47.5% versions.

Then maybe when you are in 47.5%-47.5%-5% mode you have a button for "20%EMS" that gets you back to it, with everything working "normally" (i.e. pre-5%).

Buying more? What I am actively considering doing is buying a new touch screen version, replacing my existing one with it, and moving the non-touch to the passenger side. I think a bunch of RV12s are considering that...

Note that the 5% screen if color coded with the greens as shown might meet the instrument marking needs of the regulations...

 

[Bill_H]

Leading up to the BIG REVEAL!
First a Standard 40-40-20 Screen
Then a Standard 50-50 Screen
Then a comparison of 40% vs 50% PFD
Then a comparison of 40% vs 50% MAP
Then a NEW 47.5%-47.5%-5% Display! Achieved by a tiny amount of cropping on the left and right sides of the 50% displays!!! Here they are:

First a Standard 40-40-20 Screen

Now a Standard 50-50 Screen

Now a comparison of 40% vs 50% PFD

Now a comparison of 40% vs 50% MAP

REVEAL: a NEW 47.5%-47.5%-5% Display! Achieved by a tiny amount of cropping on the left and right sides of the 50% displays!!!

Dynon - howzabout a free touchscreen upgrade for doing all this design work?! ;D