Frank van der Hulst wrote:
Pete Schaefer wrote:

So, what things on the airplane are you guys going to replace with
self-powered blue tooth devices?


First thing would be Bluetooth headsets... no more cords tangling round
the cockpit.

That's a good one. Keep an old pair if wired sets stuck in an
accessible hole someplace...just in case.


Next would be various engine instruments... EGT, CHT, etc.

Perfect. If the signal dies, the plane won't know it. The Cherokee I
trained in didn't even have a working EGT.


Maybe move the entire radio receiver out to a wingtip or somewhere well
away from the engine's RF noise. But I can't see that being
self-powered. Perhaps we could use Tesla's beam-power technology to run
those.

Frank

Oooh. You just lost me on that one. To much complication with the radio
to human interface there. You've got a device in front of the pilot to
select a station, which must transmit it to a device out on the wing,
which has to recieve and interpret it correctly, then transmit the
correct station's signal back over bluetooth. You'd still have to run
signal wires for the physical backup. I just don't see the advantage
when remoting the antennae is all that's necessary to avoid the engine EMI.

How about stress monitors built into the prop (I have no idea if anyone
makes such a thing). Would help you to carve a perfect prop.

Miniature temp probes and air pressure sensors that you can stick all
over the place. Would make it real easy to map out the pressure regions
on the airplane and design a better cooling system or decide if wing
modification would be necessary/beneficial.

Vibration sensors stuck inside control surfaces and different parts of
the skin. Early warning system for flutter. Might only give you time
for a short prayer, but it may save your butt if you can react quick enough.

Nothing is stopping anyone from doing any of this with wired sensors.
It would just be cleaner and easier if the wire can be left on the spool.

--
This is by far the hardest lesson about freedom. It goes against
instinct, and morality, to just sit back and watch people make
mistakes. We want to help them, which means control them and their
decisions, but in doing so we actually hurt them (and ourselves)."