Obviously not got device yet, so this request limited to what I can see and read in the articles.
Would be really good to have a direction arrows and distance to drop zone shown on both wingsuit and canopy flight screens. It can/does happen that you find cloud distorting view of the ground and having this basic navigation will be useful.
I’ll go one step further and suggest a couple of configurable fields on the active screens for user defined display options with altitude an obvious and fixed/unchangeable item!
Hi Deej, thanks for your feedback. We built the direction arrow and distance functionality on an earlier prototype but decided to remove it for certain safety and legal implications. There were several risks involved with having a canopy pilot spending too much time looking at their device instead of around the sky. This feature is still on the backlog and will be re-opened when the time is right
Fair point. I’d hope people in this sport would be savvy enough to use this info by a quick glance rather being distracted or losing awareness of airspace but appreciate the more info on the screen, the greater the risk.
I fully appreciate and understand concerns and worry’s about including a direction arrow in maybe the top left of the canopy screen, but would also like to see this included in a future update, weather is could be implemented within a logged jump number restriction similar to licence restrictions would maybe be something to consider.
Yes we agree with you. We’ve even considered a small online awareness test that the user could complete to activate the feature. There will be a way, when the time is right
Sounds interesting,
Also regarding logged numbers, will there be a way of inputting our previous numbers into the log as to let it know where our total numbers stand and not just what we have done with this device?
Yes there will be. Initially the device release firmware counts by the logs on the device. One of the first firmware updates includes the accurate jump number integration
This seems a bit weak. Units like the Garmin ForeTrext 401 have been available and used by skydivers for a long time. ChutingStar sells them. I’m not aware of them ever being a factor in an incident or resulting in Garmin being litigated against. Restricting functionality will only weaken your product and make people buy others if that is the feature you require. I bought a Dekunu thinking this functionality would be featured.
I share your frustration. Like I said, we haven’t scratched the idea. We’re focusing on delivering a solid product that is well thought out and reliable. This is and the above mentioned reasons are why we didn’t advertise this feature before we opened for preorders. I look forward to working on this and so many other features for you in the near future.
I think this feature is useful. Indeed, I had to jump after a tandem. The cloud cover under me when I jumped was closed and I could not see the ground anymore. If I had made a bad exit I would have been lost with the risk of not knowing where I was. I think the functionality should be reset to prevent it from operating below a certain height in meters.
Can we please re-visit the topic of re-adding a direction arrow and distance back to landing area while in canopy mode. This is a must have feature and the type of cutting edge tech that keeps the Dekunu leaps and bounds ahead of most anything available to the general public.
@Hollywood The idea has not been thrown out, it will be revisited when the time is right. At the moment developers are working on implementing some other useful features for the device and the Cloud.
Maybe you could have it as a “turn it on your self after reading and agreeing to no liability text” feature… Then the legal issue should be out of the way.
It would be a super useful thing to have…
Hey all, this feature continues to be requested and I’d like to both explain why there is resistance to releasing it and then ask the community for some feedback about some of the challenges involved.
Firstly, with on-device features there is a delicate balance of what is useful, what is informative, what can possibly be confused or misinterpreted and then always trying to avoid providing direct instruction. Information that a user can make a decision on is by far greater and safer than providing instruction for a user to (possibly) blindly rely on.
For example with the requested canopy mode arrow to LZ. This would be based on GPS so the following confusing scenarios are apparent:
The arrow would point to the top of the screen if the LZ is in front of the pilot. If the pilot, like most, fly with their hands on their risers then this forward arrow would actually be facing away from the LZ. Easy enough if you know what you’re looking at.
If the pilot is flying into a strong headwind their ground speed may actually be negative in some circumstances. The GPS has no way of knowing it’s backwards so would be displaying a heading that would be incorrect to the direction the pilot is facing. The requested arrow would be pointing in the exact wrong direction. If the pilot was in clouds, this would make things far worse than no arrow.
A feature we developed and tested but never released was an indicator to show if the current glide ratio would allow the pilot to safely make it back to the LZ or not. We decided against it because of potential wind sheers below the pilot which could put them into a bad position because they didn’t look for an alternative landing site because their device said they were going to make it. We obviously don’t want canopy pilots flying around just looking at their devices for instructions on what to do.
If you’re at a new DZ, maybe don’t get out 7 miles away to start. If there are heavy winds and thick clouds… I always consider not jumping. Not because I don’t have an arrow on my alti but because the danger outweighs the benefits for multiple reasons. But that’s just me and I’m open to this feature if we can, as a community, solve the above issues.
So the above concerns and insights should hopefully show why the feature hasn’t yet been released.
I am opening up this conversation to you all. I’d love to hear some ideas!
As a suggestion, check out Aon X2 or Garmin Foretrex line. One wingsuit buddy of mine has Garmin on his cheststrap. It shows him direction properly.
I am not sure what kind of sensors or other hardware dekunu has, but if you have (inactive) accelerometer and compass, it may be possible to get this set up.
Thanks @yumanskiy - both those devices base their arrows on GPS alone so have not, from my understanding, solved the issues raised earlier.
Using the accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope to determine the position of the device is in theory possible. We would then need to show a 3D arrow that no matter where the device was, the arrow would point to the LZ. However the requirements for regular accurate sensor calibration and the potential complications of an un-calibrated MPU would again open up to potentially displaying inaccurate instructions.
Even showing a 3D arrow that always points to the actual LZ could be misinterpreted without pilot instruction. Let’s say, for example, the pilot is flying with their hands on their risers, the device on their left wrist and is flying right above the LZ. The 3D arrow would be pointing to the left side of the screen which could easily be misinterpreted as instructing the pilot to turn left.
There are thousands of Dekunu One devices out there across many countries and regions being flown by people of all different competency levels and disciplines. Each on-device feature must be carefully reviewed to ensure it does not put anyone in potential danger. I will release this feature once we have determined an intuitive way for it to function.
