GPS to match up with heart rate data?

[bailey46 0]

Hello!

Considering wing suit flyers seem to have the most experience with GPS equipment, I hope you don't mind me posting here. I will apologize in advance for the length of my message, but some background information is appropriate.

I am the organizer of the Ohio State skydiving class. Part of our class is spent discussing how your body biologically responds to risk. To help with this discussion, we have some students wear heart rate monitors during their jumps.

The program that downloads data from our heart rate monitors reports it to the nearest second (calibrated to my computer's clock). However, determining exactly when the jump occurred and matching the altitude data with the HR data has been difficult. In past years I gave the students my Neptune to wear, but Paralog will not report the exact time to the nearest second that the jump occurred. Considering how short a skydive is, this makes it very difficult to determine the student's heart rate DURING the freefall and canopy stages of their jump when looking after over an hour's worth of heart rates (data points every second).

I also spoke with L&B, who confirm that their altimeters/software will not report jump time to the nearest second either.

I am considering using a small GPS unit, but am concerned about losing the signal in the plane, and I don't want to put the responsibility of turning it on on the instructors.

To sum it up, I need an instrument that:
- will record and report altitude/elevation to the nearest second
- can be downloaded onto a computer and exported as a text file so it can be matched up with the heart rate data
- is small enough to put on an student without interfering
- can be turned on on the ground at suit up time
- will not lose signal and miss the beginning of the jump

Does anyone have any suggestions of equipment to use that will report this data?

Thanks for your time!
Jen


(Note: I did receive a suggestion of calibrating all of the videographers cameras to my computer at the beginning of the day, but getting them to report exact jump times with so many students to process could turn into a nightmare.)

[LouDiamond 1]

Quote

To sum it up, I need an instrument that:
- will record and report altitude/elevation to the nearest second
- can be downloaded onto a computer and exported as a text file so it can be matched up with the heart rate data
- is small enough to put on an student without interfering
- can be turned on on the ground at suit up time
- will not lose signal and miss the beginning of the jump

-The winntec 201 GPS logger should work for you as you can set it to log at 1 sec intervals.

-I haven't tried to DL it as a text file but I believe it is an option in the GUI software that comes with the unit.

- the wintec 201 is the size of a protrack/Neptune and fits inside most helmets.

-it has minimal buttons and can be turned on relatively quickly( you still need to allow it to initialize before using that day ).

- the only way you will not loose GPS signal while in the aircraft is if you set up a GPS repeater inside the aircraft.


The wintec 201 is just one example of a GPS data logger that could possibly work for you. There are others out there that may work equally or better.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[Gadget 0]

The wintec 201normally doesn't loose the signal in planes used for skydiving ( like Caravan, twin otter etc.)

You do however have to turn it on before the jump ( for instance while gearing up ).

See my online logbook for Gps data gathered with a wintec 201 mounted on the mudflap

If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes???
My logbook

[Gadget 0]

Oh by the way,

you can turn the Gps data in to a textfile with the native software you get something like attached file

If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes???
My logbook

[vidiot 0]

Jen,

any chance you can get a Garmin ForeRunner 305 (or similar) for this? It records heart rate together with the GPS position and has quite a decent GPS receiver, although the flight data is filtered strongly.

If not, the Wintec 201 should give you what you need. Here you can find more details on how to use it in skydiving.

Please report your findings!

HTH,
Klaus

Edit: As Gadget said: The unit will normally not loose the signal while in the plane. My logbook also has several examples of complete flights captured with this unit.

My Logbook

[bailey46 0]

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

Gadget,
I've looked at your text file. Forgive my ignorance, but which column is the altitude/elevation? I can identify the lat/long, time, and date, but that's it.

Klaus,
The Forerunner is a bit out of our price range, but I was also under the impression that those models were intended for ground use only and weren't as reliable for our sport.

I have considered the Wintec 201 based on comments from other threads. But I originally wasn't sure if this unit could be turned on at suit-up and would remain on throughout the plane ride and jump. I obviously don't want AFF-I's (or the student) to be concerned about extra equipment just prior to jump.

Assuming the unit would be on for 1 to 1.5 hours per student, do you have any idea how many jumps it could hold before having to download the data?

Thanks!

[LouDiamond 1]

Quote

Assuming the unit would be on for 1 to 1.5 hours per student, do you have any idea how many jumps it could hold before having to download the data?

I don't have the manual in front of me at the moment but one set to one second logging per data point, I want to say that it is claimed to log something like 500k data points. From personal use, I can say that you can jump with it all day long without worrying about battery if you start fully charged or filling up the memory with data points. I have used mine for a series of days in a row, without downloading daily over a 4 day period doing roughly 8-12 jumps a day and wasn't able to fill the memory up or overwrite data. These were also all wingsuit dives in the 2 min freefall time range.


Point of clarification: Even though the wintec 201 is good at maintaing GPS lock inside of an aircraft while inside a helmet, it is not a guaranteed thing. I have had it loose GPS lock on occasion and had holes in my data. Even using a GPS repeater inside the aircraft, it is possible to sometimes have a GPS receiver loose signal and not have satellites. I have been testing a GPS device at work that is attached to a jumper inside of different aircraft for over a year and a half now. We use a GPS repeater and we sometimes experience this problem despite having a small team of PhDs and real Rocket Scientist types on hand making sure everything is "perfect".

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[spumoni 0]

Check this link. Not sure if this is what you are looking for.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3167372#3167372