Building an open source flight log website with web app, need beta testers & opinions

[StuartPB]

Building an open source flight log website with web app, need beta testers & opinions

I'm really new to the rc flight hobby but I'm a web developer by trade. I want to be able to record my flights and share my experiences as I learn and progress through the hobby. So it made sense for me to use the web to do that. I'm currently in the early development stages of building a new website from which I can save information on my aeroplanes, equipment and to log flights. I'll also be able to keep a blog on the site, so hopefully it's a great way to share the experiences. Once the website is built I'll then be creating a web app from which I can record flight logs in the field from my phone and it will be saved into the website's database. I've looked around for something similar but the options that were there were quite dated in terms of functionality and also web standards wise.

I've got two options for this project, either make it a closed system or open it out as a membership system. Either way I'm not doing this to make money, it's a side project for me. If it does go down the membership route, there will be no charges made for this. If it goes down the closed system route, I'd make a package where people could download the site and the database to install on their own web hosting server so they can have their own site. Whichever way it goes, it will be open source. If Flite Test want to make use of it too, they are more than welcome.

I want to create a list of beta testers for when it reaches the beta stage of development. Ideally for now, I'd like a maximum of 10 and a minimum of 5 people to test out the site. If anyone is interested in trying the site and then the app, please do let me know. I'm expecting to be in early Beta within the next month.

I've done the database design and have started work on the backend coding already. I'm using Wordpress with some heavy customisation to it, it's working out good so far. Here's some pics the aeroplane adding/editing page:

The user wouldn't edit or add the information on the backend, there would be a login form and profile page, where the user can add or edit their aircraft, flight logs etc.

I'm working on the flight logging data next on the backend. Once that's done, I'll start work on the front end stuff for them.

 

[StuartPB]

Nearly forgot, I also need to know what sort of information you'd like to record in your flight log. I've got the following:

• Flight Date & Time
• Flight Duration
• FPV or Line of sight (If FPV what equipment)
• Aircraft Used
• Battery Used
• Location of Flight
• Weather during flight (I could automate this for UK based locations, possibly worldwide, grabbing weather at start of flight)
• Flight Notes
• Flight Videos

If there is anything else that would be useful or interesting to record, I can add it.

 

[StuartPB]

I've added a battery section to the backend now, where you can record all the batteries you have and use with your aircraft. When you log a flight you select the battery that you used for that flight. Each time you file a flight report it increases the times flown with battery count in the battery info.

Adding the batteries as separate entities saves repetition of entering data as you may use the same batteries for many aircraft. The flight log is semi sorted now, just need to expand on the weather a bit with some feed pulls for that. I can expand on the battery info, thinking about including charging data.

The Battery Section:



The Flight Log:

 

[StuartPB]

I've had a rethink of the database structure for the aeroplane entity, as it was there was too much repetition of data entry. I realised too that the way I designed the database, an aircraft could only have one motor, one propeller etc. I've now created separate tables for each component part of a radio controlled aircraft:

Aeroplane
with many to many relationships with the following tables:

Motors/Engines
Speed Controllers
Propellers
Servos
Receivers
Transmitters

That way a user can choose all the components for the aeroplane from the tables. If the component doesn't exist in the table, for example a motor is not already present in the motors table, they can create a new motor.

I'm going to see if I can get a spreadsheet with lists of the components so there are plenty of entries in each table to get the ball rolling.

 

[BeezerFish]

When you get to that stage, let me know and I'll help you beta test

 

[StuartPB]

Thanks Beezerfish, I'll give you a shout when the time comes, much appreicated

 

[DKchris]

One thing that occurs to me is that if it ends up being a closed system, being able to handle different users would be great.

This way the log would be directly usable as a club flight log, and hence helping a lot more pilots to a good detailed log system while having to set up far less servers.

Another thing that could be very neat would be a free text search possibility, as this would support what i feel is the first and foremost reason to keep a log - analysis on the data gathered to be able to spot and learn from those behaviors and errors we don't notice front up.

 

[StuartPB]

I'll definitely be building a custom search engine into it. One thing I'm undecided on is how far to take the information that will be stored in the database. I've created custom post types in Wordpress for the component parts of rc aircraft. With the custom post types I can easily create archive and single post pages for these post types.

So for example, servos is a custom post type. Each servo I use in any of my aircraft is saved as a custom post. So in the archive page for servos, I can generate a list of these servos with a link to the single servo page where the information/specifications for that servo will be displayed. I've got to decide if this is overkill but I could see it potentially being useful for users when they are speccing out their aircraft.

I could go further still and list all aircraft on the single servo page that make use of that servo. The same would apply for all the other component types, they could have archive and single pages. Taking it another step would be to offer feedback/ratings on each component for members.

Not sure if this is moving too far away from the initial idea though, the ability to easily log flights.

The system would be great for club usage, it could work really well. I'd have to design a base website theme with a theme options section so that site admins could add their logos, change colour schemes, change layouts etc. Nothing I've not done before so it's definitely straight forward enough to do.