You are browsing as a guest. Sign up (or log in) to start making projects!

Project Horizon

Hardware

By @SubTomic

  • 5 Devlogs
  • 7 Total hours

I'm building a custom, motion-controlled low-poly browser flight sim using a Raspberry Pi 5 and a Sense HAT for my Hack Club Stardance project. When you pick up and tilt the physical device in your hands, its built-in motion sensors stream real-time telemetry over Wi-Fi to animate an airplane that your flying through a low-poly map, right in your browser!

Source
Ship #1 Pending review

@SubTomic on Project Horizon

**Project Horizon**

I built a custom, real-time **browser flight simulator** from scratch using pure JavaScript and an HTML5 canvas. The rendering engine utilizes custom pseudo-3D matrix projection to dynamically calculate and display infinite terrain grid blocks, including mountain ranges and water tiles, completely independent of external 3D libraries like WebGL or Three.js.

The core of the project is the physical hardware integration. I designed and 3D printed a custom flight yoke assembly that houses a Raspberry Pi 5 equipped with a Sense HAT. The Pi polls the integrated IMU sensor and streams live pitch, roll, and throttle variables over a **local WebSocket server**, allowing the user to manipulate the aircraft's cockpit view seamlessly via physical motion.

The primary technical challenges involved implementing the manual projection mathematics and filtering the raw sensor telemetry to eliminate signal noise and jitter. I am particularly proud of achieving a stable hardware-to-software data stream and developing a high-visibility, responsive glass-cockpit HUD featuring synchronized airspeed and altitude instrument tapes.

**How to Test the Project :**
If you are reviewing this project without the physical Raspberry Pi yoke connected, the flight simulator automatically initializes a desktop fallback mode with interactive manual controls:

- Pitch (Climb/Dive): Use W / S

- Roll (Bank wings): Use A / D

- Throttle (Engine Thrust): Scroll the Mouse Wheel to adjust power linearly from 0% to 100%

  • 5 devlogs
  • 7h build
Video of Project → See source code →
Open comments for this post

@SubTomic on Project Horizon

1h 34m 1s logged

Devlog 6/25

Done :

  • Website working with speedometer and altitude indicator

  • Backend code for the Raspberry Pi 5 for gyroscopic data telemetry

  • Physical model featuring a yoke design with a Raspberry Pi 5 holder in the center

Whats next?

  • SHIP
0
0
3
Open comments for this post

@SubTomic on Project Horizon

2h 7m 1s logged

Devlog 6/24

Done :

  • Started HTML Script to test roll, pitch and yaw data from Raspberry Pi 5
  • Set up WebSockets on Raspberry Pi to stream gyroscope data to HTML Code

Whats next?

  • Change UI to a more modern look
  • Possibly add more features to enhance the look of the UI
0
0
3
Open comments for this post

@SubTomic on Project Horizon

2h 14m 4s logged

Devlog - 6/24

Lot of work done today

Done :
Hardware side of the project, which includes:

  • Main Assembly
  • Raspberry Pi Holder
  • Main Frame
  • Joystick piece
  • Full CAD of Raspberry Pi 5

The idea of the frame was that it looks like a Yoke you would see inside a cessna 172 or other aircraft, creating the sensation that you were actually flying the plane when looking into the horizon.

Whats next?

  • Start using VSCode and Thonny on Raspberry Pi to send data from Sense Hat to the code in order to control the horizon
0
0
1
Open comments for this post

@SubTomic on Project Horizon

40m 1s logged

Project Horizon -

6/23 Dev Log :

This Dev Log is mainly focused on the Block CAD Model of the Raspberry Pi 5, as this was crucial for the later design of the physical structure/device.

Added CPU, RAM, and I/O blocks, as well as the USB 2.0, USB 3.0, ethernet port and 40 PIN GPIO Header w/ extension.

This is crucial since I will need to design the physical structure of the device around the R PI.

0
0
3
Open comments for this post

@SubTomic on Project Horizon

18m 2s logged

Project Horizon -

Started on :

  • Raspberry Pi 5 Case
  • Raspberry Pi 5 Block CAD Model

This is crucial for the design of the case/holder since the entire physical prototype will be designed and assembled around the Pi itself.

Whats next :

  • Finish Pi Holder CAD
  • Finish Pi Block CAD Model
  • Start CAD on physical structure/device
  • Hopefully start some basic HTML Code
1
0
8

Delete project?

Are you sure you want to permanently delete this project? This action cannot be undone.

All devlogs, followers, and associated data will be removed.

Followers

Loading…