There is a Lidar that can be applied to detect height over ground. The Benewake TF03 is able to measure up to 180m (590ft). This can be used for height advisory like a radio altimeter but also as gear reminder.
The protocole can be CAN or UART. It says that the device serial port rate can be customized as also the format, Format: Output format configured in the TF03. 0x01 (standard data format output), 0x02 （ Pixhawk data format output ).
I don?t know how difficult would be to implement this on the AFS5600 but I guess it would be great to have the function. The equipment seams to be flexible on the output.
Our company president has flight tested a competing ground advisory system that was sent to him by the manufacturer for testing. We agree they're a great option for enhancing safety through awareness, but the main benefit comes from the audio alerts you'll get while heads-up, looking out the window on short final. EFIS integration would be of limited value in this use case, since it isn't a heads-up solution. Certainly there would still be advantages to EFIS integration, such as being able to share landing gear switch status and airspeed data, share the EFIS audio pipeline, and give an AGL gauge on the EFIS. But we don't currently assess the return being worth our investment, especially when there are already multiple standalone systems on the market, which need only a wire into your audio panel to provide 85% of the benefits you might get from having a system integrated with our EFIS.
I coded a system (ESP32 board with Garmin LIDAR v4 sensor) and used a few times in my past airplane. It gave me the height you describe above. Like in the DIY video you described, we came up with the same conclusion: it was an unnecessary distraction in the end and both of us decided to remove it from the plane. To me, the worse part was the bad readings of the sensor. For example, in several times, flying at 1000's, the sensor would read something like 35ft, than 12ft, then 24ft - not reliable at all.
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