PAW of limited use (for now at least)

[julianwebb]

Dear All

I took my new PAW down to Popham and Chilbolton to give it a test over the past 2 days. Fired it up in the car with the antenna on the roof all worked well I could see lots of CT all above 10,000 feet (I will filter these out after my test). Also I saw one light aircraft with ADS-B out which worked well could see him in the air and on the iPad.

When it came to the aircraft that one will in the main actually encounter there were some issues as follows:-

1) No fault of the system but a large proportion of the aircraft have neither a Transponder or a PAW. At Chilbolton most (80%) of the aircraft do not have Transponders and they have never heard of a PAW. So we are not going to see these aircraft.

2) If the aircraft does have a Transponder a lot are old and only MODE C. I can see PAW does not pick up Mode C it only picks up Mode S. I understand there is an issue with Mode C and S as they would be duplicate transmissions. The TM250 from Funke Werk just displays these as duplicates and FLARM does some sort of calculation to eliminate duplicates. The point is however we just need to know there is traffic at our height and then climb or descend to avoid it. So we really need Mode C also maybe as I read somewhere on the site with the "banners" so can see how many aircraft have been detected even showing duplicates (like the TM250).

3) The system detects bearing less Mode S fine. I did not have the audio on as I did not have a lead but I was expecting the standard SD type response of some sort of "buzzer" or other warning but all that happens is silently a very tiny white aircraft is place on top of ones own and the reg and height difference is displayed in small letters that one needs reading classes to see. If one was flying and keeping a look out it would go completely unnoticed so issuing some sort of very clear warning is really needed soon. Otherwise without the audio lead its not much use.

4) Chilbolton is near Lasham so there will be lots of gliders around. I am told by a member at Lasham that all the cross country gliders have Flarm but of course we will not see these unless they have a Mode S transponder and of course they wont see us.

So all in all I would expect we can only see between 10 - 20% of the light traffic at the moment. I know in France with Flarm the clubs had to mandate Flarm fitment and as you all know the USA has mandated all traffic has to be ADS-B out by 2020. Maybe mandating some sort of equipage is the only way a system like PAW is ever going to be of any real practical use.

I am now not in a great rush to get the PAW in the plane as at the moment it is probably more of a distraction than any practical use. I was hoping that at least detecting Mode C and S would be useful but at the moment this is not the case.

I dont want to sound negative I'm just pointing out the limitations we have at the moment.

Solutions could be:-

1) Step up the marking campaign for PAW so we get a higher equipage density (PAW + ADS-B). BMAA + LAA + mags like Flyer all need to give it a BIG push.

2) Implement a proper warning on SD and other software (some sort of "buzzer") for bearingless targets like Mode S + C. Having to have another lead and a way to output the audio is really messy why cant it be over the wifi to the NAV software?

3) Detect Mode C. Dont know the stats but all the old aircraft seems to have only Mode C.

4) Try to do something on the Flarm issue.


Regards

[Paul_Sengupta]

Give it a chance, it's only been out a month, you can't expect everyone to have one yet. As for people not knowing about PilotAware, I trust you educated them? I recently took my kit to the Andover Strut meeting and there are now three more people going to buy PAWs.

The next software version will change the depiction of Non-ADS-B contacts, so keep an eye out for updates. If you want alerts on them though, you'll have to talk to the nav software developers and/or invest in some sort of audio from the Pi.

I believe Mode C is under consideration.

In the meantime, why wouldn't you fly with the PilotAware? It doesn't matter if you use it or not for your own purposes, but at least you'll be visible to us. Of course if you have ADS-B you will be anyway, but if you use it you may well see me. Look out for G-DOGG. Other than the PAW I only have Mode C.

[AlanG]

Hi Julian

i know it's a lot to wade through but I do believe you would be better employed reading, if not all of the info on this forum, then at least the last few weeks and you would find that most, if not all of your "negatives" have either been address and are ready to go in the next software release or are in the pipeline for future development.
As to your point 2: May I suggest you ditch SD and switch to EasyVFR which already has the Audio Alerts you crave direct from the navigation software without any extra cables.
You say there should be a strong push to advertise PAW to the masses.  I would suggest that instead of broadcasting what you see as it's shortfalls, getting the message out about the "Positive" advantages of every GA a/c carrying one of these would be far more beneficial and help to make you and every one of us much safer.

Regards
Alan

[Robski]

Hear, hear, Alan.
Or for the backward baseball cap wearers - What he said!

When I've shown PAW / SD to people with just ADS-B contacts they've wanted one, even before I have explained the P3I benefits.

[Mig29fuk]

PAW is an additional aid within the cockpit to add value to the normal airmanship functions to keep flying.
At the moment we still need to talk to Air Traffic, carry a Map and serviceable compass and they have been with us many years.
The advent of GPS navigation software available to all seems to have diverted attention from pure flying but at least less chance of getting lost or bursting a zone.
I have all the additional hardware mentioned and operate under a CTA and have no problems with services available so.....
PAW doesn't do everything yet, not its fault as it displays via Third Party applications but it is a very useful addition to the cockpit for look out awareness. It's intended design.
The fact that FLARM doesn't want to share information is again no fault of PAW.

With some of the requests being asked for I wonder if a ground based simulator may suit some people more than actually flying. Cheaper too.

BTW. PAW with only ADS-B recently went on a multi European country tour and proved very useful, especially in busy TMA's.

Go fly with it Julian! If you come West pop into my Strip. No landing fees.