Logging Screen Content Format and Meanings

[DavidC]

The logging screen available to view at 192.168.1.1 on the tablet web browser lists "targets" - presumably this is everything the PAW detects but not necessarily all appear on SkyDemon. For example, the attached screen only displayed a single aircraft (the Norwegian Boeing) despite the widest filter settings on the SD configuration page.

I wondered what the various column headings mean and which ones I might expect to see warnings for.
I couldn't find any documentation that explains this

I'm guessing that

Hex = the unique ICAO code for the aircraft, as stated on G-INFO or elsewhere.
Reg = aircraft registration letters
SQ = ?? (Signal Quality? Seems to be used to rank/order the list)
Mode = Transponder modes active, C = Mode C, S = Mode S, A = ADS-B (these are all independent).
D (km) = Distance to target in kilometers
A (FT) = Altitude in feet
BR ?? (Only shown for the ADS-B aircraft)
SIG = Signal Strength (guess)
Ver
MACp
SDA
NICa
SIL
SILs

Not sure what other transponder modes might be shown (FLARM and PAW perhaps?)

I believe SIL is related to the quality of GPS data source used to drive an ADS-B out

EDIT: I have realised that there are several Mode C rows almost certainly related to the same aircraft at around 8200 feet. I think the altitude has been adjusted from the Mode C Flight Level (which is to the nearest 100 feet) based on the current barometric pressure. So some correlation would be used to determine if that's heading towards me (signal getting stronger) at a similar altitude before warning.

Mode A traffic wouldn't be shown.

The squawk code isn't shown for any entry.

Finally, is it possible to have Mode S enabled to identify and aircraft but Mode C disabled so you don't know the altitude (eg if someone selected ON rather than ALT on a Mode S transponder).

[Keithvinning]

I wondered what the various column headings mean and which ones I might expect to see warnings for.
I couldn't find any documentation that explains this

This is explained in the Operating Instructions available from pilotaware.com/pages have you seen these? These will be further updated with the next release of software.

For example, the attached screen only displayed a single aircraft (the Norwegian Boeing) despite the widest filter settings on the SD configuration page.

The Norwegian Boeing is a Mode S transmission so would only be shown as a ring around your plane on sky demon? Is this how you are seeing it and therefore not seeing any ADSB traffic?

Also please ensure that you have the show bearingless targets enabled on SD

Mode A traffic wouldn't be shown.

This is correct as it gives no useful information

The squawk code isn't shown for any entry.

Yes it is this is the SQ column

Finally, is it possible to have Mode S enabled to identify and aircraft but Mode C disabled so you don't know the altitude (eg if someone selected ON rather than ALT on a Mode S transponder).

Yes it is this is also explained. In the configuration page select Mode S

Have a look at the Operating instructions at pilotaware.com. these will also be updated very soon.

Regards

Keith





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[exfirepro]

Hi David,

The top two on your Traffic Screen are Commercial (CAT) ADSB - denoted by the 'A' in the 'Mode' column. They are reported as being 72 and 80 Km away so should have been inside your tablet's visible area, but both being above 38,000 ft, would only have appeared if you had 'Show Vertical Separation' in your tablet software set to something like +/- 40,000ft or more (which you could do for test purposes, but which would be crazy for practical flying).

You are right about the mode 'C' entries - the T= ? in the Sq(uawk) column denotes time that each entry (in this case Alt(itude) ONLY) has been held in the system for processing. 'Bearingless' Mode 'C' and Mode 'S' targets will ONLY appear on screen if selected in 'PilotAware/Configure/ Mode C/S Select' and only when the Sig(nal Strength) of the received signal breaks one of a set of predetermined trigger values, set by selection in the 'Mode C/S Detect' 'Range' section on the PilotAware configuration page.

As Keith says, this will all become clear if you read the PilotAware Operation Manual, but please feel free to come back with anything you still don't understand.

Regards

Peter
(Development Tester)

[DavidC]

Thanks for the quick answers. I hadn't visited the site recently so the "Pages" documentation section was new to me.
I hadn't spotted it from the dropdown menu on the main website.

The ADS-B airliner did show up as a little white plane on SkyDemon, not a white ring, with 30,000 feet flitering.

Surprised that the commercial ADS-B out messages didn't include any of the ADS-B DF17 packet contents - all these fields on the right hand side were blank. I guess they aren't actually used for anything by PAW, so just wondered why they are displayed and why they are blank.

[Admin]

Surprised that the commercial ADS-B out messages didn't include any of the ADS-B DF17 packet contents - all these fields on the right hand side were blank. I guess they aren't actually used for anything by PAW, so just wondered why they are displayed and why they are blank.

David, are you referring to the NACp, SIL, SDA etc ?
If these are present in the stream, they are displayed, the background requirement to display this information was as part of the FASVIG support for non-certified GPS connection to a transponder to ensure correct SIL/SDA settings.

Its interesting that many existing ADS-B sources do not provide this information (mostly the CAT)
I think the intention is, if this is not present, assume that it is a certified GPS source

Thx
Lee