Messages

61

Technical Support / Re: Loss of connection (again)

« on: September 10, 2018, 09:07:19 pm »

One more comment on this.
It has also come to our attention in a couple of cases that the power supply has been shared between for example an iPad and PilotAware
This effectively halves the current capacity - when a tablet device is low on power, it draws a large constant current

Thx
Lee

Good advice Lee,  and perhaps another one for the manual.

In my case I have my PAW powered direct off its own power brick and nothing else is plugged into the brick.  My iPad (with SkyDemon) is plugged via an anker socket into the plane.  The iPad would in fact lose charge whilst flying because of the cheapy lead I was using to charge it with - required a 20AWG high power charging lead as well.

Geoffrey

62

Technical Support / Re: Weak WiFi signal

« on: September 10, 2018, 09:03:39 pm »

Venno,

There is definitely something strange going on here. 100mW is normally good for connectivity up to at least 50m or more (unless blocked by metalwork or other obstruction - which is why I asked the questions about your installation). If you are getting significantly reduced range, this is probably indicative of a defective WiFi dongle. In this respect, I'm afraid your edimax N150 dongle probably won't work - as Chris has explained, the WiFi dongle MUST be based on an RT5370 chipset. Other dongles will NOT work with the PAW software.

In the meantime, try re-fitting the original WiFi dongle, removing the other dongles (RTLSDR and GPS) then reboot the unit. Does the PAW WiFi Hotspot appear and does this improve the connectivity? If so, can you take and post a screengrab of your Home Screen and Logging Screen please and we can take things from there.

Regards

Peter

I'd agree, sounds like a faulty wifi dongle if you've tried a fresh install and still get connection difficulties with multiple different devices.   Have you tried the wifi dongle in different USB sockets in case its a faulty socket or the wifi isn't seated in right,  or do you know anyone else with PAW local to you that you could borrow parts from to try to confirm this theory.

Geoffrey

63

Technical Support / Re: Loss of connection (again)

« on: September 10, 2018, 08:59:01 pm »

I see you have identified one major cause of your problems. Hopefully replacing the lead will resolve it. I buy my leads direct from JuicEBitz - https://www.juicebitz.co.uk/1m-20awg-big-core-usb-type-a-to-micro-b-fast-data-charger-cable-black - are the ones that come with PilotAware.

Please keep us posted.

Best Regards

Peter

I'm going to try the lead replacement first and then maybe take apart PAW and check the RPi if that doesn't cure it. 

As at the time I didn't have Peter's reply so I went onto ebay and bought this 20AWG 50cm Micro USB lead for £2 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263797900480

Works a treat and PAW the stability has really improved.  Since fitting the new power lead I have flown 13 flights including 2 hour flights to/from Calais and round Norfolk,  and thoughout its been rock solid.
I did have one exception when SD lost connection soon after takeoff.  Turning wifi off and on again on the iPad and I was able to reconnect so hopefully this just an isolated incident.

My learning from this (suggest adding something to the manual) is that as well as the advice about having a good power supply that doesn't interfere with the radio,  also ensure that the power lead is in perfect condition as well.  If PAW starts crashing or randomly dropping connections consider replacing the lead as well.

Am still not convinced I am getting the range from PAW I used to when I first had it.  I see other traffic particularly PAW traffic only when they are within a mile or so of me and am sure that it used to be better than this.  I tried removing the PAW aerial extension lead and connecting the large aerial direct to PAW but it didn't make any appreciable difference - any other ideas?

Thanks, Geoffrey

64

General Discussion / Re: 2 things to tell new users

« on: September 10, 2018, 07:59:51 pm »

Is that true ?
It seems crazy to always round up, especially if the step size is 100'
it would seem far more sensible to 'round to nearest'
Thx
Lee

I agree Lee,  but I'm pretty sure that that was the calibration experience I had with my Trig.  I can remember a number of climbing and descending tests, comparing my Trig to my GPS and my altimeter to see how well the Trig altitude displayed matched. 

Maybe I'll go and try it again to confirm.

Geoffrey

65

General Discussion / uAvionix and Flarm Electronic Conspicuity Collaboration

« on: September 10, 2018, 07:51:01 pm »

Just read an interesting article on this month's Gasco mailout on https://www.gasco.org.uk/flight-safety-extra/flight_safety_extra_september_18/electronic_conspicuity_collaboration, in summary they have agreed to collaborate, and share and embed their respective technologies into their products.

They plan collaboration on Detect and Avoid solutions including manned and unmanned aircraft.  The drone angle is particularly interesting because to date they've been their own private ecosystems.

I did feel like pointing out to Gasco that their opening fails to acknowledge the existence of PilotAware EC - "The GA world has been searching for some time for a device that will accommodate all systems: Mode C/S, FLARM and ADS-B. So far success has been elusive, especially when low cost, low consumption and portability are included in the specification".

66

Technical Support / Re: Loss of connection (again)

« on: August 13, 2018, 09:52:34 am »

Hi Geoffrey,

Just catching up on the Forum after returning from a nature trekking holiday through the Malaysian Jungles - so my internet access has been extremely limited over the past couple of weeks.

I see you have identified one major cause of your problems. Hopefully replacing the lead will resolve it. I buy my leads direct from JuicEBitz - https://www.juicebitz.co.uk/1m-20awg-big-core-usb-type-a-to-micro-b-fast-data-charger-cable-black - are the ones that come with PilotAware.

I thought I should mention that I have experienced issues with the microUSB socket on one user’s unit, probably caused by heavy-handed ‘cable wiggling’ or plugging and unplugging by the individual concerned. ... If you do find the need to replace the RPi, you could ‘upgrade’ your Classic to an RPi3B as used in Rosetta.

Please keep us posted.

Best Regards

Peter

Hi Peter,  sounds like a great holiday and can understand the lack of wifi in the jungle !

Thanks for your reply.  I did wonder about the power connector on the RPi as well.  The power lead has been pretty much permanently plugged into my PAW since I bought it,  but given that its mounted underneath the base tube of my Quantum, just above the storage bag,  it will of course over time have been knocked.

I'm going to try the lead replacement first and then maybe take apart PAW and check the RPi if that doesn't cure it.  Someone else on the forum I think replaced and re-soldered the micro USB socket on the motherboard but if mine is damaged then I will probably go down the simpler route of fitting an upgraded RPi as you suggest.  I know its been said that the 3B+ isn't currently supported,  is it likely to become so any time soon ?

Cheers, Geoffrey

67

Technical Support / Re: Loss of connection (again)

« on: August 10, 2018, 10:43:28 pm »

Hi Lee, the lead that I think has developed the fault was the original PAW USB lead.  I've been a good guy and have always used the one you supplied because of prior warnings about the importance of a decent power supply to PAW.
The new lead I tried with a quick plug-in last night was just a standard USB lead but did appear to work fine.  Yes, acknowledged that if it can't deliver the power then this might lead to problems of its own.

On the pilotawarehardware website I couldn't find the 20AWG USB lead for sale.  If not, is there any recommended ebay or Amazon item ?

Geoffrey

Update:  Took the originally supplied USB lead home, tried it in a phone and some of the time it worked, some of the time it didn't.  So think this concludes as being the cause of the 'random crashes' problem I was experiencing.

Answered my own question on source of 20AWG USB leads, looking on eBay there are plenty available at all sorts of lengths.  I've bought a 0.5m one as the original one was too long for my flexwing which might have been another cause of the lead getting knocked excessively.
Some eBay sellers were even selling 20WAG USB leads but I think this might be something to do with footballer's wives so I steered clear of these ones.

Let you know if this new lead cures all my other ills.

Geoffrey

68

Technical Support / Re: Weak WiFi signal

« on: August 08, 2018, 04:13:44 pm »

Hi, I have a very weak WiFi signal that makes it impossible to use the pilot aware unit.
If I’m more than 30cm from the WiFi dongle, I loose connection. It doesn’t matter if I try with my IPhone 6 running 11.4.1 (latest) or my iPad Pro, or iPad mini, at the airport, at home or in the middle of a field. I must be within 30cm direct line of sight to be connected.
Here are my stats:
-using the recommmended Anker battery with supplied PA power cable
-no Password, Mode B, channel 9, power 100mW, static IP
PA version 20170721
Any idea how to fix this?
Thank you
Venno

On the network tab there is the ability to change the power level of the wifi transmission.  My PAW was set to 10mw but after I did a clean install and refreshed the latest firmware I noticed the network settings had changed to 50mw and mode G (was mode B).

Try increasing the wifi power output,  and if you don't have the many additional power options then doing a full clean install of the software to the latest firmware will give more options like it did for me

Geoffrey

69

Technical Support / Re: Loss of connection (again)

« on: August 08, 2018, 04:08:12 pm »

Hi Geoffrey

Sounds like you have identified the issue with the power lead, if it works correctly with another lead
Is the 'other' USB lead from another PilotAware unit ?
- these are dedicated power leads using 20AWG power lines rather than the standard USB leads

If not, a standard USB will make it unreliable.

Thx
Lee

Hi Lee, the lead that I think has developed the fault was the original PAW USB lead.  I've been a good guy and have always used the one you supplied because of prior warnings about the importance of a decent power supply to PAW.
The new lead I tried with a quick plug-in last night was just a standard USB lead but did appear to work fine.  Yes, acknowledged that if it can't deliver the power then this might lead to problems of its own.

On the pilotawarehardware website I couldn't find the 20AWG USB lead for sale.  If not, is there any recommended ebay or Amazon item ?

Geoffrey

70

Technical Support / Re: Loss of connection (again)

« on: August 08, 2018, 09:47:19 am »

Hi Geoffrey,

If there is a power connectivity problem, then I would expect to see lots of short track files, rather than a single trackfile for the flight duration.

Can you have a look to see if this is the case, each track file has a date/time indicator (UTC) ?

Thx
Lee

Hi Lee,

I was down at the airfield again yesterday and plugged PAW in again using the original USB lead.   After 10 minutes it hadn't booted up and only had a single red light illuminated.
Tried with a different USB lead and in a few minutes it was working fine.  Wiggling the lead I didn't see any sign that PAW lost power.

Since I have reformatted and reinstalled a fresh installation of PAW I don't have access now to the previous log files so can't be sure about tying them together to when PAW stopped working.  I did download a few of the files beforehand and you should be able to access them on this dropbox folder: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j65or1en3dvq5id/AADtEF-QMYLcRD0Dcws6umFna?dl=0

On PAW there are only 3 log files.  Two from Monday (after I'd re-installed PAW) and one from Tuesday.   This exactly matches when I powered up and then unplugged PAW from the power brick.

Thanks

Geoffrey

71

Technical Support / Re: Loss of connection (again)

« on: August 07, 2018, 12:44:11 pm »

Geoffrey,

Can you check and let us know what Kernel version your PilotAware is running on please. This will be reported on 2nd row - ‘Platform’ on the PAW Home Screen via 192.168.1.1.

Regards

Peter

Hi Peter,  I *was* on kernel 4.4.34.

I say was because things have progressively got worse until I re-imaged the PAW last night.

From when I reported the problem above I have found that my PAW classic has become progressively less and less reliable.  As well as the problems of dropping the connection I noticed that PAW was failing completely.

I'd say my problems were threefold:
- not reliably seeing other local traffic.  e.g. flying on Saturday with other friends following behind me with PAW,  some of the time I could see them, but quite a bit of the time I couldn't.  They were about 4-6km away so I wouldn't have expected any range problems
- dropping wifi connection to the iPad whilst PAW continues to run OK (evidenced by ADSB displayed on my transponder OK)
- PAW failing completely, wifi disappearing, ADSB no longer fed to my transponder

Happening quite frequently now,  getting anywhere between 5 to 30 minutes of stable use at any time.  Interesting that when the PAW completely failed it didn't recover automatically.  Unplugging the USB power lead from the brick and plugging back in would sometimes restore PAW,  but on several occasions it didn't come back and I had to repeat the unplugging and plugging back in again. 

Last night I decided that maybe the PAW software was corrupted in some way and this was why it wouldn't boot reliably so I reformatted the SD card and reinstalled the full software image.  Plugged it in,  waited and waited, and 20 minutes later still no lights flashing on the PAW.
I then unplugged and replugged in the micro USB plug into the PAW and lights started flashing.  Cutting the story short the PAW reloaded OK and so is now running kernel 4.9.35 with PAW 20180520,  however when I wiggled the micro USB plug in the PAW it would sometimes cause the PAW to freeze or reboot.

So I suspect at least the last of my issues may have been due to either a partial damage within the USB cable, or the micro USB socket itself.  I tried with a different cable and it seemed to be more reliable when the cable was at rest (the original cable would die quite frequently) but still had problems when I wiggled it in the micro USB socket.

What's my options for fixing this?  I could replace the USB cable but if it is the micro USB socket as I think it is then I guess I have to replace the entire Raspberry Pi?

Once I get beyond this and have a stable power feed then maybe I will get a better handle on how often the other problems are occurring or whether they are linked.

Geoffrey

72

Technical Support / Re: Loss of connection (again)

« on: July 08, 2018, 08:39:58 pm »

I have some similar symptoms.  There are times when pilot aware is rock solid, there are others when it sky demon loses connectivity.  As it's happened twice to me today and once to my friend who was also flying, I thought I'd better report it.

PAW classic running off a fully charged EC technology power brick. 
Latest (May 2018) software
Sky demon on my iPad
PAW connected to my trig transponder

Flying along fine and after 24 minutes of flight skydemon disconnected saying that it hadn't received any data. 
Went into the iPad settings and it was no longer connected to the PAW hot-spot.   
Turned wifi off and on again on the iPad but the hot-spot didn't appear.

Got my phone out (which hadn't been connected to PAW), turned Wi-Fi on, and again the PAW hot-spot didn't appear. 

I know that PAW was still working as my transponder was still correctly showing the GPS position.

Pulled the power lead out of the power brick and plugged it back in again. The transponder reported it had lost GPS signal (as I'd expect).
When PAW started up the transponder picked up the GPS data again and I was able to connect the iPad to PAW and restart navigation.
Worked fine for the remainder of the flight.

Only other odd thing is that PAW traffic range seemed limited. Couldn't see my friend who was 8km ahead. 

I have the trace files from the take-off to reboot and from reboot to landing if these help.

It's only really started doing this since the latest software version. I think it was much more solid on the previous versions. 

Thanks Geoffrey

73

General Discussion / Re: 2 things to tell new users

« on: June 25, 2018, 11:38:18 am »

Mode S/S-ES can carry altitude data with a RESOLUTION of 25ft, but the ACCURACY is determined by the encoder and is only +/-200ft, and the RESOLUTION and PRECISION of most GA encoders is 100ft. Just changing the transponder to a Mode-S unit doesn't magically improve the accuracy of the system as a whole.

Agreed.  When I first fitted my Trig TT21 and with Luton ATC checked the calibration to my altimeter and GPS,  it was over-reading by about 130 feet (and the altitude is rounded up to the nearest 100' making the worst case 200' off).    Speaking to Trig they said that that was within allowable tolerance but they sent me a replacement encoder head (the bit that goes on the dashboard),  this one was more accurate (80' out I think) so I've continued using it.

Be aware of this when flying under controlled airspace.  I try to fly at least 300' below to ensure that I don't worry ATC with false alerts.

74

Technical Support / Re: PAW occasionally loses GPS signal

« on: May 26, 2018, 10:21:37 pm »

Hi Lee,  I have today upgraded to the latest software version.   Went flying and so far didn’t see any dropouts like happened before.

Found I was getting interference though on the radio on some channels.  Eventually traced it to the new GPS cable which was too near to the radio antenna so I’ve moved it and so far so good.

Thinking back I can’t be absolutely sure whether PAW was showing red or amber when it reported loosing the GPS.  Maybe it was amber.

If it happens again I’ll let you know.

75

Technical Support / Re: PAW occasionally loses GPS signal

« on: May 26, 2018, 11:11:54 am »

Hi Geoffrey,
Which version of the software are you using?
There was found to be an issue with other devices present that, when asleep, caused the PAW issues. This was fixed a couple of issues ago.

I was using what was at the time the latest software version.  Will upgrade to the May 18 version and try to get some more screen shots if/when it happens again.