PilotAware

British Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Paul_Sengupta on November 03, 2015, 02:18:22 am

Title: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 03, 2015, 02:18:22 am
Spurred on by another thread, I downloaded XC Soar for Andoid on one of my cheap tablets (Asus ME173X) and tried to get it working with the PAW to display traffic. Well, it's not the best software for this purpose, but it works.

1 ) Download XC Soar here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xcsoar (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xcsoar)

while connected to the internet, then connect your WiFi back to the PAW.

2 ) Double tap the display. Select "Config" --> "Devices"
3 ) Choose a position from A to F and select "Edit" on the left.
4 ) Tap the box to the right of "Port". Select "TCP Client" then "Select" on the left.
5 ) Under "IP Address" enter 192.168.1.1
6 ) Under "Port" select "2000"
7 ) Under "Driver" select "FLARM" then tap "OK" to the left.
8 ) The profile should just work, but if it's showing "Disabled", select the new profile in the list and click "Enable" on the left. It should connect and say "GPS fix; FLARM" if you have a GPS dongle on your PAW, or if you're running the PilotAwareAndroid software and have GPS lock on the tablet, once it's connected. If the first profile is the Built in GPS, you might want to disable that, though I don't know if there's a problem leaving both running.

Traffic appears on the map when you are zoomed in to a certain level - if you zoom out, it disappears.

The software should as default display a "FLARM radar" display on the main display when there's traffic. If you double tap it you can get just the radar display on which you can select North Up or Track Up under the various menus, and zoom in or out, up to 10km.

If more than one bit of traffic is displayed you can tap it and it'll tell you the relative altitude and the distance.

I suspect you'll want to download a map and airspace, so you can double tap the main display again, select "Config" --> "System" --"Site Files" --> "Site Files" and select map database and airspace data for your country. Do this when you're connected to the internet though, not the PAW!  :D

If you want height in feet, you can select "Config" --> "System" --> "Setup" --> "Units" and select Preset: British or American.

The rest I'll let you work out for yourself!

G'night!

Actually, just been playing, XC Soar TE is the same software but with a bit neater layout.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xcsoarte (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xcsoarte)
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: ianfallon on November 03, 2015, 12:04:42 pm
Nice work Paul ! Got to say I will stick with SkyDemon et al, but it's another option for some!
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 03, 2015, 12:13:16 pm
It's a free option for anyone who doesn't have one of the expensive options! :D
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: GarethHorne on November 03, 2015, 12:15:52 pm
Yup, working nicely on my phone (Smart Ultra 6, basically a Vodafone branded ZTE Blade 6), not as pretty as SkyDemon but showing all the traffic without the need for a subscription.
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: ianfallon on November 03, 2015, 12:23:32 pm
Can you filter traffic by relative alt ?
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 03, 2015, 01:04:34 pm
It's the first time I've used this software so I'm not sure. It's not obvious if you can!
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: FERRYAIR on November 03, 2015, 08:38:37 pm
Being nosy I took a look at XCSoar TE & it instantly found my position as the Long/Lat matched about where I was 😂


Having followed the set up instructions I never managed to get any ADS-B returns showing up on the screen ( anyone know why? )

Also before I stick XCSoar into Room 101 does it show terrain as I just got a white screen?
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: r_w_walker on November 03, 2015, 09:53:01 pm
Thank you Paul.

Finally got PilotAware working on a larger screen

System works on Hudle2,(Tesco)running Android 4.4.2, with PilotAwareAndroid and XCSoar.
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: FERRYAIR on November 03, 2015, 10:50:40 pm
Just managed to get Terrain & aTopo on Xcsoar TE so now I am a happy bunny.

I followed Paul Sengupta's instructions at the bottom of the " how to get XCSOAR " but having read the instructions on how to upload xcsoar I never read the rest ( until just now )
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 03, 2015, 11:15:54 pm
Ferryair - to get traffic (and GPS from the PAW) you need to follow the instructions on how to configure the interface rather than just using the internal GPS. Glad you found how to download the terrain and stuff...it's not the most intuitive software I find.
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 04, 2015, 01:58:23 pm
Airspace!

I found that for UK airspace, using the file selectable within the programme, it didn't display anything. So I went digging.

http://www.nvgc.org.uk/XCSoarData.html (http://www.nvgc.org.uk/XCSoarData.html)

There's a link here which says:

UK airspace files Apr 2015 (Click here to download) (http://www.nvgc.org.uk/UK2015.txt)
save into your XCSoarData folder or the LK8000 Airspace folder.


Do as it says, download that file (preferably straight onto the tablet) and using some sort of file manager on your tablet copy it into the XCSoar data directory. When you select: "Config" --> "System" --"Site Files" --> "Site Files", and tap the box next to Airspace, you should see the file there and be able to tap on it then tap on Select. The airspace should then appear.
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Admin on November 04, 2015, 02:36:04 pm
Hi Paul,
do you have sensible numbers annotated to the traffic in XCsoar, if this is intended to be relative altitude, I see this jumping all over the place, and not agreeing with SkyDemon, or RunwayHD ?
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 04, 2015, 02:53:12 pm
Yes, I've just noticed this. If you tap on the traffic, a screen comes up which shows what's in the vicinity and this seems to show the proper altitude for the aircraft, or reasonably close anyway. If you tap on the radar display it also shows the proper relative height.

However the numbers next to the objects on the main map seem to bear no relation to the actual relative height. Some targets don't even have numbers next to them.

Aha, having just tapped on the object and had a look at what comes up, this is shown as "Vario"...so the number next to the aircraft is how fast it's climbing or descending in knots, not the relative height.
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Admin on November 04, 2015, 03:30:14 pm
Quote
Aha, having just tapped on the object and had a look at what comes up, this is shown as "Vario"...so the number next to the aircraft is how fast it's climbing or descending in knots, not the relative height.

Thats confusing then whan compared to the other tools  ???
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 04, 2015, 05:45:31 pm
Maybe you should suggest to the writers of XC Soar that this be made switchable.

Edit: They already had a debate on their forum, so I've lobbed in something there.

http://forum.xcsoar.org/viewtopic.php?p=11888#p11888 (http://forum.xcsoar.org/viewtopic.php?p=11888#p11888)
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 10, 2015, 11:15:44 pm
Lee, do you want to copy/paste the setup instructions from this into your posting here?

http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,13.0.html (http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,13.0.html)

Just so it's there for people to see.
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: ianfallon on November 11, 2015, 08:37:11 am
I need to add it all to the Software Installation guide too
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Admin on November 11, 2015, 09:01:32 am
Lee, do you want to copy/paste the setup instructions from this into your posting here?

http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,13.0.html (http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,13.0.html)

Just so it's there for people to see.

Hi Paul
Yes please go ahead, and please give to Ian to go in doc for website
Thx for doing this, great help.
Lee
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: ianfallon on November 11, 2015, 01:48:59 pm
Made some XC Soar screenshots so I just need to integrate them with Paul's info into the guide.
Coming in v0.4 of the guide!
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: neilmurg on November 12, 2015, 02:18:39 pm
I get aircraft when the PAN message in the lower left corner says 96km or less. If I zoom out it shows PAN 160km and no aircraft. When I turn the PAN off the zoom changes to 70km, still displaying targets.
Even at 70km, I can still see Heathrow and Gatwick, I just need a co-linear aerial for home use now (if that's the right word).
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Smaragd on November 15, 2015, 12:50:06 pm
Paul,

I have followed your instructions for linking XC Soar (I have XC Soar TC) up to #8, but I don't have an Enable on the left of my screen, just Edit and Reconnect. Am I doing something wrong?

Trevor
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 15, 2015, 01:15:39 pm
Ah yes, you're right, it's only if you're previously selected "Disable" that "Enable" becomes visible. I guess it "just works" without having to do that, thanks, I'll edit the instructions!
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Smaragd on November 15, 2015, 03:17:13 pm
Thanks Paul, I should have caught on to that, though in fact it wasn't actually my problem. I wasn't waiting long enough after pressing Reconnect and just assumed I'd followed the wrong procedure. I've now detected a couple of targets!
Title: Re: XC Soar free Android software and PilotAware
Post by: Paul_Sengupta on November 17, 2016, 11:31:00 am
I installed XC Soar a while back on another device, and I've found now that loading the UK airspace from the menus works fine whereas on the previous page of this thread you had to download a separate file. Makes things easier. It should have worked before but for some reason it didn't.