Messages

16

General Discussion / Latest version - ADSB labels

« on: October 22, 2015, 02:33:21 pm »

I have upgraded both my units to the latest version of PAW. One uses collisionaware for fix the other has USB GPS. The USB one is not showing the ident label on ADSB traffic. Is there a setting I need to change or is there some other problem?

17

General Discussion / Re: Long Marston Test 17 October

« on: October 21, 2015, 04:33:59 pm »

btw do you know about the master / slave test mode ? You can put one in each mode via the Configuration web interface and then the logging will show power levels. Would be interested to see the values you get.

Not sure how to do that. I tried and got ARF logging messages on the master like this but have no idea what it means!

aSSRSSIS-58 aMMRSSIM-54

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General Discussion / Anyone going to Turweston fly-in Sat?

« on: October 21, 2015, 02:21:39 pm »

If the wx plays ball, is anyone going to the above end of season fly-in? Could be a another test opportunity.

19

General Discussion / Re: Airborne testing - mixed results

« on: October 20, 2015, 11:17:51 pm »

Paul, the black one is an Aukey 20000mah USB battery pack.

20

General Discussion / Re: Daft question #5207 - USB GPS

« on: October 20, 2015, 10:24:15 pm »

Thanks for the replies. Re the updated version, I downloaded it late morning today. Is this the latest fix you refer to? I eventually got it working after several reboots of each device.

21

General Discussion / Re: Long Marston Test 17 October

« on: October 20, 2015, 05:31:58 pm »

Well, if my reading Sky Demon is correct, I was picking up CaptChaos from about 9nm away when both aircraft were heading directly towards each other. Unfortunately he couldn't see me until we were very close indeed!

So there's some sort of variation here.

Paul, depends on SD settings - the trend line shows either time or distance - 2,5,10 for each so if you were on distance and I think you said second mark, that equates to 5 NM.

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General Discussion / Daft question #5207 - USB GPS

« on: October 20, 2015, 12:27:51 pm »

One of the slow boats from China has arrived so have a USB GPS to try. I have used USB port 3 and it seems to give a position fix if I use the Flarm nav options in SD.

Daft question - si there a way to set up SD so it uses ipad GPS for its nav and PAW uses USB GPS for its position fix. The reason for this interest is that SD on the ipad keep running even if the PAW unit has problems.

I have also just upgraded to latest release and very early results showing no ADSB traffic. Are there any settings I need to adjust?

Any comments/ answers appreciated.

23

General Discussion / Re: Southeast test day

« on: October 20, 2015, 12:14:17 pm »

If you fly over Lasham way let me know and I can at least see if I can pick you up on the ground

24

General Discussion / Re: Error msg SDR-USB: Error, connect ()

« on: October 20, 2015, 01:01:54 am »

No exactly as they were first inserted. Device seems to be working but will check again for this error message.

25

General Discussion / Re: Airborne testing - mixed results

« on: October 19, 2015, 10:02:52 pm »

It is much more fun testing these devices with a friend in the air, thank you Paul. However, we were thorough in our preparation and had one of Popham's full English Breakfast whilst briefing!

26

General Discussion / Re: Long Marston Test 17 October

« on: October 19, 2015, 09:57:34 pm »

A few questions:

- Do they all have the same hardware construction technique ?
- Do they all have the same antennas / antenna connectors (SMA soldered vs pigtail etc)
- Are they all soldered as well as each other 

AFAIK ground - ground even in clear air will not be as good as air - air (in clear air).

Ian the construction techniques are detailed in my air testing post. However, briefly one of mine is soldered by me using Digole reg and the other is the full Jeremy shield presoldered option with on board SMA. The soldered one uses two pig tails, one for the ARF and one for the DVB dongle so I can mount on the case for spiral GSM type aerial. The other one has standard long aerial on the SMA and standard DVB aerial.

The one I soldered (but not for that reason) is detectable at the greatest range. But I could only detect Paul's unit and one of mine when Paul took it in his aircraft when very close. Therefore I wondered if power source was a factor, or blanking or may be both my units don't receive well. It would be good to work through each potential issue to reach a conclusion.

Hope that helps answer your question.

27

General Discussion / Re: Airborne testing - mixed results

« on: October 19, 2015, 04:21:44 pm »

Ian, yes metal aircraft but units on top of the coaming so mainly perspex surrounding them, especially in the RV. Also the fact I could be picked up on P3i at 4-5 miles was encouraging. Just wish it also worked the other way too.

Re proximity comment, there was only one unit active in each aircraft during airborne testing. When I swapped units I powered one down before powering the other up, it was only on the ground we had two in close proximity.

I must admit I hadn't flown the RV so slow, for so long, to match the Bulldog,  for a while!

28

General Discussion / Airborne testing - mixed results

« on: October 19, 2015, 11:22:29 am »

On Sunday a friend and I tried some ground and airborne tests with mixed results. The recent State of the Nation post makes this less relevant but may be useful and some may have useful observations to make.

The units were in use but only normally two at a time.

Unit A my first effort which is soldered and has no baro
Unit B with Jeremy's ARF shield with baro
Unit C with Jeremy's ARF shield with baro running on Pi B model (A & B on Pi B+)

All three units currently get GPS fix from tablets whilst that slow boar makes its way from China.

Unit A has two GSM style aerials as some have recommended on here. They are close together on one end of the case.

Unit B has the standard aerials the components come with as does unit C.

Experiences
After a quick verification of P3i signals being seen on units A and C we go airborn. Unit C generally saw the P3i traffic info 3-5 miles away and Skydemon gave good interpretation of collision risk when appropriate. i.e. red aircraft graphic and heading line and warning message with range. As you will hear I haven't seen this! but Paul unfortunately couldn't take a screen shot.

Disappointingly, unit A only showed the P3i when flying in very loose formation! something like 100 feet.  I then swapped over to unit B and we achieved pretty much the same results. Paul commented that unit C gave him good warning about a collision and was looking for some time before becoming visual in slightly hazy conditions (we were flying at approx 100 kts with me orbiting). There was some impact on range depending on direction with better range if I was flying toward unit C. Both units were on the coaming with a possibility of blanking by the compass. Unit A & B were in an RV8 and unit C in a  Bulldog.

We went back to using units A and C and repeated the exercises with similar results. After landing we placed unti B and C in the Bulldog and walked away with unit A. Unit A lost unit C again at 100 ft but we got more like 700 ft on unit B. it also seemed that the two GSM like aerials were interacting with one blanking the other if it was in line.

One suspicion was power in the Bulldog but checking the voltage on the GPIO pins it was 4.90 and 3.3 respectively. However this was through a cigarette style adapter running a tablet and the PAW although it says it can provide 2.1A to both sockets. I would like to try a power pack like is used on units A & B in the future.

We then set up the final test with unit B in the Bulldog and unit A using the taller standard aerial on the P3i part.  We got similar result again.

We got excellent range on ADSB traffic but mixed results on P3i, one aircraft getting a useful warning range but not the other.

For the future we will be adding the onboard GPS and trying a battery pack (we I know works) to eliminate that as a factor. Any other thoughts appreciated.

29

General Discussion / Re: Qustion from a Newbie about the IDC 40 pin connector

« on: October 15, 2015, 10:27:57 am »

And if you use  40 pin IDC make sure it is not a bulky one as it won't fit in the standard case. Guess how I know

30

General Discussion / Re: Error msg SDR-USB: Error, connect ()

« on: October 15, 2015, 10:19:50 am »

Using Google I think that refers to the ADSB dongle. Not sure how to use the wifi interface but it seemed to be picking up ADSB traffic when I unplugged the HDMI and moved it near to a window. This install has been more problematic than first one e.g. Web interface not working, etc so I might reformat and install again.