Hi Steve
Maybe you need to give some input over here
https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=121923
Thx
Lee
Flyer forums:Ian Seager is involved on that thread.
When I wrote to him a while to correct a number of fundamental inaccuracies on the PilotAware review in Flyer, I read from his reply that he was cross at being challenged. (Dec 2020)
i was left with the impression he didn't understand the technical details. In a mail where he was taken to task for inaccuracies on the technical details of the concept he said:
"This was specifically written from a normal, non technical, GA pilot point of view, We flew, we reported what we saw."This not how you evaluate something when proper analytical tools exist. Vector or looking at the screen to see where & when you get a ping. Really? A carry on PAW unit in an all metal aircraft. Really? A SkyEcho 2 in the same? Does a doctor (and the clinical notes) use a thermometer or just quickly touch foreheads? I love the insinuation that technical is not normal... and non technical is by association.
Minor technical details, and we're writing a review from a normal, non technical point of view... read into that what you will...
Nothing is going to change his opinion, least of all me, and it doesn't make sense for the nobodies/oiks from microlighting and hang gliding to argue with the important somebodies from GA.
G-BLEW, Boss Man & idol of the GA community versus uncultured Southern oik with his £500 PG? My name is not David.
It's a forum for me with a feeling from the last century. I'd never join it and only very occasionally dip into it where I needed information in a hurry. For me it's the Augean Stables, and I am not Hercules. Let them enjoy whatever EC they want, but please don't encourage them into microlighting and have them spoil it for the rest of us with those sort of attitudes...
Tracking and awareness: Getting back on topic, the HG/PG community has been using GSM/mobile broadband trackers for competitions since 2010.
They are used for situational awareness and scoring the comps in real time, but do not require very low latency.
Subsequently we know a lot about them, having used them for so long. We know that a lot of them in their usual setting but at low level with only one small mobile cell can saturate it. We know that in order to have the latest up to date information, we need to monitor the pings and if coverage is lost, send the last location first when coverage returns. A 20 second delay when you are tracking a 30km/h to 50km/h aircraft or the pilot walking on the ground for retrieve afterwards is acceptable. Contrast with a sailplane close to Vne @ 120 knots?
We also know that the aircraft using this system are tracking for co-operative flying, competition scoring, and retrieval but not to avoid each other. We know the system works because even with a 20 second latency, we get the information we need to organise retrieves, detect loss of control and score the competition. Brett Janaway runs Airtribune, who use trackers or an app on the phone for competition. Ulric Jessop runs the PWC tracking system and competition scoring, and he also has a great body of knowledge, having written software to track and score. They have a large amount of data, but commercially sensitive, and like us, don't want to upset the mobile phone companies. Sometimes the same are competition sponsors, and a large number of SIMs are offered free from hassle...
They have a lot of experience with the limitations of GSM tracking, but we've used it (in my experience) up to 3,400m AMSL in Northern Macedonia.
I have reached the conclusion that until 5G is widespread, there will be latency problems for mobile broadband only EC solutions. Even then, the beam shaped ultra fast 5G won't extend upwards to 3,500ft, at a guess... the network will be optimised for the millions of users on the ground, not the hundreds in the air, SafeSky or not.
SafeSky put themselves forward as the *the* EC solution for U space (the low unregulated airspace drones use which may soon warrant EC), saying there is no other compatible solution. They've pitched to Europe Airsports (
https://www.europe-air-sports.org) and we've heard about it via the EHPU (European Hang Gliding and Paragliding Union) and therefore the BHPA, as we (UK) are still in the EHPU as it's a European thing not an EU thing. The EHPU associations are questioning this point.
I wrote to the other HG/PG EC constructors about SafeSky in confidence, they raised a number of serious technical issues.
No point explaining them to a normal, non technical person...
