First Airborne test today

[flying_john]

Well I took the assembled bunch of goodies flying today, to N.Weald and back and when it worked it worked fine (*), although you could spend too much time watching the screen, luckily there was two of us so one flew and one "tinkered".

I think that you cannot monitor all the time for a conflicting aircraft, you would spend far too much time screen watching and not enough out of the window scanning.  It really needs to make use of the audio output on the Pi to alert you to conflicting traffic. You would then wire this into one of the inputs to your intercom system so you get an audible indication which draws your attention to a possible conflict.

I read on another thread the suggestion that all you really need is the type of "pseudo radar" type display like you get on XC-soar because in reality you are not interested in other contacts that are more than say 5km away, so another suggestion, not a radar display, but perhaps filter out, on the Paw, all traffic say >5km (configurable) from present position before sending it to the RunwayHD/Skydemon app for displaying, it makes the navscreen less busy.

* - as I said in the first sentence when it works it works fine, but we were constantly troubled by "loss of flarm" messages on RunwayHD. Looking at the PAW log there seems to be an almost constant repetition of:
 
listening for connection
listening port 2000
disconnected descriptor=14
pin 6001
connected runwayhd
disconnected descriptor=10
accepted 2000
connected descriptor =15
listening for connection
pin 6001
connected runwayhd
disconnected descriptor=10
accepted 2000
connected descriptor =15

and so on - I have retyped this in order of arrival in the log rather than the reverse way they are displayed as the log is on the Ipad and I am writing this on the lappy.

So would be interested in reasons why this may be happening. Even at home with it all running it does the same/similar with RunwayHD (latest version today), so perhaps there is a difference between the type of input messages expected by RunwayHD and the type actually being sent by the PAW.  I see PilotAware is actually named on the Flarm Settings screen now in RunwayHD as one of 4 possible selections. Do other systems use other message formats to display conflicting traffic ?


John

[Admin]

Hi John,

Can you tell me what you are using for your GPS source ?
Android or iOS ?

Also, what is the approximate time between these messages ?
is it every couple of minutes or 10's of minutes ?

Thx
Lee

[ianfallon]

I think the solution regarding audio / informing you of potential collisions will fall under the remit of SkyDemon et al rather than out of the PAW (?)

[SteveHutt]

In my experience audible warning systems rarely work unless they are integrated into the intercom.

[flying_john]

Can you tell me what you are using for your GPS source ?
Android or iOS ?

We have a Ipad mounted in the centre of the top of the panel with the top half of the Ipad about half an inch from the inside of the screen. Then using your ColisionAware App to pass through the co-ords to PAW.

The messages on the RunwayHD screen (loss of Flarm data) happens every few minutes, the log isnt being monitored as we fly and each log entry is not time referenced so dont know but guess the Disconnected messages co-incide with Loss of Flarm message on RunwayHD.

Can send picture of install if you would like. The Pi was just bluetacked onto the top of panel next to Ipad and RTL aerial bluetacked onto inside of screen.

In my experience audible warning systems rarely work unless they are integrated into the intercom.

Yes only way to do it, choose an unused input on the intercom, or parallel it up with a mic input that is not one that is "keyable" for transmit and you will hear it in your headphones.

[flying_john]

I think the solution regarding audio / informing you of potential collisions will fall under the remit of SkyDemon et al rather than out of the PAW (?)

I don't think so, it would not be too hard to look at Dist-KM field and do an IF THEN on a value entered on the config screen and output a 1khz square wave on one of the GPIO pins.

I think it would be too much to expect the display providers (Runway HD SkyD etc) to do the  comparison stuff, although I understand from RunwayHD that when a conflict is detected it will flag it on-screen. Problem is , if you have not had your attention drawn to it by a "Beep" then it will be complete chance if you happen to look at the screen.

We had a Helimed about 500metres from us on the ground at N.Weald that showed up on the display but no warnings on the screen. So if we had been in the air, perhaps looking out of the window we would have been oblivious, (unless we happen to see it).

[PaulB]

We had a Helimed about 500metres from us on the ground at N.Weald that showed up on the display but no warnings on the screen. So if we had been in the air, perhaps looking out of the window we would have been oblivious, (unless we happen to see it).

I've not had decent enough weather when not at work to test the system in the air, but I live fairly close to Birmingham airport (about 3 miles away) and SkyDemon showed a "trajectory" bar against "Emirates 39" as it was on final.

[Paul_Sengupta]

I believe Sky Demon will warn if there's a closing contact -  both on the screen and audio (?) - rather than one just near. It comes up with a traffic warning.

Hmm, wonder if you can bluetooth pair tablets with these expensive ANR headphones to get the audio if one doesn't have an audio panel with an external input?

Just going to try with my Bose A20s. Standby.

Nope, didn't work. I have the original bluetooth Bose which doesn't do music, only acts as a phone headset. I can use it for Skype on the tablet but not for listening to general audio. Ah well. I think Lightspeed owners will have a bit more luck as their bluetooth does music, so can receive all the audio from a tablet. Bose have also brought out a new Bluetooth A20 lead with the capability as well now.