Enhancement Requests

[Richard]

Hi Lee,
    No sorry I'm not a Parasender. The Question was just a general Q. which i had missed in an earlier request. Thank you for the info.

[lmoon]

Hi Lee

Regarding the audio messaging out. I plan to use the rs232 output (bridge connect at 4800 baud) to feed into a PIC cpu that will parse the sentences for The $PFLAU sentence. I will save it in a buffer and extract the bearing, level and range information from it. The PIC will then send a serial command to a micro PFLayer MP3 player - which has pre recorded messages on it - which will inject the message into the pilots headset.  I plan to work 'backwards' i.e. get the MP3 player to play the stored messages first - this is because the 'manual' is not clear and I think that there will be a bit of head banging going on!!.  I have done another project on parsing serial strings so should be OK there. Interfacing TTL RS232 signals should be OK.  I do have a bus pass and can remember when software came on an 8" floppy disk, CPM was the main operating system, 32K of ram was the norm and 4Mhz CPU's were the new kid on the block!!  If you think I am on the right track I am happy to share the details of the system on this forum as it progresses.

kr

Lionel

HI  I have made good progress and can get the MP3 module to 'talk'. I can supply dummy "NMEA" messages to it from the computer however I should like to start using the serial dongle on the RPi.

RS232 Out (NMEA Sentences at 4800 baud)

- RS232 Out (NMEA+ADSB+P3I Sentences at 57600 baud)

- WiFi Software AP (NMEA+ADSB+P3I)  --- this is working OK on my Sky Demon system (I live under the London TMA)

Your home page suggests the above should be available.  I do not seem to get any data from the USB/Serial port (the serial device does show up on the home page of 192.168.1.1) Do I have to toggle something to get the data to stram out or am I missing something here?

KR

Lionel

[Admin]

Hi Lionel

I presume you have it plugged into the port you have configured as rs232 ?
What is the dvice listed as, in the usb device list ?
Thx
Lee

[lmoon]

Hi Lee

status page shows the following:

USB Bus 001 Device 005 ID etc etc.    Prolific Tech Inc PL2303 Serial Port

and I have set USB port 3   to Auto and 9600 baud.

Kr

Lionel

[Admin]

and I have set USB port 3   to Auto and 9600 baud.

Hi Lionel,

OK, I see the problem.
I suggest you configure this as 'Traffic Dynon', this will send NMEA sentences and Traffic sentences

Thx
Lee

[lmoon]

Hi Lee

Thanks for the reply. However if I select Traffic Dynon on USB 3, I then click 'change' and then reboot it still comes back set as auto....

I understand that you are designing a shield - daughter board - to go on the RPi. Do you know its size yet and/or will it cover the complete length of the 40 pin expansion header? (just trying to work out how much space I have for the speech module)

Kr

Lionel

[Admin]

Hi Lee
Thanks for the reply. However if I select Traffic Dynon on USB 3, I then click 'change' and then reboot it still comes back set as auto....
I understand that you are designing a shield - daughter board - to go on the RPi. Do you know its size yet and/or will it cover the complete length of the 40 pin expansion header? (just trying to work out how much space I have for the speech module)
Kr
Lionel

Yes it covers the entire GPIO
http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,261.msg3717.html#msg3717

Thx
Lee

[lmoon]

Hi Lee

Thanks for the link to the shield.

However do you have any further thoughts as to why I can't get the USB3 port to stay on Traffic Dynon selection. (reverts to auto)

Kr

Lionel

[Admin]

Thanks for the link to the shield.
However do you have any further thoughts as to why I can't get the USB3 port to stay on Traffic Dynon selection. (reverts to auto)

Simply sounds like a bug, this does not happen in the latest development code.
Which version are you running ?

Thx
Lee

[lmoon]

Hi Lee

Version number is 20151219

Kr

Lionel

[lmoon]

Hi Lee

Don't panic....problem solved!!  I was using IE 8 to access the setup page. Just had one of those hunches which said try Firefox - which happens to ver 34.0.5 and guess what it now retains the changed settings (Traffic Dynon) now have serial data streaming out of USB3.

Anyway thanks for the help, sorry to have bothered you.....i'm sure you have better things to do.

Kr

Lionel

[lmoon]

This sounds a great idea Lionel. I am not up to speed on the Pi architecture, but is it possible to have another background process running in the Pi to seize this data, parse the string and generate audio from the Pi's resources rather than using another cpu off board ?. Is the PFLAU string accurate enough to determine if the "threat" aircraft is within your aircraft's zone of concern. 

If it is not possible to do it within the Pi - perhaps we should be lobbying the App providers (RunwayHD, Skydemon etc) to analyse the  $PFLAU and generate the audio.

Whichever way, I think it is essential to have an audio alert to a possible threat, ideally in the same form you would get it from a Radar controller, "Traffic 2 o'clock 3 miles"...

John

Hi John

I am not using another background process on the Pi. I am using the serial output from the Pi that sends data to third party devices. To that end i Have a PIC processor chip which looks for a PFLAU message. It then copies the message to a buffer and then extracts the required information i.e. threat, heading, level and distance. To date I have written the software and tested the required hardware on a test rig. My intention is to record some MP3 messages on the MP3 module which will create a message in the form of " traffic 3 O'clock level, range 2 miles". Our aircraft has a 4 place headset/mike setup and I have successfully 'injected' the message into the audio system. I am planning to have a control to adjust the sound volume. I am also installing a three colour LED indicator  to indicate system activity if the volume is turned right down. This will give a short flash of green if the threat level is 0 or !. If the threat level is 2 the colour will be yellow and for threat level 3 (urgent) it will be red. I have designed a small daughter board to mount above the USB connectors on the Pi. This is because the Pilot Aware people are planning a board to plug onto the 40 pin header and will cover the existing board completely. I am just about to send off the PCB design to get some prototype boards made. If we get some good weather I plan to test talking to ATC on the radio whilst a 'threat' message in being overlaid on the audio - likewise when a message is being received from ATC. If anyone is interested I am happy to share the details of my design components and board layout. It should be noted that Pilot Aware intend to provide an audio output on their system in late 2016.

[flying_john]

That all sounds very positive Imoon. It sounds as if you have done a lot of work. I suspect there is some serious maths going on to work out bearing heading and speed to see if a contact is a threat and then triggering the appropriate phrase to be output on the audio line.  I hope that Lee will take a look at your work to see if it will help the integration of such a feature into the Paw as there is plenty of on-board processing power in the Pi to do this without needing an external processor.  Good luck with it and keep us all posted.

John

[lmoon]

Hi John

Surprisingly there is not a lot of maths involved. If you like to drop me a email at lionel@lionelmoon.co.uk  I will send you the details of how the NMEA $PFLAU sentence is constructed - it has most of the hard work done already. Incedentally I have just ordered a couple of prototype PCB's to build a complete circuit.

Kr

Lionel

[lmoon]

Hi Lee

Can I ask a few questions regarding the P3i packet protocol. Having got to grips with the $PFLAU sentence I am now looking at P3i sentence. Firstly will it be available for third parties like the NMEA sentences are and if so will it be on the same USB port or another - I am reading LAU sentences on USB 3 set for Traffic Dynon. Will the P3i sentence be 'raw' data as shown in your home page presentation?  If so is there anywhere I will be able to obtain 'my' position from in order to calculate range, bearing etc.  Should be receiving prototype pcb's for my speech output in a couple of days.

Apologies for asking so many questions.....

Kr Lionel