FL*RM Integration - Beta Testers

[Ian Melville]

Pete,
Would it be possible to post the content of you FLARMCFG.TXT file?

I am trying to set mine up and found that there is no complete set of documentation out there, and the tools focus on gliding.

[Richard]

Alan
   Sorry I mis-read the strings.... yes I only get $pflau string. It was late and I needed my bed...

[exfirepro]

Pete,
Would it be possible to post the content of you FLARMCFG.TXT file?

I am trying to set mine up and found that there is no complete set of documentation out there, and the tools focus on gliding.

Morning Ian,

I used flarmTool downloaded from the Flarm Website at 'flarm.com'. It took a bit of time to get my head round as it is as you say designed for gliders. Rather than 'publish' my config, I will PM you a link and put it in my dropbox.

Regards

Peter

[grahambaker]

I'm getting rapidly turned off by the thought of attaching a FLARM device to my PAW if this is representative of what I will have to go through.

I'm a simple soul. I just want to buy a box, plug it in, follow some simple set up instructions and fly a bit more safely!

[Admin]

I'm getting rapidly turned off by the thought of attaching a FLARM device to my PAW if this is representative of what I will have to go through.

I'm a simple soul. I just want to buy a box, plug it in, follow some simple set up instructions and fly a bit more safely!

Hi Graham,
Please remember, as the thread says 'Beta Testers', this is not a productized form.
Do not be turned off by intermediate work, by the time this is announced as released, it will be polished.

Thx
Lee

[Admin]

Hi All,

Couple of comments here.

Before testing, you should note that although the system worked pretty much as expected, I did find an anomaly relating to Flarm targets displaying the incorrect altitude and I also had an audio alert problem. I passed these on to Lee for investigation but haven't heard whether he has managed to sort these out yet.

Peter, certain I have now fixed the altitude reporting issue. Just needed to adjust the reported altitude by the present height.
I think I also fixed the audio issue, but may need to revisit that code, unless you are doing testing anytime soon, I can give you a new engineering release

Ian, Peter, default config settings:

Would it be possible to post the content of you FLARMCFG.TXT file?

Should I add an initialization to the Flarm settings. At the moment I simply use what the defaults have been set/stored.
Lets try to agree what settings need to be configured manually, and which automatically by PilotAware

Thx
Lee

[Ian Melville]

My Pilot Aware doesn't set anything in the FLARM Mouse. The transmit from PAW to Mouse is not connected. Should it be? I wasn't aware of any config being sent out to the Mouse. Not seen that method documented anywhere, but In theory it should be possible to write to the FLARMCFG.txt file from a PAW, then reboot the mouse for the settings to take effect. That would give PAW users less to configure ( better user experience). However the downside would be that glider pilots who adopt PAW, will still need to set their additional parameters.

I have been disappointed as to how bad the FLARM documentation is in regard to this config file.

[Admin]

My Pilot Aware doesn't set anything in the FLARM Mouse. The transmit from PAW to Mouse is not connected. Should it be? I wasn't aware of any config being sent out to the Mouse. Not seen that method documented anywhere, but In theory it should be possible to write to the FLARMCFG.txt file from a PAW, then reboot the mouse for the settings to take effect. That would give PAW users less to configure ( better user experience). However the downside would be that glider pilots who adopt PAW, will still need to set their additional parameters.

I have been disappointed as to how bad the FLARM documentation is in regard to this config file.

Hi Ian,
at the moment PilotAware only receives from the Flarm device, but having seen some of the comments here such as limiting the reported aircraft based upon reported range etc, I am thinking there should be a minimum config sent from PilotAware to Flarm, to possibly include :-
- ICAO code, needed to stop double reporting at the receiver end.
- disable range restriction, however that is done.

any others ?

Thx
Lee

[Admin]

I have been disappointed as to how bad the FLARM documentation is in regard to this config file.

Hi Ian,
Having looked at a few examples, it looks like it is taken directly from the dataport syntax.
So just google flarm dataport, and you should find a spec, looks like those commands match the config

Thx
Lee

[Ian Melville]

I have a copy of FTD-12 and the PFLAC section is almost empty. There is another section which refers to the Power FLARM example, where I can see some parameters that may match the PFLAC ones. Others can be found elsewhere in the document, but not definitive list. I was hoping to find which command are supported by each device, available options and ranges if applicable. Perhaps an explanation of what the less obvious ones do. I have just looked at FTD-14 which I think is what I was looking for

Looks like those making up cables would do well to wire-up both the TXD and RXD, even if one never gets used.

[exfirepro]

I'm getting rapidly turned off by the thought of attaching a FLARM device to my PAW if this is representative of what I will have to go through.

I'm a simple soul. I just want to buy a box, plug it in, follow some simple set up instructions and fly a bit more safely!

Hi Graham,

As per Lee's post, you shouldn't have to worry about any of this - that is why we are testing it all in Beta to iron out any bugs or glitches and determine an effective setup procedure before 'Fl*rm Integration' officially goes live. Remember also that the addition of Fl*rm Integration is an optional extra for existing PAW users. It is a much cheaper option for existing Flarm users, with the spin-off that if they fit PAW, we will all be able to 'see' them at greater range via P3i, without any additional cost or equipment on our part.

From the significant testing I have done so far, I can certainly confirm as stated in my earlier post that the system produces moving 'on screen' flarm targets from gliders, tow planes and other flarm equipped powered aircraft, albeit at shorter range than we have come to expect from PilotAware P3i - with its much higher output power. Just needs a bit of 'polishing' before we go fully public.

Lee's intention in publishing this thread in the open public forums was to let everyone know we are progressing flarm integration and ask for assistance with Beta testing from existing flarm users as very few of the Development Team are currently Flarm equipped. If the 'public' discussion is causing concern or confusion, we should perhaps move the discussion and feedback back over to the 'Engineering' forum until we get things better resolved.

Regards

Peter

[grahambaker]

Lee/Peter,

Thanks for the responses. I'm certainly not trying to criticise in any way the hard work that is going on in the background here, but as a certified aircraft owner I'm probably representative of a large proportion of the target market who, being used to having highly packaged installed solutions in their aircraft, naturally shy away from stuff littered all over the coaming strung together with cables  - we don't have the luxury of being able to embed things out of sight and wire things in quite so easily or cheaply as the uncertified fleet.

You need to keep things simple for us luddites or you won't get the uptake.

[exfirepro]

Hi Graham,

Point taken! Stick with us - we'll get there.

Peter

[T67M]

Please don't hide this discussion! I am on the verge of buying a mouse to assist in the testing programme - my biggest challenge is finding a safe way to power the mouse from my 28V aircraft.

I'm also keen to find a way to make a box that holds all of the elements (GPS/mouse, WiFi dongle, ADS-B dongle, bridge, two aerials) and replaces the shoddy micro-USB power connector so that a neat one box solution exists with just one power cable visible that can easily be Velcro'd into almost any aircraft, permit or CofA.

[Richard]

Please don't hide this discussion! I am on the verge of buying a mouse to assist in the testing programme - my biggest challenge is finding a safe way to power the mouse from my 28V aircraft.

I'm also keen to find a way to make a box that holds all of the elements (GPS/mouse, WiFi dongle, ADS-B dongle, bridge, two aerials) and replaces the shoddy micro-USB power connector so that a neat one box solution exists with just one power cable visible that can easily be Velcro'd into almost any aircraft, permit or CofA.

You and me are thinking alike. I currently have a prototype of such a case you mention it can be power from 12 to 28 v including fan cooling. You may be better with the LX FLARM redbox. If you can hang on a little longer for the testing of the redbox it may be a better soulution. I will post the info on the case info. thread latter when I get all the info together. It may help you.