Suppress audio on ground

[alexbrett]

Firstly thanks all involved for a great product - it saved me today from at best an airprox and at worst a mid-air with a mode C/S audio warning that allowed me to visually acquire another aircraft emerging from a blind spot on a converging course at the same level, and descend underneath it (based on how we crossed I think had I not had the prompt and acquired it any later it would have required quite severe avoiding action - no indication the other aircraft saw me at all)!

This is probably an enhancement request rather than a tech support query, but in case I've missed something obvious - is there any way to suppress audio alerts while on the ground, as it's a little irritating taxiing around the airfield to keep getting warnings about traffic doing the same. At the moment I'm using a music input to my audio panel which means it gets cut out by intercom and radio traffic, but I'm intending on hooking it up to a spare COM input so it's there all the time at which point it might get tricky listening to ATC due to the volume of warnings at a busy airfield.

I guess the easiest way to determine 'on the ground' (for fixed wing at least) is probably to have a configurable speed threshold above which you're assumed to be airborne (e.g. for me 40 knots would be a good idea, as that's faster than taxiing, and even with a good headwind I should be doing more than that while flying)...

[exfirepro]

Hi Alex,

Great to hear PAW has proved its worth by warning you of a potential airprox. That is after all what it is designed for.

Suppression of audio alerts when on the ground has been discussed at length on the Forum in the past, but it isn't as easy as it first appears to achieve effective 'nuisance' alert suppression without this having a significantly negative effect on potential safety warnings. There are many reasons why you might want/need prompts while still on the ground - e.g. to bring to your attention or remind you of aircraft that are in the circuit or on long final, but not immediately visible. Any speed based trigger would also have to take account of potential PAW fit in potentially slow moving aircraft such as balloons or helicopters, so a simple 'speed switch' isn't really the answer. Altitude switches can also have their drawbacks. We need to think about this more deeply.

Most 'nuisance' alerts come from 'bearingless' targets, due to the way the system generates the alert triggers. You can limit these by reducing the Mode C/S Detection 'Range', though again this is not the full solution. Your post has however reminded me of a related issue I noticed during ongoing development testing just before Christmas, which I need to discuss with Lee, which should help the situation.

Out of interest, what 'Config' range and altitude settings are you currently using?

Regards

Peter

[Admin]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the feedback, good to know we are having a positive effect.

I am trying to think of a way to limit the warnings whilst only taxiing.

One idea was to wait until the initial altitude after boot up had altered by +100ft
This would suit rotary aircraft as well as fixed wing - rather than detecting a speed difference.
detect a height change.

Thx
Lee

[thearb]

one solution might be to have PAW switchable into two modes - ground based and airborne, with an option to have switching between the modes automatic or manual.

[Ian Melville]

I don't have the perfect solution, yet  , but I am concerned that Lee's proposal would not audio warn me of an aircraft on final, when I was just about to enter the runway for departure. A time when I have massive blind spots due to the high wing.

Turning it off with a height gain since start under 100', except if the target is less than say 1km away, and more than 100' above. That would not work for mode C/S only, but given time the numbers of those will dwindle.

[Deker]

How about two audio levels?

On the ground, slightly quieter, (user settable) so not to be so much of a distraction but enough to hear over engine tick-over at the hold for eg.
Once PAW knows you are airborne, it "pumps up the volume" to sound level 2.

Just my 2p in the pot.
ATB
Deker.