sure, SD should be able to MIX  data:  navigate with onboard GPS, and add traffic received via GDL90 from a second device (which runs Safesky).

Why? Many reasons. The main one is a safety issue: if the second device running Safesky should fail (overheat... out of battery... who knows), SD won't navigate any more. 
IN CASE a pilot understands the message while flying "device offline for xx seconds" at all, he  might switch back to planning mode, then back 'go flying' and select local GPS.  I don't want such an issue as a pilot. Fly the plane! Most of my fellows might not understand whats going on. Suddenly navigation is lost.... any complex airspace around.... they'll burn their available adrenaline quickly.
Other navigation software, such as Air Nav Pro, EasyVFR or ForeFlight  have this feature, so why not SD.  Safesky is able to send just traffic, not GPS, as it does with the mentioned Apps already.
Please nobody say: "we don't like Safesky at all... we don't know about latency...it's not reliable".  
Agree on a possible latency issue. A few seconds?
Anyway. Warning apps will IMPROVE safety. Worst case there is no improvement, but NEVER a degradation. Latency or not. Pilots will appreciate any means to improve traffic awareness.
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Long story short, feature request: use built-in GPS for navigation, add traffic data rec'd via GDL90.

Other pilots might want the same feature.
Thanks!

There's no need to switch back to planning mode or interrupt your log.

Something to do with them both using the same protocol for data transmission.

That is a shame, but I want to keep my real time reception of ADS-B Out and FLARM data.

I don't suppose there is a future, possible, technical solution to allow both system to integrate with SkyDemon?

Tony

Hi Tim,

thanks for your reply! I had not been aware of this feature. Hopefully more experienced fellow pilots are.

Still I am wondering why you don't want to offer a third option: use location services for navigation, and merge traffic from 3rd party device.

Navigation WILL be more reliable: tight connection to built-in GPS, not affectable by poor Wifi. Less wifi traffic. No latency. Just independant of any unknown 3rd device.

Mentioned competing Apps picked the idea. So why should SD stay behind.

Greg

We prioritise feature development by the desire in the community. If it transpires that there's a good body of people who want to merge traffic from one particular product with GPS data from location services, then that's something we would put our minds to. We are not there yet.

Sorry if the question sounds silly, but I'm not very experienced.

Thank you.

If I have not misunderstood, SafeSky does not show "all" traffic, but only that of those who have installed the app and are using it. It's correct?

Hello pilots,

There is an interesting article in Flyer in August about this setup with SkyDemon: https://flyer.co.uk/review/top-gear-safesky-september-2022/

Fly Safe everyone

I'm a big fan of using technology to enhance flight safety and particularly in the area of conspicuity.  I've been doing a lot of flying lately using Pilot Aware, Sky Echo and SafeSky.

The most contacts you will see is using Pilot aware but Pilot aware does not put out ADSB if you need it to do that.

The next best is Safesky and finally the least you will see is using Skyecho with contacts showing on Skydemon.

Now when i use Safesky alongside Skydemon using the GDL90 option then brilliant I have all those Safesky contacts showing on my Skydemon app. However to do that I have to use the GDL90 device option when i "Fly", ie my phone as the GPS source. The problem now is if i loose my phone signal then Skydemon doesn't know where it is.

So to my question and point! Can Skydemon allow us to have Skydemon traffic showing using the GDL90 protocol but allow us in the app to use say Skyecho for the GPS?

This would be a perfect sollution at a very affordable price to enhance flight safety. I'm told you can do this Skydemon but are possibly being a little reluctant to do this as you don't like the use of mobile phones for this purpose? Please correct me if i'm wrong?

I have been using Safesky for months and it is brilliant. I see aircraft where they are and not where they were 30secs ago and for my kind of flying around the UK at up to around 3000ft have never lost 4g mobile phone coverage.

Currently i run Safesky on a seperate ipad on other side of my cockpit and it works a treat tethered to my phone but it would be so much better running inside Skydemon.

Please look at allowing this integration into your software using seperate GPS as it can only lead to enhanced flight safety.

I would ask others if you feel the same to please support this post and if you haven't already tried Safesky then download it and give it a try, it's free! However if you want to be able to use it in Skydemon then there's a modest yearly fee of around £25 i think.

Hi Tristan

Thank you for your very interesting post and link to the Flyer article which I read.

So far I'm flying using SkyDemon connected to Sky Echo II. Can you briefly explain your concrete connection setup if you add SafeSky to the mix? I read in the Flyer article that both SafeSky and SkyDemon (the devices they are running on, respectively) can be connected to Sky Echo at the same time and exchange data through that connection. Are you using it that way or in a different setup? I assume SafeSky needs an Internet connection to a) generall work and get the desired data and b) feed the data to Sky Demon (or does it do that locally over the Sky Echo Wifi as well?).

For Sky Demon I use an iPad Mini 5 and the iPad connects to the Sky Echo II WiFi (no Internet over that connection, obviously). What's the best setup now to add SafeSky? Should it run on the iPad as well and if so, does it work being connected to Sky Echo via WiFi and still have Internet connection for SafeSky via the mobile network? The Flyer article suggests you can also run SafeSky on your Smartphone with mobile Internet connection and have both the Smartphone and the tablet be connected to Sky Echo over Wifi and that should work. 

Sorry for all the questions, I'm really excited about combining Sky Echo and SafeSky for traffic information (and GPS from Sky Echo) in Sky Demon.

Happy flying!

I run SkyDemon on my Samsung smartphone and connect to SkyEcho 2 via WIFI. I also have the additional subscription to receive FLARM data from my SkyEcho 2.

Thanks for offering individual support! I played around with the Sky Demon, Sky Echo and SafeSky combination and indeed got it to work quite easily. I incorrectly assumed that my tablet can't connect to Sky Echo via Wifi and still access the Internet via cellular mobile network in parallel.

Sky Demon support is technically correct that you can't have Sky Demon receive GPS and Traffic from both Sky Echo and SafeSky as you have to choose one when you activate flight mode. However, Safesky can connect to Sky Echo and combine its own traffic information with Sky Echo data and feed everything to Sky Demon.

The following setup seems to work for me:

Sky Demon and SafeSky (premium for Sky Echo connection and data feed to Sky Demon) installed on the tablet (iPad Mini 5 in my case). Connect the Wifi to Sky Echo. At the same time you need cellular mobile internet connection in the tablet/device. Once connected to Sky Echo over Wifi you should verify that despite non-internet Wifi connection to Sky Echo the tablet can still access the Internet through the cellular connection. SafeSky configured to use Sky Echo and share traffic data to Sky Demon, automatic software detection turned on. Enable 3rd party device GDL90 in Sky Demon settings and choose it when activating flight mode in Sky Demon. Activate flight mode in SafeSky ("Take off") and let it run with location permission in the background. Now Sky Demon should have GPS, SafeSky traffic and Sky Echo traffic data altogether. In SafeSky flight mode you can check with green button if the connections (SafeSky network, Sky Echo, Sky Demon) are working. On the other hand, Sky Demon would show a "waiting for device" message if it doesn't the the GPS/traffic data stream.

What I don't know yet at the moment: in case there is no cellular mobile data connection, does Sky Demon still get the Sky Echo traffic from SafeSky or not if SafeSky doesn't have a working Internet connection. I suppose yes but couldn't verify it so far. Will simulate it by disabling mobile data for SafeSky when I get to it (need Sky Echo traffic in range to verify).

In the Flyer article they suggest that a slightly different setup should also work, presumably for the situation where your Sky Demon device/tablet doesn't have cellular mobile network. They suggest to connect both your Sky Demon tablet/device and your other device with mobile Internet access to the Sky Echo Wifi and run SafeSky on the device with Internet access (similar like above but Sky Demon on a 2nd device without Internet). They suggest the SafeSky-SkyDemon data link still works through the Sky Echo Wifi connection if both devices are connected to it. I haven't tested it, maybe someone using it this way could confirm in this thread if that setup would also work. I'm going for the other option with both applications on the same tablet/device with the cellular and Wifi combination.

Happy flying!

It is a great little unit, and cheap. Provides ADS-B in as well as traffic over internet as long as your phone have an internet connection. Works well with skydemon. 

I have no relation to the company more than as a customer, just think the unit is great and the customer support (just one person as far as I understand it) is fantastic. 

Aircraft equipped with transponders transmit their altitude with reference to 1013.2

So, on a day like today where the QNH is 20 hPa above 1013.2, the difference in transmitted altitude between GPS derived altitude and "transponder" altitude is around 600 ft.

So, the clever algorithms that SkyDemon uses to warn of potential collision risks aren't going to work very well...

SafeSky is aware of this issue and is, I believe, trying to figure out how to fix this issue...