Traffic warning, aircraft following, towing gliders

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Traffic warning, aircraft following, towing gliders

Traffic warning, aircraft following, towing gliders

Author	Message
Tim Dawson	Tim Dawson posted 6/1/2021 9:05:50 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 8K, Visits: 9.1K	Thank you very much for the extended feedback and your kind words about our software. Unfortunately at the moment, as you've identified, SkyDemon is not optimised for your specific mode of flying (glider towing). Our collision avoidance algorithms are based on TCAS, tuned for light general aviation and are appropriate for the vast majority of people using our software. FLARM's algorithms are specifically tuned for glider operations and are almost certainly more appropriate for your usage. Because glider towing is a niche usage for us, I cannot make any promises about whether we will ever implement features to detect towing (or formation) circumstances and suppress information about that traffic, sorry.
	Reply Like 2
Blaufranky	B Blaufranky posted 5/30/2021 7:57:57 PM Post Details Share Post
B Group: Forum Members Posts: 5, Visits: 4	Dear SkyDemon, I wanted to come back to this subject after more testing. First of all, I love my SkyDemon and my SkyEcho and I am more than happy that I invested into this combination. SkyDemon has done a great job to integrate the two systems. But when using SkyDemon + SkyEcho + Flarm during glider towing (or more general, in an area with high Flarm traffic), the development should go some more steps. Yesterday I made about 30 tow-flights on an airfield with a lot of Flarm traffic. The tug-aircraft is equipped with its own Flarm traffic monitor and I added my SkyDemon + SkyEcho for three reasons: a) much better traffic screen on the iPhone. b) ADS-B-In c) verbal traffic warning During all the flights the Flarm traffic monitor did not issue a single warning ... simply because no other plane came in front of me. But the SkyDemon verbal traffic warning was TALKING ALL THE TIME: 1.) "Warning: Glider behind, same level" - yes known when you tow, why bother, its behind ... and why do you repeat every 20 sec.? 2.) "Warning: Glider behind, overtaking 10 km / h" - really, how does the glider do that and how does SkyDemon generate such an exact speed calculation ? 3.) "Warning: glider ahead, 100 ft below" - yes ok, but it is on the ground, in the hangar and not moving. 4.) "Warning: glider, 400 ft below, same heading" - yes, I see it on the ground, they are pulling it back to the departure point with a car. I repeat - Flarm was silent all the time, no single warning. I was really surprise to experience such a major difference in behaviour. I accept that towing gliders might not be the number one use-case for SkyDemon. SkyDemon is ahead of competition when it comes to Flarm integration into VFR Navigation software. But Flarm by definition brings more glider-specific issues with itself, like tug-aircraft, like many stations on the ground close to each other, that want to be adressed. Obviously Flarm has solved most of these issues and it would be very helpful if Skydemon solves some of the above topic over the time. Thank you again F. P.S. I tried the silencing button as discussed last time, but most of the flight have a duration of 5 min. ... and when the tug lands, the next gliders waits. There is simply no time to select / deselect certain gliders for silencing ... and all / many of them are named "Flarm" ... you simply don't know, which one you want to silence when they sit on the ground close to each other. Edited 5/30/2021 8:06:31 PM by Blaufranky
	Reply Like 4
Blaufranky	B Blaufranky posted 5/10/2021 11:31:03 AM Post Details Share Post
B Group: Forum Members Posts: 5, Visits: 4	+x Tim Dawson - 5/10/2021 9:47:48 AM Yes, that could work. It would still require the tug pilot to manually silence the alerts in the first instance, though. Something like "Silence Until Parted" or similar. Dear all, thank you for following up on this topic and the useful comments. I have tested the existing "silencing" option to silence the glider that is being towed ... but this is really only a work-around, no solution. In our tow aircraft we have an original FLARM unit ... and this FLARM is not warning about the glider that is in tow ... so there is a solution and example. A tow-rope is less than 100m long ... a silencing range of e.g. 200m BEHIND should avoid being warned of the glider in tow. And no other aircraft appears all of sudden within this 200m BEHIND box ... they come from more behind and over a longer time and will generate a useful warning. If they would generate their first warning just 200m behind, then the warning will not help anyhow. Other example of useful automatic silencing: SkyDemon silences all aircraft on ground. This is a newer and very useful feature. As said before: thank you for the very useful combination of SkyDemon and SkyEcho II. I love it. This discussion from my end has the only purpose of possibly improving an already very good product. Edited 5/10/2021 11:40:25 AM by Blaufranky
	Reply Like 4
Hamish Mead	Hamish Mead posted 5/10/2021 11:25:14 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 19, Visits: 97	+x Tim Dawson - 5/10/2021 9:47:48 AM Yes, that could work. It would still require the tug pilot to manually silence the alerts in the first instance, though. Something like "Silence Until Parted" or similar. Sounds perfect Tim! Thinking about it, could be useful for formation flying too.
	Reply Like 5
Tim Dawson	Tim Dawson posted 5/10/2021 9:47:48 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 8K, Visits: 9.1K	Yes, that could work. It would still require the tug pilot to manually silence the alerts in the first instance, though. Something like "Silence Until Parted" or similar.
	Reply Like 2
Hamish Mead	Hamish Mead posted 5/9/2021 12:41:08 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 19, Visits: 97	Tim, I appreciate the 'selectively ignore it if we think you're towing it' approach would be dangerous. Instead, might it be possible to implement a 'selectively silenced until beyond range' approach? Here's how it might operate: SD continues to silently monitor a glider under tow for which alerts have been selectively silenced by the tug pilot, Reversion to normal alerting is automatically triggered when the glider releases, by the combined logic: - Cessation of the (silenced) alerts AND - The glider exceeding some distance from the tug beyond the length of the tow rope – such an additional test may be necessary for the logic of the first test alone to not result in a false negative; say when a glider is still under tow and performs boxing manoeuvres. (Apologies if I'm talking bollocks - my understanding of FLARM's full capabilities is limited.) If it could be made to work, it would mitigate the two safety concerns @Blaufranky raised: - The need to go 'heads-down' in order to manually un-ignore alerts following glider release, and - The distracting nature of the nuisance alerts of an otherwise known threat. As an ex-tuggy I can fully see Blaufranky's concerns.
	Reply Like 3
Sky Painter	Sky Painter posted 4/18/2021 9:58:58 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 626, Visits: 14K	+x Raphael_A - 4/17/2021 3:09:01 PM When connected to Skyecho: is SD using the GPS data of Skyecho or the GPS of the iPad/iPhone? When connected to SkyEcho SD uses SkyEcho as its GPS data source. Mike _________________________________________ Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 – Android 11.0 & SD 4.0.2.0 Huawei P30 – Android 11.0 & SD 4.0.2.0 PC – Windows 10 (Home Ed) Version 22H2, Build 19045.5487, SD 4.0.2.0
	Reply Like 4
Raphael_A	R Raphael_A posted 4/17/2021 3:09:01 PM Post Details Share Post
R Group: Forum Members Posts: 11, Visits: 0	When connected to Skyecho: is SD using the GPS data of Skyecho or the GPS of the iPad/iPhone?
	Reply Like 3
Blaufranky	B Blaufranky posted 4/16/2021 12:42:24 PM Post Details Share Post
B Group: Forum Members Posts: 5, Visits: 4	+x Tim Dawson - 4/16/2021 9:08:02 AM It would be dangerous for us to try to establish what another aircraft is doing and selectively ignore it if we think you're towing it. As Eric said, the solution is to opt to silence warnings for it. You might even be able to do this while you're still on the ground, I'm not sure. If my memory is correct, on the ground, there is no indicated traffic that can be "silenced" ... but I will try next time. I understand the opinion with "selective ignore" ... but seriously: warnings every 20 seconds because a known thread is following and diluting possible other warnings is dangerous either.
	Reply Like 2
Tim Dawson	Tim Dawson posted 4/16/2021 9:08:02 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 8K, Visits: 9.1K	It would be dangerous for us to try to establish what another aircraft is doing and selectively ignore it if we think you're towing it. As Eric said, the solution is to opt to silence warnings for it. You might even be able to do this while you're still on the ground, I'm not sure.
	Reply Like 2