Have you had any experiences with Mode C/S targets yet?
Hi Andi,
I have one (classic – original build) and I reported my finding on it about two years ago in this thread.
Since then it’s acquired the ability to display mode A&C targets too. It is quite useful. But for me the biggest issue is placing it in the cockpit. I fly a PA28 and putting it on the combing leaves the antennas at an angle, when they are supposed to be vertical. I think this affects the reliability of the signal, and some targets are blanked in certain directions.
Basically when it comes to mode A & C I often find that by the time it picks up the target, that it is just about passing me and already too late to do anything if I hadn’t already seen it. This might be 30-40% of the time.
That still leaves a lot of targets usefully warned about, but not perfection. I think if you got a better positioning of the antenna, things would be better. But I certainly find it a useful device at present and wouldn’t be without it.
How does it get azimuth on Mode C or Mode C/S? Does it get the altitude from GPS or from “own ship” transponder Mode C radiation?
I believe Mode C/S are displayed as range rings but I haven’t got this feature working yet! It has an integrated barometer.
How does it get azimuth on Mode C or Mode C/S? Does it get the altitude from GPS or from “own ship” transponder Mode C radiation?
The altitude it gets from a built in barometer I believe.
It does not give any indication of azimuth for mode C/S. It simply gives a strength indication. The implication being that the stronger the signal, the closer the aircraft.
How the app displays that info is up to the app provider.
dublinpilot wrote:
Since then it’s acquired the ability to display mode A&C targets too. It is quite useful. But for me the biggest issue is placing it in the cockpit. I fly a PA28 and putting it on the combing leaves the antennas at an angle, when they are supposed to be vertical. I think this affects the reliability of the signal, and some targets are blanked in certain directions.Basically when it comes to mode A & C I often find that by the time it picks up the target, that it is just about passing me and already too late to do anything if I hadn’t already seen it. This might be 30-40% of the time.
Would be interesting to know if PAW and Rosetta can compete with PowerFlarm in this aspect, or whether the EUR 2,300 expensive box has the same reliability/signal strength issues. I’m considering buying a portable traffic advisory system already quite some time but still haven’t managed to convince myself which system to go for: the cheap Rosetta solution with possible compromises in terms of Flarm detection and signal strength, or the very expensive PowerFlarm which is also not an all comprising traffic advisory system due to the missing azimuth functionality for Mode C/S targets.
There has been a good uptake in southern UK of the open glider groundstations at gliding sites (OG-N – re-transmitting FLARM)
This weekend there have been extensive glider competitions, and Pilotaware/Skydemon was working very well, indicating what in some places looked like swarms of gliders, each with a height and distance and direction arrow. Most impressive.
Aveling wrote:
Across my direct track 10mi ahead was a crescent of glider traffic, numerous gliders painting an almost continuous arc. From my position I had time to switch to an alternative routing through controlled airspace and when the controller offered a compromise routing closer to my original track I declined, explaining I wanted to be far away from those gliders, which he apparently couldn’t see in detail as I could. I told him “the sky is full of gliders”, not an exaggeration at one point.
Now, following PAW’s prompt, I began to see the gliders at 2-3 mi. At least a dozen, my level, right on my original track. I’d have been far later seeing them without PAW. One or two came close to me, but again with PAW’s prompt and occasional traffic calls from ATC, I was able to identify them early. On the channel I heard another pilot go straight in the concentration that I’d been able to avoid.
Glad to hear this is working as intended 
PAW needs some work to overcome stupid difficulties like relying on wifi. It needs a dedicated usb wired display (modified cellphone) glued high on the panel and a no-delay startup.
We do have the ability to provide ‘wired’ data in addition to ‘wifi’, the issue is there are not many displays capable of taking wired data.
The emphasis seems to be going to Android/iOS apps and these all utilise WiFi
We do connect into various glass cockpit systems, it seems all except Garmin, due to Garmins’ proprietary approach
And the OGN system needs to become pervasive.
Agreed, we need the help of our supporters, this is not something we can do alone.
We are now providing the RF Bridges, free to anyone willing to setup an OGN-R station.
These bridges have come from users upgrading from Classic to Rosetta, so we want to give back the the community and proliferate the OGN and the OGN-R
Thanks for posting your findings
If you got any screenshots of the ‘arc of gliders’ would really like to see that
Thx
Lee
There were a number of posts made regarding Mode C/S detection.
There will be an announcement shortly on additional work we have been doing in this area, and this will be described in full at the LAA rally
if anyone is attending, please drop by and say hello, whereupon I will be in the process of losing my voice over 3 days – as LAA Rally traditions dictate
Thx
Lee
Basoutos wrote:
Gents,
Is PilotAware an open system? I would see this as the main advantage against Flarm, which has the benefit of widespread (mandatory!) use in good portions of the gliding community.
Thanks
Bas
Hi Bas
by open, do you mean open (not encrypted data) or open (open source software) ?
The RF Data is open, unencrypted and the format is documented
The RF Hardware is a bespoke addition of RF built on top of RaspberryPi Compute hardware
The Software is closed source, with Open Interfaces, we have additionally added new interfaces where requested by a number of users
I hope that answers your question
Thx
Lee
