Andrzej Kobus
May 17th 11, 10:21 PM
On May 16, 6:13*pm, " > wrote:
> We are well aware that we have stressed the patience of our fellow
> pilots with repeated delays and would like to apologize for this.
> Here's the status as of Monday 16-May-2011.
>
> First, the good news. The portable PowerFLARM is shipping to GA pilots
> in Europe, with close to 500 already delivered, and initial customer
> feedback has been very positive. It is real and shipping. Initially
> some secondary features are missing but will be available via software
> updates (PCAS Mode A/C display, flight recording, ADS-B target
> alarming and dataport output, obstacle warning, check lists).
>
> Now for the bad news. We had difficulty with FCC testing, caused by a
> third party module (not by the FLARM radio...). We believe we have now
> found a solution which will result in successful FCC certification of
> the portable PowerFLARM, and will allow us to deliver portable units
> to USA by end of June.
>
> Now for some worse news: The non-portable “brick” unit was delayed
> pending successful testing of the base design. We will now accelerate
> design, production and testing of this model, but realistically it
> will not be ready for the USA 2011 season (it will take until fall to
> finish design, production, and FCC testing).
>
> And finally, some excuses: When we specified PowerFLARM we did not
> anticipate that merging the technologies of FLARM, PCAS, ADS-B, LCD
> display, internal GPS antenna and batteries would be so challenging.
> Our desire to design it all into the smallest and lightest possible
> package did not make things simpler either. Also, huge amount of
> effort went into making classic FLARM and PowerFLARM fully compatible;
> even though they run on very different processors they now share over
> 90% of the core RF and collision-detection code. This was possible due
> to the ‘mandatory update’ to firmware version 5 which all ‘classic’
> FLARM had to perform after March 2011.
>
> We will post videos of PowerFLARM in operation shortly and keep you
> updated on progress at least every other week.
>
> *The FLARM team, 16-May-2011
PowerFlarm minus
1)PCAS Mode A/C display
2)Flight recording
3)ADS-B target alarming and dataport output
4)Obstacle warning
5)Check lists
equals what regular Flarm for twice the price?
Terrible disappointment in terms of delivery, promise and
communication.
> We are well aware that we have stressed the patience of our fellow
> pilots with repeated delays and would like to apologize for this.
> Here's the status as of Monday 16-May-2011.
>
> First, the good news. The portable PowerFLARM is shipping to GA pilots
> in Europe, with close to 500 already delivered, and initial customer
> feedback has been very positive. It is real and shipping. Initially
> some secondary features are missing but will be available via software
> updates (PCAS Mode A/C display, flight recording, ADS-B target
> alarming and dataport output, obstacle warning, check lists).
>
> Now for the bad news. We had difficulty with FCC testing, caused by a
> third party module (not by the FLARM radio...). We believe we have now
> found a solution which will result in successful FCC certification of
> the portable PowerFLARM, and will allow us to deliver portable units
> to USA by end of June.
>
> Now for some worse news: The non-portable “brick” unit was delayed
> pending successful testing of the base design. We will now accelerate
> design, production and testing of this model, but realistically it
> will not be ready for the USA 2011 season (it will take until fall to
> finish design, production, and FCC testing).
>
> And finally, some excuses: When we specified PowerFLARM we did not
> anticipate that merging the technologies of FLARM, PCAS, ADS-B, LCD
> display, internal GPS antenna and batteries would be so challenging.
> Our desire to design it all into the smallest and lightest possible
> package did not make things simpler either. Also, huge amount of
> effort went into making classic FLARM and PowerFLARM fully compatible;
> even though they run on very different processors they now share over
> 90% of the core RF and collision-detection code. This was possible due
> to the ‘mandatory update’ to firmware version 5 which all ‘classic’
> FLARM had to perform after March 2011.
>
> We will post videos of PowerFLARM in operation shortly and keep you
> updated on progress at least every other week.
>
> *The FLARM team, 16-May-2011
PowerFlarm minus
1)PCAS Mode A/C display
2)Flight recording
3)ADS-B target alarming and dataport output
4)Obstacle warning
5)Check lists
equals what regular Flarm for twice the price?
Terrible disappointment in terms of delivery, promise and
communication.