PowerFlarm: 2.7 Vertical Range

[[email protected]]

Does anyone care that the flarm vertical range has been reduced to 500 meters in the new firmware version. Why would the vertical range for ADS-b, and PCAS be more or less unlimited and configurable and the PowerFlarm be limited to 500 meters.

Henry

[Craig R.]

On Saturday, April 6, 2013 9:23:18 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> Does anyone care that the flarm vertical range has been reduced to 500 meters in the new firmware version. Why would the vertical range for ADS-b, and PCAS be more or less unlimited and configurable and the PowerFlarm be limited to 500 meters.
>
>
>
> Henry

Personally, I won't upgrade until this limitation has been removed.
Craig

[FLARM]

On the (recently introduced) 500m vertical range limitation for FLARM
signals:

Previously the ability to show traffic beyond 500m vertical was a undocumented, unreliable ‘bug’ which could have caused problems with other functions, which is why we removed it.

As this capability is not needed for collision avoidance functionality, it is not a high priority to be implemented properly, but it is definitely on our list.

Highest priority for us is an official IGC/ENL v3.0 release with all the PCAS detection and other improvements we have implemented over the last months.

A Beta version of this should become available within a week; public release before the end of April.

FLARM

[son_of_flubber]

On Saturday, April 6, 2013 5:32:49 PM UTC-4, FLARM wrote:

> Previously the ability to show traffic beyond 500m vertical was a undocumented, unreliable ‘bug’ which could have caused problems with other functions, which is why we removed it.
>

I'm very happy that FLARM is getting around to removing "features" that are in fact bugs. Thanks for the emphasis on reliability and correctness. This bodes well.

[Matt Herron Jr.]

On Saturday, April 6, 2013 6:23:18 AM UTC-10, wrote:
> Does anyone care that the flarm vertical range has been reduced to 500 meters in the new firmware version. Why would the vertical range for ADS-b, and PCAS be more or less unlimited and configurable and the PowerFlarm be limited to 500 meters.
>
>
>
> Henry

And thank you for reading RAS and keeping us informed of your reasoning, intents and progress! Super supportive

Matt

[Ramy]

On Sunday, April 7, 2013 7:35:30 PM UTC-7, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
> On Saturday, April 6, 2013 6:23:18 AM UTC-10, wrote:
>
> > Does anyone care that the flarm vertical range has been reduced to 500 meters in the new firmware version. Why would the vertical range for ADS-b, and PCAS be more or less unlimited and configurable and the PowerFlarm be limited to 500 meters.
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > Henry
>
>
>
> And thank you for reading RAS and keeping us informed of your reasoning, intents and progress! Super supportive
>
>
>
> Matt

I second all the comments and kudos.
But please try to figure out a way to increase the vertical range and make it configurable. the 500m vertical limit, while more than enough for collision avoidance, significantly hinder the buddy flying capability that many of us were hoping to utilize.

Ramy

[[email protected]]

On Saturday, April 6, 2013 2:32:49 PM UTC-7, FLARM wrote:

> Previously the ability to show traffic beyond 500m vertical was a undocumented, unreliable ‘bug’ which could have caused problems with other functions, which is why we removed it.
>

Okay I'll bite, what does 'bug' in quotation marks really mean? I liked the bigger vertical range too. It allow me to sort targets. If I get an indication of a glider in the area and see a target that is a different glider, but not displayed of Flarm, couldn't that cause confusion?

Why not provide all the information you have?

9B

[Andy[_1_]]

Version 6.00 of the dataport specification includes this statement:

"Sub-Sentence PFLAC,,RANGE
Syntax: PFLAC,<QueryType>,RANGE,<Value>
Meaning: Maximum horizontal distance of aircraft to be processed, in meters.. This affects alarms, NEAREST as shown on the integrated displays, as well as PFLAU / PFLAA messages over the data port. The vertical range cut-off of 500m cannot be changed.
Values: Positive integer values between 2000 and 25500 are allowed, 3000 is the default (3000m). The values will be rounded to the next 100m."

Also it includes "PFLAA sentences are limited to other aircraft with a horizontal distance of less than the configured horizontal range (default is 3km) and a vertical separation of less than 500m. Non-moving aircraft are suppressed."

Data port specification V4.06e also includes the PFLAA vertical range limitation "PFLAA sentences are limited to other aircraft with a horizontal distance of less than the configured range (default is 3km) and a vertical separation of less than 500m. Non-moving aircraft are suppressed."

V4.06e does not appear to include "The vertical range cut-off of 500m cannot be changed." and this was added between version 4. and version 6.

I could not find any sentence that allowed the specification of FLARM vertical range to be changed, and that is consistent with it being a fixed value..

Unfortunately, my portable is out for the modification that will make it useless in my native UK so I can't check if FLARM vertical range was a menu selection.

Anyone that expected more than 500m FLARM vertical range probably didn't read the available documentation and was perhaps mislead by the hype.

Andy (GY)

[son_of_flubber]

On Tuesday, April 9, 2013 9:52:28 AM UTC-4, Andy wrote:

> Unfortunately, my portable is out for the modification that will make it useless in my native UK

Explain