FLARM abuse in competitions

[[email protected]]

To prevent abuse of the received data in competitions (which is an IGC
requirement) FLARM has since 2004 included a "Privacy" mode where not
all the received information is forwarded to the serial dataport and
therefore is never available to external, graphical displays or PDA's.
The *internal* threat calculations always use the full dataset.

For the mandatory 2008 update, "Privacy" mode is further refined with
the following goals:
- Discourage temporary turning off of FLARM during competitions
- Discourage use of "Privacy" mode outside competitions

Modification for the mandatory, scheduled 2008 update:
The guiding principle is that the pilot will not receive more
information than what is visually available anyway.

1) Rename to "Stealth mode" as this better describes the purpose and
operation. Heavily promote its non-usage and explain it to key
users.

2) The status and any changes of the "Stealth mode" is recorded in the
IGC file as an L-record (LFLA STEALTH [ON / OFF]) and is therefore
protected by the G-record. Consequently a competition authority can
easily
enforce the use (or non use) if desired.

3) Changes to "Stealth mode" during flight are delayed by five
minutes.

4) Full reciprocity: A pilot that enables "Stealth mode" will get the
information
as if all other aircraft had enabled "Stealth mode", independent of
their actual setting.

5) If FLARM is power cycled during flight, other aircraft are treated
as if in
"Stealth mode" for the first five minutes, independent of their
actual setting.

6) Targets with enabled "Stealth Mode" are only displayed in NEAREST
and
are available on the Dataport as a PFLAA message if they meet at
least
ONE of the following requirements:
- Target is a threat
- Target is within 100m horizontal / 50m vertical
- Target is within 1000m horizontal / 200m vertical and within
+-45° of own flight direction

7) If a PFLAA message is issued according to the rules above, all
fields in Italic are empty:

PFLAA,<AlarmLevel>,<RelativeNorth>,<RelativeEast>,<RelativeVertical>,<IDType>,<ID>,<Track>,
<TurnRate>,<GroundSpeed>,<ClimbRate>,<AcftType>

8) <RelativeVertical> degraded with (distance / 50) white noise when
other aircraft is not a threat.

Please comment.

THE FINAL V4.0 VERSION MAY BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY (based on your
comments).
CHECK RELEASE NOTES AND MANUAL!

Urs - FLARM

[Paul Remde]

Hi Urs,

I am looking forward to meeting you next week.

The new features makes sense to me and are very impressive.

Keep up the good work.

Paul Remde

> wrote in message
...
To prevent abuse of the received data in competitions (which is an IGC
requirement) FLARM has since 2004 included a "Privacy" mode where not
all the received information is forwarded to the serial dataport and
therefore is never available to external, graphical displays or PDA's.
The *internal* threat calculations always use the full dataset.

For the mandatory 2008 update, "Privacy" mode is further refined with
the following goals:
- Discourage temporary turning off of FLARM during competitions
- Discourage use of "Privacy" mode outside competitions

Modification for the mandatory, scheduled 2008 update:
The guiding principle is that the pilot will not receive more
information than what is visually available anyway.

1) Rename to "Stealth mode" as this better describes the purpose and
operation. Heavily promote its non-usage and explain it to key
users.

2) The status and any changes of the "Stealth mode" is recorded in the
IGC file as an L-record (LFLA STEALTH [ON / OFF]) and is therefore
protected by the G-record. Consequently a competition authority can
easily
enforce the use (or non use) if desired.

3) Changes to "Stealth mode" during flight are delayed by five
minutes.

4) Full reciprocity: A pilot that enables "Stealth mode" will get the
information
as if all other aircraft had enabled "Stealth mode", independent of
their actual setting.

5) If FLARM is power cycled during flight, other aircraft are treated
as if in
"Stealth mode" for the first five minutes, independent of their
actual setting.

6) Targets with enabled "Stealth Mode" are only displayed in NEAREST
and
are available on the Dataport as a PFLAA message if they meet at
least
ONE of the following requirements:
- Target is a threat
- Target is within 100m horizontal / 50m vertical
- Target is within 1000m horizontal / 200m vertical and within
+-45° of own flight direction

7) If a PFLAA message is issued according to the rules above, all
fields in Italic are empty:

PFLAA,<AlarmLevel>,<RelativeNorth>,<RelativeEast>,<RelativeVertical>,<IDType>,<ID>,<Track>,
<TurnRate>,<GroundSpeed>,<ClimbRate>,<AcftType>

8) <RelativeVertical> degraded with (distance / 50) white noise when
other aircraft is not a threat.

Please comment.

THE FINAL V4.0 VERSION MAY BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY (based on your
comments).
CHECK RELEASE NOTES AND MANUAL!

Urs - FLARM

[Michael Huber]

Urs,

as a non - competition pilot I don´t want to be in stealth mode for five
minutes when power is cycled. I never ever want to be in stealth mode! From
personal experience, if a group of pilots flying a competition approach me,
I would like to know as early as possible to be able to stay clear of them.

May I suggest to completely drop the "stealth mode" concept and only limit
information available on the serial port, when a "competition" mode ist
selected. You could record the status of the "competition" flag in the IGC
file, and whoever deselects it during competition could be penalized.

I understand one could cheat by installing a secret second FLARM unit in the
glider, but for the majority of FLARM users there would be an advantage
IMHO.

Michael

> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
To prevent abuse of the received data in competitions (which is an IGC
requirement) FLARM has since 2004 included a "Privacy" mode where not
all the received information is forwarded to the serial dataport and
therefore is never available to external, graphical displays or PDA's.
The *internal* threat calculations always use the full dataset.

For the mandatory 2008 update, "Privacy" mode is further refined with
the following goals:
- Discourage temporary turning off of FLARM during competitions
- Discourage use of "Privacy" mode outside competitions

Modification for the mandatory, scheduled 2008 update:
The guiding principle is that the pilot will not receive more
information than what is visually available anyway.

1) Rename to "Stealth mode" as this better describes the purpose and
operation. Heavily promote its non-usage and explain it to key
users.

2) The status and any changes of the "Stealth mode" is recorded in the
IGC file as an L-record (LFLA STEALTH [ON / OFF]) and is therefore
protected by the G-record. Consequently a competition authority can
easily
enforce the use (or non use) if desired.

3) Changes to "Stealth mode" during flight are delayed by five
minutes.

4) Full reciprocity: A pilot that enables "Stealth mode" will get the
information
as if all other aircraft had enabled "Stealth mode", independent of
their actual setting.

5) If FLARM is power cycled during flight, other aircraft are treated
as if in
"Stealth mode" for the first five minutes, independent of their
actual setting.

6) Targets with enabled "Stealth Mode" are only displayed in NEAREST
and
are available on the Dataport as a PFLAA message if they meet at
least
ONE of the following requirements:
- Target is a threat
- Target is within 100m horizontal / 50m vertical
- Target is within 1000m horizontal / 200m vertical and within
+-45° of own flight direction

7) If a PFLAA message is issued according to the rules above, all
fields in Italic are empty:

PFLAA,<AlarmLevel>,<RelativeNorth>,<RelativeEast>,<RelativeVertical>,<IDType>,<ID>,<Track>,
<TurnRate>,<GroundSpeed>,<ClimbRate>,<AcftType>

8) <RelativeVertical> degraded with (distance / 50) white noise when
other aircraft is not a threat.

Please comment.

THE FINAL V4.0 VERSION MAY BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY (based on your
comments).
CHECK RELEASE NOTES AND MANUAL!

Urs - FLARM

[hans]

>
> 5) If FLARM is power cycled during flight, other aircraft are treated
> as if in
> "Stealth mode" for the first five minutes, independent of their
> actual setting.
>

Hi Urs!

please do it only, if the disruption of power is longer than the time to
switch batteries.

Best Regards

Hans

[john]

Pardon the commercial folks, but we want to communicate with hundreds of
new subscribers to Gliding International and advise them that issue two
goes to press next week. Unfortunately we failed to advise them all that
they can have free classified advertising as a member subscriber. Just
email us through our web page https://www.glidinginternational.com/

This coming issue has a wealth of new news:

1. New battery patents that will give sailplane batteries 20 times their
existing storage.

2. New electric powered side by side two seater completes it test program.

3. The World membership report for 2007 will be completed in time for
publication.

4. Complete run down on the World Final of the Grand Prix at Omarama, New
Zealand

5. Gliding in Chile - and a report on probably the wealthiest club in the
world.

6. The history of the ³Check List²

Plus 52 other stories from all corners of the globe.


JOHN ROAKE

[Paul Remde]

Hi,

I received the first issue and was very impressed. In fact, I liked it so
much that I purchased full page, full color ads in it for a year.

I will be selling subscriptions at the SSA Convention for $52.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"john" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Pardon the commercial folks, but we want to communicate with hundreds of
> new subscribers to Gliding International and advise them that issue two
> goes to press next week. Unfortunately we failed to advise them all
> that
> they can have free classified advertising as a member subscriber. Just
> email us through our web page https://www.glidinginternational.com/
>
> This coming issue has a wealth of new news:
>
> 1. New battery patents that will give sailplane batteries 20 times their
> existing storage.
>
> 2. New electric powered side by side two seater completes it test
> program.
>
> 3. The World membership report for 2007 will be completed in time for
> publication.
>
> 4. Complete run down on the World Final of the Grand Prix at Omarama,
> New
> Zealand
>
> 5. Gliding in Chile - and a report on probably the wealthiest club in
> the
> world.
>
> 6. The history of the ³Check List²
>
> Plus 52 other stories from all corners of the globe.
>
>
> JOHN ROAKE
>

[Ian]

On 9 Feb, 05:53, "Paul Remde" > wrote:

> I received the first issue and was very impressed. In fact, I liked it so
> much that I purchased full page, full color ads in it for a year.

Hmm. I've seen a couple of new gliding magazines come ... and go.
Always with a good first issue (all the stuff the editor has been
thinking of for years) and even with a few reasonable ones after that.
Then the ideas flag and it's back to "Derek Piggott Takes A Fresh
Look At Winch Launching" and you know it's only a matter of time.

That said, I used to get "Gliding Kiwi" passed on to me, and it was
far, far better than S&G, so John Roake has good form in the field.
Perhaps this one will buck the trend ...

Ian

[Michael Huber]

> Why would you ever need to re-cycle it during flight?

It could re-cycle while switching batteries. I might want to shut down all
avionics for a few seconds while pressing the starter button of the engine
to avoid spikes on the avionic power bus.

> Also, as I understand it, Stealth mode is only applied to the data port,
> FLARM warning from the FLARM unit are not impaired.

Imagine a gaggle of competition pilots approaching your position. Based on
experience I want to stay clear of them, when the warning comes up, it´s too
late already.

What´s the problem, if the only difference between "stealth" and "normal"
operation is the output of the data port? During a competition "stealth" has
to be seleced by the competitors, and the setting is recorded in the IGC
file. The contest director can check the required setting after flight, and
all competition traffic is visible to non competing pilots as soon as
possible.

Michael

[stevehaley]

I would actually like to see a 3rd mode here (on as default) to
suppress the altitude of all aircraft not in conflict from being sent
down the serial dataport.
The rational is quite simple in that it will kill the new trend to
displaying climb rates which has absolutely nothing to do with
colission avoidence and will only ecourage eyes to be pulled into the
cockpit which is surely counter to the raison d'etre of FLARM.

One of the primary skills (and possibly the most important) in our
sport is the location and centering of the strongest available
thermals. The new displays will errode the advantage that the more
skillfull pilots have over the average joes and that is wrong. Yes I
know we have already adopted a lot of other technology in the cockpit
but most of that has been out of necessity or evolution of existing
technology. For example it is now almost impossibel to fly in south
england withpout a moving map display due to the complexity of the
airspace (some of the coridors being on 5-10k wide and the large no of
parachute drop zones matz etc. That aside none of these aids leach off
other pilots in the way that the new climb rate displays do .

Thus my plea for you to stop providing the information that these
devices depend on to show this information. Another alternative would
be to blank the altitude of anything >1k and not in conflict although
that does nothing to stop people looking at these displays in the same
thermal to compare climb rates and thus not looking out the window.

If you created a 3rd mode that had to be actively turned on by pilots
to share their climb rates then I wonder how many pilots would choose
to turn it on...

I know this will be contentious but I truly feel that this is a step
too far even if it is affordable due to the skill errosion of one of
the most fundamental aspects of our sport. This apart from the fact
that pilots eyes will be ecouraged into the cockpit potentially while
in close proximity to other gliders.

rgds
Stephen






On Feb 8, 3:15 am, " > wrote:
> To prevent abuse of the received data in competitions (which is an IGC
> requirement) FLARM has since 2004 included a "Privacy" mode where not
> all the received information is forwarded to the serial dataport and
> therefore is never available to external, graphical displays or PDA's.
> The *internal* threat calculations always use the full dataset.
>
> For the mandatory 2008 update, "Privacy" mode is further refined with
> the following goals:
> - Discourage temporary turning off of FLARM during competitions
> - Discourage use of "Privacy" mode outside competitions
>
> Modification for the mandatory, scheduled 2008 update:
> The guiding principle is that the pilot will not receive more
> information than what is visually available anyway.
>
> 1) Rename to "Stealth mode" as this better describes the purpose and
> operation. Heavily promote its non-usage and explain it to key
> users.
>
> 2) The status and any changes of the "Stealth mode" is recorded in the
> IGC file as an L-record (LFLA STEALTH [ON / OFF]) and is therefore
> protected by the G-record. Consequently a competition authority can
> easily
> enforce the use (or non use) if desired.
>
> 3) Changes to "Stealth mode" during flight are delayed by five
> minutes.
>
> 4) Full reciprocity: A pilot that enables "Stealth mode" will get the
> information
> as if all other aircraft had enabled "Stealth mode", independent of
> their actual setting.
>
> 5) If FLARM is power cycled during flight, other aircraft are treated
> as if in
> "Stealth mode" for the first five minutes, independent of their
> actual setting.
>
> 6) Targets with enabled "Stealth Mode" are only displayed in NEAREST
> and
> are available on the Dataport as a PFLAA message if they meet at
> least
> ONE of the following requirements:
> - Target is a threat
> - Target is within 100m horizontal / 50m vertical
> - Target is within 1000m horizontal / 200m vertical and within
> +-45° of own flight direction
>
> 7) If a PFLAA message is issued according to the rules above, all
> fields in Italic are empty:
>
> PFLAA,<AlarmLevel>,<RelativeNorth>,<RelativeEast>,<RelativeVertical>,<IDType>,<ID>,<Track>,
> <TurnRate>,<GroundSpeed>,<ClimbRate>,<AcftType>
>
> 8) <RelativeVertical> degraded with (distance / 50) white noise when
> other aircraft is not a threat.
>
> Please comment.
>
> THE FINAL V4.0 VERSION MAY BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY (based on your
> comments).
> CHECK RELEASE NOTES AND MANUAL!
>
> Urs - FLARM

[[email protected]]

On Feb 10, 4:01*pm, stevehaley > wrote:
> I would actually like to see a 3rd mode here (on as default) to
> suppress the altitude of all aircraft not in conflict from being sent
> down the serial dataport.

See item # 8:
8) <RelativeVertical> degraded with (distance / 50) white noise when
other aircraft is not a threat.

Therefore a glider in 1 km distance (with enabled Stealth mode) will
have a 20m altitude error added (changing randomly every second).
This should make climb rate displays less usefull than looking outside
and judging the other glider's climb rate conventionally.

> Thus my plea for you to stop providing the information that these
> devices depend on to show this information. *Another alternative would
> be to blank the altitude of anything >1k

This has been taken care of, as no information about (non conflicting,
stealth mode) aircraft >1 km away is provided at all.
See item #6

Urs - FLARM

[stevehaley]

On Feb 11, 7:48 pm, " > wrote:
> On Feb 10, 4:01 pm, stevehaley > wrote:
>
> > I would actually like to see a 3rd mode here (on as default) to
> > suppress the altitude of all aircraft not in conflict from being sent
> > down the serial dataport.

What I was trying to say albeit badly was that I beleive that the
latest generation of flight computer software that use Flarm to
indicate climb rates are an aberation of the original concept of FLARM
(collision advoidance) and will
a) Encouraging more heads down fiddling in the cockpit
b) Destroying or marginalise an important skill element of our sport.

Personally I want to find my own thermals - If I spot birds or other
gliders circling then it is still skill at play and rewards good
lookout. I recognise that FLARM could be usefull in this mode in pair
or group flying BUT I strongly believe it is a mode that should be off
by default as opposed to on.

Yes I know people said the same thing about moving map displays but
with the complexity of modern european airspace it is becoming almost
impossible for you to navigate by map unless you already have an
intimate knowledege of the area.

As the software makers will not remove something they perceive as a
wow feature it is up to FLARM itself to marginalise it by making all
FLARMs either operate in full stealth mode by default or alternatively
introducing a 3rd default mode which supresses/randomises altitude for
all non conflict aircraft.

I have enough close encounters with GA pilots who have their heads
burried in their instruments - it would be a travesty if FLARM actualy
caused an accident as opposed to help avoid it.

rgds
Stephen

[[email protected]]

On 26 Feb, 16:13, stevehaley > wrote:
> On Feb 11, 7:48 pm, " > wrote:
>
> > On Feb 10, 4:01 pm, stevehaley > wrote:
>
> > > I would actually like to see a 3rd mode here (on as default) to
> > > suppress the altitude of all aircraft not in conflict from being sent
> > > down the serial dataport.
>
> What I was trying to say albeit badly was that I beleive that the
> latest generation of flight computer software that use Flarm to
> indicate climb rates are an aberation of the original concept of FLARM
> (collision advoidance) and will
> a) Encouraging more heads down fiddling in the cockpit
> b) Destroying or marginalise an important skill element of our sport.
>
> Personally I want to find my own thermals - If I spot birds or other
> gliders circling then it is still skill at play and rewards good
> lookout. I recognise that FLARM could be usefull in this mode in pair
> or group flying BUT I strongly believe it is a mode that should be off
> by default as opposed to on.
>
> Yes I know people said the same thing about moving map displays but
> with the complexity of modern european airspace it is becoming almost
> impossible for you to navigate by map unless you already have an
> intimate knowledege of the area.
>
> As the software makers will not remove something they perceive as a
> wow feature it is up to FLARM itself to marginalise it by making all
> FLARMs either operate in full stealth mode by default or alternatively
> introducing a 3rd default mode which supresses/randomises altitude for
> all non conflict aircraft.
>
> I have enough close encounters with GA pilots who have their heads
> burried in their instruments - it would be a travesty if FLARM actualy
> caused an accident as opposed to help avoid it.
>
> rgds
> Stephen



The displays that show climb rates and plan views of other Flarm
equipped gliders are third party devices or PDA softwares that take
advantage of the open Flarm dataport. As a Flarm user I would not
wish the functionality of my Flarm unit to be compromised in order to
control the activities of a third party display. I am happy enough
with Flarm developing a Stealth Mode to address any contest fairness
issues relating to the interaction of basic Flarm units and collision
alert displays but I think that if contest authorities, other bodies
or individuals seek to limit the functionality of third party displays
for safety or competitive reasons then they should address the use of
those displays directly and not via seeking to interfere with the
operation of underlying Flarm unit.

While it is reasonable to hypothesize that "radar" displays of Flarm
equipped gliders' positions and their climb rates might cause
distraction that is not yet tested or proven. In my experience using
the radio is highly distracting but we accept the sending and
receiving of thermal position and strength messages quite happily.
There is very strong evidence from research into the use of mobile
phones in automobiles that verbal exchanges (including with
passengers) are strongly associated with increased accident risk. I
think it is quite reasonable to hypothesize that, in a fully Flarm
glider environment, a properly sited Flarm "radar" display might
actually, overall, reduce distraction - partly by reducing needless
radio calls and partly by concentrating the mind of the pilot on the
relative positions of other nearby cruising gliders.

Iain