On Jun 16, 3:32*pm, Steve Freeman wrote:
Sounds very interesting. Is there somewhere on the web we can see what
you have described or was it a live event only?

On Jun 16, 3:53*pm, "Ed Byars" wrote:

Sorry guys, this morning another bout of "diarrhea of the keyboard" struck
and out came a proposed "letter to the editor" of SOARING. I decided not to
wait the month or more (and/or the probable rejection) for your reaction, if
any.

So, here 'tis. *Fire away.

Ed Byars

GLIMMER OF HOPE * * * * * * * * ROUGH DRAFTRev.2,6-16

There were a couple of recorded replays and it would be great if it
were replayed according to some schedule for the next few weeks.

The technology is impressive. Not quite sure how much was measured
and how much interpolated, but that was well handled. It appeared to
me that climb/sink rates may have included 'stick', IOW rate of change
of altitude rather than vario outputs. The simulated bank angles
appeared to match the turn rates.

It's based on the Iridium satellite constellation. The normal Iridium
phone rate is $0.99/minute. I suspect there may be a 'group' ,
'corporate' or 'event' rate. Listening to the banter from time time
indicated the graphics server engine was based on the same used for
the EAD European Fighter simulator. Up to 2500-3500 'viewers' were
watching the races. I missed the comment on available feeds, but I
think they said the server could support 5,000 connections.

The limiting factor in hosting larger class competition, e.g. 50
gliders in a class may be satellite MUX space and existing customer
usage and, of course, cost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium..._constellation indicates
each satellite could handle 1100 simultaneous calls. There is also an
improved capacity constellation planned for 2016. As ballooning was
also covered with live streaming, perhaps the Iridium system was used
there also, I didn't check.

I hope the IGC will report on the development and costs and what might
be made available to future contest organizers. Some of us are
looking at the IT components for WGC2012 at Uvalde.

Frank Whiteley