On Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 6:23:22 PM UTC-6, Mike Schumann wrote:

This totally depends on what kind of flying you do. If you are flying in contests at remote locations, FLARM may very well be the way to go. If you are flying recreationaly, near major metropolitan areas, ADS-B is definitely of interest if you are concerned about seeing GA or airline traffic.

Here we go again. Mike, we all know you think PowerFLARM is a waste of electrons and that ADS-B is the solution to all the worlds problems, but you are just flat wrong.

With my PowerFLARM, today, I see all transponder (mode C/S) and 1090ES ADS-B aircraft near me, as well as getting really good collision warnings from other PF-equipped gliders.

Since certified aircraft HAVE to have a transponder, in addition to ADS-B (either 1090ES or UAT), there is very little benefit to adding a separate ADS-B in. And if I had a mode S transponder (on the wish list), then there would be NO benefit to having ADS-B out.


There is nothing inherent in FLARM that makes it superior to ADS-B in terms of its capability to detect potential glider to glider collisions. Both technologies transmit the aircraft location once per second. The resolution of both is limited by the accuracy of the GPS source. What currently makes FLARM superior are the collision detection algorithms in the receiver, which are specifically designed for a glider environment. There is nothing preventing software developers from developing similar solutions for use with ADS-B receivers.

Wrong. What is inherently different between FLARM and ADS-B is that FLARM is designed to prevent collisions between cooperating gliders, while ADS-B just gives approximate location without predictive collision warning. ADS-B is not TCAS - which is why transponders are still required!

The key thing to remember is that the ADS-B receivers purely pass along the position data for aircraft targets in the area, whether the data comes directly from an ADS-B OUT equipped aircraft, or via TIS-B from an ADS-B ground station (which also shows transponder equipped aircraft). The logic to detect potential collisions is provided by whatever equipment you plug into the receiver. There are going to be lots of opportunities for innovation in this space as this technology gets deployed in the next couple of years..

You completely ignore the fact that gliders tend to congregate and fly together, while power planes tend to avoid each other. So any ADS-B collision warning system would go ape-**** in a gaggle - and with the size of our glider market, I seriously doubt anyone will come out with an ADS-B anti-collision device specifically for gliders, especially since one already exists - FLARM!

For gliders, the ideal solution would be a combination of PowerFLARM and a mode S transponder hooked up to transmit 1090ES position, without the need for a TSOd WAAS GPS. All the hardware is present, just need the FAA to wake up.

Kirk
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