On Jan 18, 7:41*pm, Jim Logajan wrote:
" wrote:
.....everybody has to be on the
same page...at the same time, all of the time....that's a tall order!

Not so today.....everybody has one or two pieces of the puzzle, but
never the whole picture.....

If a device with 15 W to 40 W power consumption is viable in a glider then
broadband radar could in theory be used and everyone would not need to be
"on the same page." I'm thinking specifically of the current cost and
capabilities of marine broadband radar systems; for example:

http://deanelectronics.com/index.php...iewCat&catId=3
(E.g. Furuno 1623 16 NM Mono Radar, cost US$1375.95; 12V or 24V, 36 W)

(By comparison, the Lowrance BR24 marine radar uses ~17W. See:http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Mar...oadband-Radar/
)

I am not sure, but I suspect the primary reason these systems aren't
available for aircraft is probably regulatory (the 2D field of view is a
technical limitation that I believe could be surmounted with some
engineering.) Certainly the costs seem comparable to ADS-B and even Power
Flarm systems being proposed. And radar doesn't depend on GPS or any other
external active systems.

Wow....interesting concept......

I must say I don't know a thing about boat radar......but that seems
like a too many watts to run from a 12 volt SLA battery, which is
commonly used in gliders now. I could see that by the time you
overcom the aircraft challanges, that the cost would be considerably
hihger than the boat units.

I always figured the "TIS" type systems on some planes these days was
to give the "effect" of having radar on board, without all the
complication and expense of an aircraft radar on board radar.

Beyond that, it seems that a transponders/ encoders might still be
required to be able to "see" the other aircraft. At least in the 3D
altitude sense.......

Would a boat type radar work at higher speeds? Would you be able to
process the information and figure out probable flight paths and
collision courses?

It seems to me that GPS works pretty well. I'd put my money on some
universal GPS based system. We're already pretty heavily wired up for
GPS anyway, for navigation, flight recording, and flight computer.

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