GliderLink - New team soaring app for airborne location sharing

On Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 11:37:20 AM UTC-7, Wit Wisniewski wrote:
- Consider adding input from Stratux. Stratux is a $100 1090 and 978 MHz receiver that collects direct ADSB-out, UAT-out, rebroadcast TIS-b, weather, and NOTAM data from aircraft and ground towers, and puts it in a serial stream on a WiFi port. I use it with Avare, an open source EFB/navigation app. Parsing the stream for aircraft positions to be displayed on your map should be relatively easy.

Interesting idea about adding Stratux support, Wit! I'll look into it.

MMoore, unfortunately a lone goTenna Mesh can't relay transmissions from GliderLink. It must be paired with a phone running GliderLink. GliderLink doesn't use goTenna's mesh networking implementation; it uses its own. There are three kinds of messages a goTenna can send: private one-to-one messages, private group messages, and public broadcasts (called Shouts) that anyone can receive. GliderLink exclusively send Shouts, but goTenna's Meshing feature only works for one-to-one messages at the moment. That's why I had to implement my own meshing protocol. goTenna has said it may enable meshing for Shouts in the future.

On Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 2:37:20 PM UTC-4, Wit Wisniewski wrote:
In my opinion, Flarm should have been chosen as a universal system for
worldwide collision avoidance between all aircraft over ADSB-out/in.

No, they have different characteristics and meet different needs.

Flarm is banned in the US.

No, original FLARM cannot meet USA FCC requirements, so is not legal in USA.
Original FLARM would work very poorly in USA due to other spectrum use.

PowerFlarm is a very low transmit power attempt at salvaging
some Flarm capability.

No, PowerFLARM is the logical evolution of FLARM, with better radios,
and meeting USA FCC requirements (which was costly).

I see many local XC pilots contemplating or already installing ADSB-out
to promote safety with respect to non-glider traffic.

If their primary collision risk is non-glider traffic, that is exactly
what they should be doing.

With limited money, battery power, and panel space, and with only
a minority of gliders/towplanes equipped, I expect PowerFlarm to go extinct.

No, PowerFLARM and FLARM address glider-glider conflicts which cannot be
addressed with ADS-B technology.

It would help all of us if you would get your facts straight.

Or is Wit actually a witless troll???

Really now...

On Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 4:50:33 PM UTC-5, Dave Nadler wrote:
(…)

No, PowerFLARM and FLARM address glider-glider conflicts which cannot be
addressed with ADS-B technology.


Dave, this has been discussed here recently, and what we have heard from Darryl was that ADS-B technology would actually do it better than FLARM because of a stronger and more frequent signal. The big hurdle is the amount of time and effort to write the necessary code for a relatively small glider community.

On Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 8:57:10 PM UTC-4, Tom BravoMike wrote:
Dave, this has been discussed here recently, and what we have heard from
Darryl was that ADS-B technology would actually do it better than FLARM
because of a stronger and more frequent signal. The big hurdle is the
amount of time and effort to write the necessary code for a relatively
small glider community.

Wrong.

The basic misunderstanding of the differences between FLARM (and PF) and ADS-B among so many pilots is a bit scary.

FLARM is designed to prevent collisions between equipped gliders. It is optimized for short range warnings - any longer range "situational awareness" is just a side benefit. PF adds ADS-B (Mode S only, unfortunately) and Mode C/S "PCAS" warnings; again more as a side benefit (albeit a real nice one - along with the GPS and logger functions). But it is still primarily an ANTI-COLLISION tool between cooperative PF-equipped aircraft.

ADS-B is primarily an ATC tool to manage air traffic, replacing (actually, suppementing) the existing ground radar based system (SSR). While it has "situational awareness" benefits if ADS-B IN is used, that is NOT the same as ANTI-COLLISION. If you do not appreciate the subtle difference, please spend some time getting to understand the underlying technologies.

Remember, the ADS-B mandate is only for ADS-B OUT. There is no regulatory requirement for ADS-B IN, which would be required if a self contained anti-collision feature was intended. Which is why we ended up with the absurd situation of an ADS-B IN receiver not always seeing all ADS-B OUT traffic (UAT) if not paired up with an ADS-B out system.

Ideally, we would have both in gliders; Mode S ADS-B in/out to let others know we are around and get the bennies (traffic awareness, WX, etc) and FLARM to take care of the specific glider to glider collision threat.

Hopefully, TABS will evolve into something affordable and small enough for adoption by the majority of gliders that do not have transponders installed (or even electrical systems! Murica!) but as is so often stated, we are such a small market ...

Kirk

FYI, goTenna is having a 4th of July sale: 20% off with code JULY4. Good until July 8th. http://gotenna.com

goTenna has recently released a new version of its official app, which includes a new firmware for the goTenna Mesh that is supposed to fix the resetting problem. However, DO NOT UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE. I tried it, and the firmware update failed, rendering my goTenna Mesh inoperative. The same may happen to you. I am working with goTenna to get this problem resolved. Don't update your firmware for now.

https://www.glidernet.org

On Monday, July 16, 2018 at 2:21:33 PM UTC-7, Ben Hirashima wrote:
goTenna has recently released a new version of its official app, which includes a new firmware for the goTenna Mesh that is supposed to fix the resetting problem. However, DO NOT UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE. I tried it, and the firmware update failed, rendering my goTenna Mesh inoperative. The same may happen to you. I am working with goTenna to get this problem resolved. Don't update your firmware for now.

More information has become available about the goTenna firmware. On some units, it's not possible to update the firmware. goTenna has offered to replace those units.

To find out if your device needs to be replaced, first download or update the official goTenna app to version 5.0.1 (very important!). https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...tenna&hl=en_US

Next, read this forum post, and follow the instructions to see if your unit is one that needs to be replaced. https://meshcommunity.gotenna.com/t/...-here/2742/212. If it is, click the link in that post to fill out the Google Docs form for a replacement.

If your goTenna Mesh is not affected by this problem, then you can update the firmware on it. Again, it is very important to update the firmware with version 5.0.1 or newer of the official goTenna app. Using version 5.0.0 could brick your unit, like it did to one of mine.

Out of my four goTenna Meshes, I was able to update the firmware on only one of them. The updated one now seems to be free of the reset bug that would cause it to disconnect every so often. This is good news, at least. I will be sending in my other three for replacement. It's annoying to have to do this, but at least goTenna is doing the right thing and replacing the units that have problems.

On Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at 1:13:38 PM UTC-4, Ben Hirashima wrote:
...

More information has become available about the goTenna firmware. On some units, it's not possible to update the firmware. goTenna has offered to replace those units.

To find out if your device needs to be replaced, first download or update the official goTenna app to version 5.0.1 (very important!). https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...tenna&hl=en_US

Next, read this forum post, and follow the instructions to see if your unit is one that needs to be replaced. https://meshcommunity.gotenna.com/t/...-here/2742/212. If it is, click the link in that post to fill out the Google Docs form for a replacement.

If your goTenna Mesh is not affected by this problem, then you can update the firmware on it. Again, it is very important to update the firmware with version 5.0.1 or newer of the official goTenna app. Using version 5.0.0 could brick your unit, like it did to one of mine.
...

The best way to get an up to date goTenna Mesh is to buy a new pair.

Trying to save money, I bought a used pair of goTenna Mesh units. Downloaded the latest goTenna app (5.0.2) and it reported the 0.13.48 firmware version and the suspicious-looking serial number of "AA12341234". It offered to update the firmware to the current version 1.1.8. Thus according to the official info the update should have worked. But, after the data transfer (about 30 minutes of triple-flashings of the white LED) the goTenna unit started flashing rapidly and never completed the update, even after a couple of hours. Afterwards it wouldn't pair with the app on the phone. Bricked.

I contacted goTenna support, and they gave me suggestions on how to make it work, but no luck. Bricked the other unit too. So apparently the current app still does not always really know which units can accept the upload. But, then goTenna Support sent me new replacement units, so all is well, and kudos to goTenna!

Next I need to try out GliderLink, will report eventually...