an interesting question from the Poms re the future use of Mode-S and ADSB
----- Original Message ----- From: "Neil Goudie" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 07, 2011 5:09 PM Subject: [igc-discuss] Fw: Every Day A Blue Day? Every Day A Blue Day A glimpse of the future, nightmare or dream? Where will in-cockpit graphical display of fellow competitors lead us? This debate must be opened before it is too late to influence what our competitions may be like in a few years. Will new technology change gliding competition tactics and make "every day like a blue day" always try to start late and use the gaggles. Currently available cockpit displays displaying other competitors situations are in their infancy both in the range they can "see" ahead and the information they display. FLARM can give detailed real-time information on aircraft within a 3-10km radius - this is useful for keeping tabs nearby competitors but once Mode-S is mandatory or widely used details of gliders possibly up to a 50km radius will be readily available. ADS-B receiver boxes are already available to pull in MODE-S generated signals and deliver them to LX instruments and other gliding displays but unlike FLARM there is no stealth mode to enable pilots to make their own flights without being watched by anyone who has the technology. Extremely large, high resolution, good daylight readable displays are already available, newly developed tactical software will provide a pilot with detailed and relevant information about fellow competitors and gaggles. There is no technological barrier to this happening, it is just a programming exercise that will become refined and more targeted so that within a couple of years pilots will have full positional / performance awareness of any group of competitors they are interested in. You will never loose track of the gaggle again You will be aware of gaggles / gliders around the start You will be alerted to gaggles / gliders climbing well You will "see" gliders ahead at all times and how well they are doing. You will see your current task performance relative to your competitors You will see all final glides and be able to compare best routes back to the airfield. Etc. Etc. - and there will be a lot of "Etc." Technology will give everyone 40/20 vision All this information can be monitored by the "Team" on the ground and key tactical possibilities can be analysed by ground based software and experienced coaches. If your "Team" has the resources and a good radio you can take critical decisions together or allow yourself to be guided through all the critical parts of the flight. The questions we must ask ourselves. Will the new technology actually be taken up and used by competitors and teams? Will it really be possible to use it effectively? Will it make our competitions fairer and more fun? Will it lead to a new generation of pilots who win by using others not by their own flights? If the answers are positive then we must consider whether this is what we want. One very likely outcome is to intensify gaggling to an extent where points spread among the top performers will be much closer and the tactics used to gain that small advantage will be very, very similar to those used when competing on a blue day. Should the IGC be considering the impact ? If the current IGC competition rules remain unchanged then it is very possible that when Mode-S is made mandatory or widely adopted it will be the last piece in the technological jigsaw that will profoundly change the nature of gliding competitions. It is a technological development that should be fully discussed now at National and International level. In 2010 the BGA competitions committee introduced a rule to restrict the use of in cockpit display of fellow competitors situational information, the wording is as follows... EXTERNAL AIDS All data transmission between competitors or between them and the ground is prohibited, except as required by the organisers, or for safety purposes or for anti-collision warning. Flarm devices shall be set to "Stealth" mode or equivalent setting (known as Privacy Mode in some LX Navigation products) for the duration of the competition. Other types of devices that are able to receive and decode Flarm or other positional data radio transmissions without respecting Flarm Stealth data limiting protocol must not be used or carried in the glider Should we take the potential change seriously and should the IGC be considering a similar inclusion into Annex A? Kind regards and All the best for soaring in 2011. Neil Goudie (BGA Competition and Awards Committee Member) Posted on behalf of the Chair of the BGA Competition and Awards Committee ____________________________________________________________ You are currently subscribed with the address [email protected] to this list To unsubscribe from the list, check http://www.fai.org/unsubscribe-igc-discuss FAI Gliding Commission Web Pages : http://www.fai.org/gliding/ _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
