On 21/05/2015, Casey Jay Lewis <[email protected]> wrote: > It's unfortunate that OzFLARM et al is no longer supported but they've > clearly taken the decision to allow gradual obsolescence to force upgrades > to the latest standard, with all the associated benefits that entails. Make > no mistake, all the legacy equipment will keep working just as it always > has.
Unless I'm missing something obvious - if the protocol changes, but some devices cannot be upgraded, those devices will become blind to other gliders. Is this incorrect? If you have a fleet of gliders and half suddenly become invisible due to time-bombed firmware, safety is lost. > Other > entities were decrypting Flarm data to display personal information in > contravention of EU privacy legislation. I couldn't give two hoots if > someone tracks my gliders position on OGN, FlightAware, FlightRadar24 etc > but others may and can try suing the bejesus out of PowerFLARM for letting > it happen. A detailed article in Gliding International covered this. I'm not a subscriber but I'd love to read that article. Is it illegal for me to "track" a glider's position by listening to radio calls via an internet stream? If so, surely the fault lies with me, not the manufacturer of the radio gear. If someone uses a crowbar to break into my house, I can't sue the manufacturer of the crowbar... > If I recall correctly, Flarm have undertaken to share their collision > avoidance technology with other manufacturers in the interests of safety, > once the privacy issue is addressed. Frankly, I'm not sure the problem is sharing the "collision avoidance technology" as if it is a clever secret no-one has figured out. I'd be surprised if multiple people on this list couldn't come up with a FLARM alternative, including designing the PCBs, programming the firmware & making a reliable radio link. The problem is getting enough people to agree on a standard so all gliders can see each other. The motivation behind changing the protocol appears to be to deliberate obfuscate the signal that says "Hi Everyone, I am a glider at position X" to prevent third parties building compatible systems. Imagine if aircraft radios worked like this - Microair owners could only talk to other Microair owners etc. I could have sworn I remember Flarm saying the protocol would be an "Open Protocol in the interests of Safety" back when it was being introduced. Cheers, Al _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
