OK I think there is some confusion here.
This has nothing to do with the rf frequency that the Flarm signals
operate at. Yes the Euro/US/Australian requirements for the licence
free band Flarm operates on are different and you need to manually or
automatically set the frequency for the country of operation.
This is easy, as when done manually you presumably know which country
you are in and the instrument can figure it out from the GPS
co-ordinates in the automatic case.
The issue is the data coming out of and going into the Flarm. Flarm
started as a Foundation with the aim of increasing flight safety for
glider pilots in the Alps. IIRC it wasn't until version 3 that the
Flarm data started being encrypted as at least one other
manufacturer(DSX) was manufacturing and selling compatible units. One
of the DSX guys visited us a few years ago and told me how he figured
out the encryption in the first encrypted Flarm version. It appears
that the PowerFlarm encryption is now stronger and will not be able
to be broken easily.
The privacy issue sounds like a load of cobblers.
Apart from the encryption issue the other issue with Flarm is "how do
the collision warning algorithms work?" Pilots using TCAS are told
how it works and what the logic is.
Nigel is right. With the coming UAVs etc there needs to be a system
where everything talks to everything else. Proprietory protocols are useless.
ADSB as an aid to air traffic control is a classic example of solving
the wrong problem. Nobody wants or needs ATC. What they want is not
to collide with other aircraft. ATC is one way of doing this when the
technology of the day is inadequate. This is no longer the case.
A large simulation was undertaken in Europe some years ago where all
traffic in some very busy airspace was allowed "free flight" i.e. go
direct where you want to with in cockpit traffic awareness
systems The number of conflicts was surprisingly low and were easily
resolved by the crews.
In the meantime stop looking at the colour moving map on the panel so
often(gliders don't move all that quickly) and get your head up and
moving around. I've seen lots of power and glider traffic when flying
both gliders and power. Once or twice on near collision courses.
Mike
Borgelt Instruments - design & manufacture of quality soaring
instrumentation since 1978
www.borgeltinstruments.com
tel: 07 4635 5784 overseas: int+61-7-4635 5784
mob: 042835 5784 : int+61-42835 5784
P O Box 4607, Toowoomba East, QLD 4350, Australia
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