Hi John, Rob, this just sounds like an idea from me.
The drawback of the current xc thermal "optimizer" is the rotating display of the polardiagram. The movement and the latency is just what you not want. You can see if you are good centered, than the polardiagram is round. But if it is not, you have to have a lot of experience to pick up the right direction to shift your circle center. It is hard to estimate the latency of the display and your real position on the circle. The dotted approach just picks a current height band and reminds you with a static display where which updraft strength to find. Especially for wide and/or weak thermals the graphical interface let your eye find/integrate easily the right place to circle. The simple snail trail does it more or less. I could imagine a "dot" and "height band" tuned snail trail of our thermal display. A tuned drift of the thermal snail trail is also to consider, but that is kind of research, because there is no proven model for it as we know already from Reichmann. Helmut Am Montag, den 23.05.2011, 20:12 +1000 schrieb John Wharington: > Why do you think this better than what we have? > > On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 12:23 AM, Rob Hazes <robha...@online.no> > wrote: > Hi! > > As a paraglider pilot I have been using Aircotec's > TopNavigator for many > years. This instrument is in my opinion still far better than > other and > newer combined GPS / Variometers although it came on the > marked already in > 1997. I now use XCSoar in addition since it displays airspace, > something the > TopNavigator can not. > > I suggest to look at the thermal assistant of this instrument, > and replace > XCSoars current assistant by something similar to Aircotecs. > > The thermal assistant on the instrument works like a dream. As > far as I can > observe the software does following: > 1.measured wind speed and direction is calculated while > circling. (as XCSoar > does) > 2.fat dots are plotted on the screen for each measurement with > strong lift, > thin dots for measurements with weak lift. (could be improved > using colors) > 3.wind speed, wind direction, position, height, and lift are > stored for the > measurements in the current thermal, and are used to build a > 3D model of the > thermal. > 4.the instrument keeps track of the dots, compensated for > drift, using the > wind info for the specific height. > 5.as far as I understand, the instruments also extrapolates to > predict the > position of the thermal both below the entry point and above > current height. > 6.the dots are plotted on a hi-zoom thermalling screen, north > up, where the > pilot always is in center. An arrow, pointing from center > outwards > illustrates the pilots current heading. > > While I am thermalling I can always see on my screen where I > found the best > lift. I see a slice of the thermal as a cluster of dots, and > this informs me > on where the best area is (so far found by me). If I should > lose the thermal > it is easy to get back to the best area, no matter at which > height I return. > The instrument shows the slice for the current height. > > Best regards, > > Rob. > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > What Every C/C++ and Fortran developer Should Know! > Read this article and learn how Intel has extended the reach > of its > next-generation tools to help Windows* and Linux* C/C++ and > Fortran > developers boost performance applications - including > clusters. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-dev2devmay > _______________________________________________ > Xcsoar-user mailing list > Xcsoar-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcsoar-user > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > What Every C/C++ and Fortran developer Should Know! > Read this article and learn how Intel has extended the reach of its > next-generation tools to help Windows* and Linux* C/C++ and Fortran > developers boost performance applications - including clusters. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-dev2devmay > _______________________________________________ Xcsoar-user mailing list > Xcsoar-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcsoar-user -- Helmut Rohs d: 0761 4512359 p: 0761 5564244 m: 01577 6086555 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ vRanger cuts backup time in half-while increasing security. With the market-leading solution for virtual backup and recovery, you get blazing-fast, flexible, and affordable data protection. Download your free trial now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/quest-d2dcopy1 _______________________________________________ Xcsoar-user mailing list Xcsoar-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcsoar-user
