Originally Posted by
znww5
Looking at the link, it would appear that (at least at this stage of development) the system will do nothing other than detect other 'OpenFLARM' systems. It won't detect ADSB, FLARM, PilotAware or any other transmission. If the other aircraft isn't also carrying OpenFLARM, you simply won't see it.
It will detect FLARM.
ADSB is mentioned on the web page as not working.
PilotAware claims to be open but in fact does not publish it's protocol, hence leading people down the same terrible path as FLARM did.
Originally Posted by
znww5
I would be interested to know two things: does the GPS make use of the WAAS/EGNOS data; does it derive height purely from the GPS or does it also have a barometric sensor. It would appear that the GPS unit they use is GNSS only, so there is no access to other GPS constellations such as GLONASS.
I don't know about 'WAAS/EGNOS' but I can tell you (from the link to the GPS datasheet on the page) that the chipset supports GLONASS.
Originally Posted by
znww5
Apart from the laudable open source approach, the strength of OpenFLARM must be the £50 price target, making it likely to be far more widely adopted than the competing systems. If collision warning is added, that would dramatically increase its appeal.
For me, a £50 unit with collision warnings would be worth the punt - until then I'll await developments.
As far as I am aware, SkyDemon and the like calculate their own 'collision warnings' when fed with suitable data, and probably far more accurately given the processing power available to them over and above that in a conventional FLARM.