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 New infoboxes
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Coolwind
Moderator

Italy
8957 Posts

Posted - 20/09/2009 :  00:52:08  Show Profile  Visit Coolwind's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Among many other things, currently the following new infoboxes have been added:

+ Next GR (avoid using NEXT LD, it is often very wrong!)
+ FL (flight level)
+ Home Radial (together with Home Distance will allow you to communicate your approx. position)
+ Task distance covered (requires a valid task start of course)
+ Alternate1 arrival altitude
+ Alternate2 arrival altitude
+ BestAlternate arrival altitude
+ Distance from nearest AirSpace


All infoboxes configured in Auxiliary and Cruise within Config Menu, are also automatically available also in Infopages and Navboxes.
So in addition to the "classic" automatic info pages and navboxes, you can also add custom configured pages. Combinations are now unlimited!

Development on the LK interface is going ahead very well, and gestures like on iphone are working perfectly.

I am now working on the colour inversion (black on white vs white on black) for the LK.

Internal version is now alpha 10d .

bo.
Pterodattilo

843 Posts

Posted - 20/09/2009 :  22:39:06  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Distance from nearest airspace, sweet! I assume it is the vertical distance that is being displayed?

In the airspace management you have the option to choose "Acknowledge day" for individual airspaces. Maybe acknowledged airspaces could be neglected in the "nearest airspace" infobox, so that distance to the airspace above is displayed? I guess this is how the airspace warnings are working now.

quote:
All infoboxes configured in Auxiliary and Cruise within Config Menu, are also automatically available also in Infopages and Navboxes.
So in addition to the "classic" automatic info pages and navboxes, you can also add custom configured pages. Combinations are now unlimited!


That sounds like a good approach. Then everybody do not have to agree on what information to display, and we dont need to put so much effort into deciding exactly what to be displayed. Could you also let thermalling and finale glide infoboxes be handled in the same way?

Cheers bo
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Coolwind
Moderator

Italy
8957 Posts

Posted - 20/09/2009 :  22:53:26  Show Profile  Visit Coolwind's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Bo, currently the nearest airspace infobox does not neglect acknowledged spaces.
I have to add that option, but maybe there's a better solution for that. Have to ask how it is working on other softwares.
Currently I display only horizontal value, but can easily add another infobox for vertical value (it's ready to be enhanced in fact).
Concerning infoboxes, yes. The way I have written the software allows me to create any number of infopages, both configurable or not. Now the issue is to have a minimum configuration required.
The basic idea is: lk8000 will give you all informations, always, in a predefined order (which can be adjusted, following suggestions). For what's not predefined, custom pages are there. Custom pages are exceptions. We invert the rule of other softwares, where custom things are the rule, and predefined are exceptions.

In the next weeks we shall all be working on predefined configurations, page order etc.
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cernauta
Pterodattilo

802 Posts

Posted - 21/09/2009 :  14:25:22  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
it's horizontal distance from nearest airspace. One needs to know how close one is to a prohibited or altitude limited airspace.

A warning when coming close to altitude limit might also be welcome.

Horizontal distance is a must, especially when flying in competitions. (1 meter inside prohibited airspace means your score is over, and if you repeat on the following days, your whole com is over).
many times I have flown along a prohibited airspace, at a distance of less than 100m, in order to make the best use of ridge lift or a tilted thermal, for example. Simply glancing at the map (and it's scale reference) won't allow you to reduce your margins this much.


aldo cernezzi
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Coolwind
Moderator

Italy
8957 Posts

Posted - 21/09/2009 :  16:07:40  Show Profile  Visit Coolwind's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Ok, then this is exactly how it is working now. You may acknowledge a warning, and keep the nearest airspace horizontal distance. A second infobox with vertical distance may be available too if necessary.
Currently warnings are given only if your predicted route will enter an airspace within configurable limits and time. I think it is a good solution.
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bo.
Pterodattilo

843 Posts

Posted - 21/09/2009 :  16:08:50  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Ok, I see that horizontal distance can be very important. And please add a vertical distance infobox too. When flying xc it can be a challenge to remember the altitudes of different airspaces. I think there are warnings avaliable, but the last time i tested them I got so frustrated that i totally abandoned them. The problem was that each warning had to be removed/acknowledged manually, and the warning itself obscured all infoboxes, including altitude. In a paraglider you cant let go of the commands at all times, and I could not know if i had left the thermal in time or if i was violating the airspace until i had a chance to close the warning. But maybe the warnings could be usable with some minor changes. A preset timeout would be nice (not avaliable now), and the warning could be made as a smaller popup box or similar, so the navigation info would still be visible. An audible warning could also be relevant.

Just a tought about the horizontal distance infobox: could it also include information about the altitude of the base of the nearest airspace? Then it would be easy to know if you had to decend to enter the next zone.
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Coolwind
Moderator

Italy
8957 Posts

Posted - 21/09/2009 :  16:58:36  Show Profile  Visit Coolwind's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I can tell if the airspace is up or down, with positive or negative altitude.
Otherwise, I should rewrite the way airspaces are signalled and confirmed.
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bo.
Pterodattilo

843 Posts

Posted - 21/09/2009 :  22:12:25  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
I can tell if the airspace is up or down, with positive or negative altitude.


Do you mean if you are above or below the one in the current position?

It would also be nice to know if the closest airspace ceiling is higher or lower than the one in the current location.

XCSoars (or whatever i should call it here?...) ability to handle airspaces is one of the advantages over other software, at least for paragliding, so making it shine also in this respect would surely strengthen the overall impression of this great program. I do believe it can be improved from where we are today. Its an important feature to me, but I dont know how other pilots would prioritise improvements on the airspace management. I guess there are a lot of things on your priority list at the moment. But Im in no hurry, the paragliding season is definitely over now.. Now its Condor Soaring season :-)
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Coolwind
Moderator

Italy
8957 Posts

Posted - 21/09/2009 :  22:26:43  Show Profile  Visit Coolwind's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I mean the closest (horizontal distance) airspace. Vertical distance for THAT airspace.
I think that if you are flying below an airspace, you already have to know the vertical distance to it. Right?
Me too going to Condor, but not for playing, only for testing the lk8000 software and some new functions.
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bo.
Pterodattilo

843 Posts

Posted - 22/09/2009 :  00:11:57  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Ok, that was what i was hoping for :-)

It could be nice to know how much altitude is left until you hit the ceiling of the current airspace too, but warnings could be better for that kind of information, instead of using an infobox for this. The warnings could probably need some work. But I should also experiment more with the warnings to really learn how they function today. Condor will be invaluable for this :-)
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Coolwind
Moderator

Italy
8957 Posts

Posted - 22/09/2009 :  01:26:08  Show Profile  Visit Coolwind's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Currently the old software is managing airspaces with very slow calculations, so I'll have to partially rewrite it anyway. I'll use the same approach I have used to calculate distances in the "nearest" pages, which are very fast.
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Michel
Pulcino

79 Posts

Posted - 18/10/2009 :  16:32:14  Show Profile  Visit Michel's Homepage  Reply with Quote
In 1.5 Turn, the bank angle is shown:
- Is it possible to have Bank angle available as an info box? For instance to be shown on 1.2 Thermal. Of course it lags a little but it can be useful.
- Can the pitch angle be included in the figure?
The short lines on the edge of the circle exaggerate the bank angle as for instance 45 degrees is not half-way 0 en 90 degrees.

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bo.
Pterodattilo

843 Posts

Posted - 18/10/2009 :  16:56:04  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I tested the Airspace Distance in both 1.12 and 1.14 (sim), but i could not get any output. I tried using different airspace files, including one for German airspace, to make sure I was not inside the airspace, but at all times the Airspace infobox (Arspace) displays only ---
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MPusz
Aquila imperiale

Poland
683 Posts

Posted - 18/10/2009 :  18:56:49  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Regarding the problems with airspaces. I was flying near big Airpoirt TMA regions. It seems that current algorithm tends to skip some airspaces that are visible on the main view. I saw the highest airspace, than nothing and then the lowest one. The middle one was missing (it was presented on the main map only). I will retest that flight when your new algorithm for airspaces calculations will be present.
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Coolwind
Moderator

Italy
8957 Posts

Posted - 18/10/2009 :  21:18:11  Show Profile  Visit Coolwind's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I did not touch any algorithm for airspace in LK.
The "nearest airspace distance" is disabled right now, so it does not simply give any value at all, sorry guys I forgot to tell you. I have to make it a little faster and less cpu intensive. The airspace display alone takes 20% total cpu time of draw thread, so it's obviously to be fixed (a general problem since ever, on xcsoar).

I'll put back bank and pitch angles on the TRI, but let me tell you that I seriously think that a pilot cannot count on it for escaping from troubles.
I think it need a good nmea position in first place..
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