vPAR - News
March 1, 2005
Michael
Oxner
March 1, 2005
Version 2.0 is released! Two requests were made to increase the available
glidepath span. Built in, Version 1.x was made to handle up to a 7°
glidepath, which is sufficient for anything I've seen. That was until two
guys from Switzerland asked me about it. Daniel Novet sent me an approach
chart from their area which showed an initial altitude of 17,000 feet, and
a glidepath of 11°. While I knew that the 17,000 feet was too high for
vPAR to see the aircraft in the PAR displays, but it wasn't until I tested
vPAR's apparent inability to plot higher GPAs properly that I decided to
look into it. I found a few issues with the math that I used in plotting
and just had to fix them. Thanks to Daniel's suggestions, I worked on a few
more features. In the process of doing all of this, I put together a few
features to add to the Transponder, too. And not to be left out, the old
QuadRadar Analog has had a few minor enhancements, as well. Here are the
lists of changes for the three programs. You'll see that despite the outwardly
similar appearances, there are several new items.
vPAR QuadRadar V2.0 changes include the following:
- Reworked glidepath calculations. There were minor errors in the old
calculations that didn't show up at low GPA, but were quite evident at higher
ones.
- A reworked PAR elevation view in both modes. The GP is now stationary
on both displays, rather than changing with different glidepath angles. Here's
the catch: The presentation is a little different now on both screens, and
both behave differently from each other.
A. The Logarithmic display is the most changed of the two. The angular
display is now worked in such a way that the sloping surface on the left
is compared with the horizontal line on the bottom, and this angle is now
broken into 7°. 3.5° above the GP, and 3.5° below. If the horizon
is "visible" in that angular width (ie, the GP is less than 3.5 degrees),
it will be drawn as a green "floor". There are now reference lines that
are 1, 2 and 3° both above and below the GP, with markings along the
side to indicate what they are. Now that the angle of the GP is constant
on the screen, the elevation angles are variable in a significant way: If
the GPA is set high, an aircraft in level flight will show up as climbing
sharply from the bottom of the elevation view to intercept the glidepath.
This is simply a function of measuring and plotting the elevation angle
above the radar site, and there's nothing logical I can think of to make
this any different and still make sense.
B. The Linear plot was revised to alter the spacing of the altitude lines
as the GP increases. The altitude increments will, therefore, be different
at different GPAs, always staying close to ten divisions, and the increment
being higher at higher GPAs. The altitudes are marked on the right hand side
of the display. This has the effect of reducing the resolution of the display
on the vertical axis as the GPA increases. In this view, the horizon will
always be the horizontal line at the bottom of the elevation display, as
before.
- The calculations for plotting aircraft elevations as well as angular
elevations were corrected, as with point 1, but in a slightly different
way. These were the hardest areas to fine tune and ensure they were correct.
- The LAW line plot was reworked on both displays to cover some errors
similar to points 1 and 3 that were particularly noticeable at higher GPAs.
- The glidepath comboboxes in the Approach Editor and the PAR Setup
screen were expanded to include values of 0.1-15 in 0.1 degree increments,
15-20 in 0.5 degree increments, 20-25 in whole degree increments and a 30°
entry. Manual entries are also acceptable, as before. Anything above 30
will be replaced with 30.0.
- Servoing the GP has changed. To aid in adjusting the GPA quickly
over the new, wider range, new shortcut keys and menu items were added to
the "Display" menu. In addition, it was decided that the servoing of the
GP and FAC should be similar in that <CTRL>+<ARROW KEY> is now
used to make 0.1 degree changes for both, and <SHIFT>+<ARROW KEY>
is now used for 1.0 degree changes.
- Added Extended Centerline, a facility which allows the user to add
an extended runway centerline along the currently set final approach course
to a specified distance on the Traffic screen which may extend well beyond
the PAR Block and the PAR range. The color is independently set so it can
be different from other map colors. Its length is set on the Traffic Setup
screen. Preset values in 5NM increments to 50NM are available, though any
integer can be typed in the box. Any non-integer will set the value to 0.
If the user sets it at 0, it will not be drawn.
- The Connection Manager is no longer a modal window. This means the
user can open the Connection Manager and view its contents, then close it,
or it can be left open without forcing the user to close it to make changes
to or interact with the program. This allows a continuous display of those
connected without interfering with program use.
- PAR, ASDE, and Traffic Setup dialogs, as well as the Connection Manager
and Approach Editor windows may be repositioned. Especially with the new
Connection Manager window, this may lead to windows being repositioned off
screen in multiple monitor environments, as well as by inadvertent cursor
movements. Under the Window menu, each of these windows have a "reset position"
menu item which allows for quick and easy resetting of position to the top-left
corner without having to edit the INI file.
vPAR Transponder V2.0 changes include:
- Last IP used is now saved in the INI file and will be reloaded the
next time the program is run. Useful for repeated connections to the same
controller.
- The IP boxes where controller IPs are entered have been replaced
with comboboxes. These boxes will contain 10 user defined IP addresses to
allow quick entry of common IP addresses. See point 3.
- New button to the right of the Ident box toggles IP list editor.
This will pop out from the right hand side of the window, much like the
Approach Editor pops down from the bottom. The listbox contains currently
saved IPs, as they appear in the comboboxes. Enter an IP in the box above
the Add button, then click the Add button to add the IP to the list. To
remove a saved IP, highlight the IP in the listbox (by clicking on it),
then click the remove button. There is no undo. This editor can be closed
by clicking the "Close Editor" button, or by clicking the "Edit IP List"
button that was used to open the editor. When the editor is closed, the
IPs in the listbox will be saved to the three controller IP boxes' dropdown
lists. These lists will be saved to the INI file when the program is shut
down.
- There is a new IP checking routine that will prevent errors in the
IP address boxes. It checks the overall length of the string, the values
between the "dots", and makes sure only numeric characters are put in. If
the program detects an error, it notifies the user that there is an error
(though it doesn't tell the user what the error is) with a message box, and
places the cursor in the offending field when the user clicks "OK" in the
message box.
- The glidepath combobox in the Approach Editor were expanded to include
values of 0.1-15 in 0.1 degree increments, 15-20 in 0.5 degree increments,
20-25 in whole degree increments and a 30° entry. Manual entries are
also acceptable, as before. anything above 30 will be replaced with 30.
vPAR QuadRadar Analog V2.0 changes:
- Some code was reworked and should result in better memory usage, making
it somewhat more efficient.
- There is no some basic value checking in the approach info
fields. This will turn the background in a box yellow if the value appears
to the program to be an error. This is meant to call the user's attention
to the data to check to ensure it is correct. It will still accept the value
and use it in approach plotting. The parameters which will turn the corresponding
box yellow are:
A. Latitude and longitude values are checked against integer values. The
process used to convert string data to numbers return a value that is truncated
at the first non-digit character (other than +, - signs, commas and periods).
If a latitude or longitude value is an even integer, which is a possibility,
though slim, the boxes turn yellow.
B. If the GPA is less than 1.0°.
C. If the GPI exceeds 4,000 feet.
D. If the DH is below the Elevation.
There are no other checks, currently.
The new versions will be entirely backward-compatible with the older software
and their respective setup files, including the approaches.ini file.
All the new variables that are used have defaults set for when the programs
are run and any changes will be saved when the programs are closed for the
first time.