vPAR QuadRadar Analog - Traffic Display
May 10, 2004
Michael Oxner


There was enough of a demand for the "old fashioned" styling of this version that I felt I had to sit down and attempt a re-write so I could re-issue it under a new name. The simplicity of this version was also attractive to past users, and myself. As with the new version, there is more than one mode. In this version, though, there are only two modes: Traffic, which provides a top-down look, and Final, which provides the approach view in elevation (glidepath) and azimuth (track) angles. The Traffic mode is modeled loosely after the old "black radars" used in Transport Canada years ago, while the Final mode is modeled reasonably after the 503 PAR display that is currently in use in 14 Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia, among other places in Canada.

The Traffic mode consists of a series of concentric circles, or range rings, representing one nautical mile increments, centered on the touchdown area. The touchdown area is determined by the information input into the boxes on the right hand side of the program window. There is also a dashed line, extending from the center to a distance of 10NM on the final approach course. This display can be used for vectoring aircraft to the final approach course from any direction. Since this program is meant for close-in operation, only 5, 10, 15 and 20 NM ranges were included. It is expected that ASRC (or ProController) would be used outside this range in conjunction with an online flying network, though the program can be used offline without additional resources.

For the Final mode, the top half of the display is dedicated to elevation information -- where the aircraft is in relation to the glidepath. The bottom shows where the aircraft is in relation to the final approach course, a modified top-down view. Note the variation in spacing of the 1 NM distance markers. This is true to the 503 PAR display after which this part of the program was modeled.

See the individual pages for each of the modes for more information and screen shots. For those who are familiar with the old version, the following changes have been made so far:

  1. The PAR targets are now white instead of gray and they're one pixel wider.
  2. The Traffic screen now has the range rings placed more accurately (they were off one pixel width, as was evident on the right hand edge)
  3. The Traffic screen's targets now "fade". They are white when first painted, and then fade slowly until the next hit, 5 seconds later.
  4. The Traffic screen's targets update as positions are received from individual aircraft, sort of giving the effect of the old "main bang" or "radar sweep" instead of all updating at once.

I hope this re-write will be appreciated. Comments are more than welcome.