PlanePlotter 6.5.8.7 Released

[Triple7]

From Bev,

Hi,

PlanePlotter version 6.5.8.7 is on the web site now.
http://www.planeplotter.com#download
There are options in the link for both current operating systems and for XP platforms.

---Usual boilerplate---
Updates are free to registered users.

You may need to exercise your browser Refresh function to force it to show you the new version of the PlanePlotter web page. If you post a message complaining that the web page is still pointing to an earlier version, you pay a forfeit - unless I forgot to update the web page, in which case I pay a forfeit!

You can install the new version over the old one but you *must* close/exit PlanePlotter before installing the new one. Nic's installer will warn you if PlanePlotter is still running when you try to install the new version. Your settings from the previous installation will be preserved.

If you have a version-specific firewall, you may have to reassure it that the new version is permitted to access the Internet. Be aware that increasingly, security systems treat any new file as a threat without any justification except that it is new. Please don't write to me about it; write to your security system provider and ask them to make their program smarter.
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Introduction (There is a bit of a deja vu about this introduction but that is because I have updated the updates ... again)

Most of the changes refer to the Beamfinder method and specifically to the tools provided to create the data file required for the Beamfinder function.  Beamfinder is a method of locating aircraft that are not transmitting position.  It is not as accurate as Multilateration (Mlat) but it does not require other Ground Stations in your area.  If you are far away from other GS, Beamfinder is the next best thing as it relies only on your signal reception and nobody else.

I should mention that Beamfinder requires the maximum performance from the receiver, in order to pick up pings that are close together.  I have found that the SBS-3, Beast and PlaneFinder receivers all give excellent results with the Beamfinder method.  In my experience, which you may not share, dongle-based receivers do not perform well in this application.

Existing users of the Beamfinder method need to be alerted to the fact that, unlike earlier versions, tools in this release automatically save a new version of the "radar.txt" file.  Any existing "radar.txt" file will be renamed so it can be recovered, if required.

The Help file entry for Beamfinder has been substantially rewritten to refect the new methodology but, as a picture is worth a thousand words, I have also made a (rather long) video (https://youtu.be/XhHuG6ufP9I) showing the whole new procedure, starting from scratch right thorugh to using it within PlanePlotter.

There have been other updates in the last few weeks and some of those have been superseded in the current release.  They are marked accordingly in what follows and are included merely for completeness.

Changes in version 6.5.7.8
Fix vulnerability in array index for pings

Changes in version 6.5.7.9
Optional country flags in the info pop up box
Optional operator flags in the info pop up box

Changes in version 6.5.8.1
Buffer upper wind/outside temp data when available

Changes in version 6.5.8.2
Automate radar site determination

Changes in version 6.5.8.3
Find altitudes for XXnnnn aircraft from ping history matching

Changes in version 6.5.8.4
Radar site analysis - require local reception and non-Mode-1 code

Changes in version 6.5.8.5
Radar site location by ping vectors as well as by inter-ping angles (superseded)

Changes in version 6.5.8.6
Fix alignment of country/operator flags in info pop up box

Changes in version 6.5.8.7
Graphical editing of radar.txt
Alert box scalable

You may want to preview the following pages that are also available in the PP Help file.

Beamfinder - One click radar site calibration
Introduction

The Beamfinder feature in PlanePlotter uses the timing of pings triggered by interrogation from known radar sites, to triangulate or to trilaterate the position of an aircraft, whose position is not otherwise known.

To accomplish this, PlanePlotter requires information about the characteristics and location of the radar sites in your area. This information is contained in the file called "radar.txt" which should be in the directory where planeplotter.exe is stored.

Beamfinder - Radar site analysis - creating your "radar.txt" file

The simplest way to create a "radar.txt" file for your local area is using : "PlanePlotter...Tools for radar sites...Log and Analyse all radar pings". PlanePlotter must be processing live data for this option to be enabled.

The option firstly records all Mode-A and Mode-S (DF11) pings from aircraft with known positions, to file for ten minutes. A progress bar shows how much time is left.

At the end of the ten minute period, it stops PlanePlotter processing live data and analyses the Mode-A pings and then the Mode-S pings to identify the most frequent ping intervals that are being detected. These ping intervals are the way that PlanePlotter identifies the radar site that is interrogating the aircraft in your area.

Having identified the characteristic ping intervals for each candidate radar site, it then performs a statistical analysis of the time between pings from each aircraft that is responding with the characteristic interval for each site, to estimate the rotation rate of the radar beam.

Having established the likely head rotation rate, it then uses the time between characteristic pings from several aircraft over the ten minute period, to estimate the geographical location of the radar head.

Having derived values for the required data, it creates a new version of the "radar.txt" file and renames any preexisting file of that name. It then resumes processing of live data.

If you enable the overlay of the GPX file called "radarsites.gpx", which it is has also created, you will see where it has estimated the location of the radar sites in the area, to be.

Bear in mind that not all radar sites use unique ping repetition rates and not all radar sites have precisely defined rotation rates. The accuracy of the location of the radar sites can vary considerably. In particular, if the site is very distant such that aircraft are only being received over a relativel small arc of the radar coverage, then the resulting position may be significiantly in error.

The next step is to test the data by designating a few aircraft in the area, to see how well the beams from each candidate radar site are directed close to the test aircraft. Usually there will be a number of sites that, for whatever reason, produce beams that are apparently random. All being well, there will be some that produce consistent beams that closely follow the location of the test aircraft.

The next step is to edit the radar site data to remove the unsuccesful ones and to refine the best ones. That process is described in the following.

Beamfinder - Radar site editing

Introduction

If you have used the "one-click" feature in PlanePlotter to estimate the characteristics and position of radar sites in your area using "PlanePlotter...Tools for radar sites...Log and analyse radar sites", you will then need to edit the data based on the results you see when you test the process by designating a number of aircraft with known positions. You will need to delete those sites that do not appear to be giving the desired results, and you may wish to refine the geographical coordinates of the better sites to improve the accuracy of the process.

Radar site refinement

If you select "PlanePlotter...Tools for radar sites...Edit radar site location", you will see a set of symbols (a circle with a "+" in the middle, labelled with the characteristic ping rate) appear on the chart or outline in the position estimated for each candidate radar site.

Some of them will be manifestly wrong. They may, for example, be in the sea a long way from land. That could mean that they are simply spurious, or that they are on board a naval vessel or a military aircraft. Whichever it is, they need to be deleted.

Similarly, you may have discovered by designating a few aircraft in the area and noticing that the beams from one or more putative radar sites are inconsistent, in which case those also need to be deleted.

To delete a candidate radar site, while in edit mode, simply Control-Shift-Left-Mouse-Click on the symbol and it will disappear.

It is to be hoped that you still have a number of candidate radar sites whose position may benefit from being refined.

While in edit mode, you can drag and zoom the map or outline in the usual way so you should use that to inspect the area around each candidate radar site to see if you can see the actual radar head or radome on one of the available satellite image types that PlanePlotter supports.

In edit mode, you can drag the radar site symbol around on the map or outline by holding down the Shift key and left-clicking on the mouse and then dragging it.

Typically you will zoom into the area of each putative site so see if there is an airport or perhaps a conspicuous hilltop, where the radar might be located. Drag the radar site symbol to the possible area and zoom in and eventually select a satellite image to try to identify the exact spot by seeing the antenna or radome. In some jurisdictions the radar site may be fuzzed out on the satellite image. This is a reasonable indication that this is required location.

When you have deleted all the unwanted candidates and refined the best candidates, you can click again on "PlanePlotter...Tools for radar sites...Edit radar site location" to exit edit mode. At that point, the program will ask if you want to save the updated positions. If you are confident that you have improved the quality of the radar site data, then answer "Yes" and the updated data will be saved to the "radar.txt" file in the application directory, and any former file will be renamed.

If you answer "No", the changes will be discarded and the existing "radar.txt" file will be retained.

You can repeat this editing procedure at a later date in the light of experience with the feature.

Regards
Bev
COAA

Tim