Flavio Tebaldi <<worlds>> writes:

We want to introduce this next year and that we would like to use
to score the next Worlds.

Lucas Marchesini <<lucas>>
writes:

I have been talking to Flavio Tebaldi, who is the responsible for
the organization of the pre-WC 2010 and WC 2011 of hang gliding, in Italy. His
desire is to have a completely integrated automatic system that works from the
competition registering of pilots and onboard data transmission to the ground,
till the final scoring, with the spectators services.

We are doing quite well with the spectators and data transmission: the system is
working fine and we are correcting only some minor issues. Now, it's enough that
the pilots have their SaFly unit and the whole process of data transmission,
server processing, 2D tracking and 3D tracking, IGC (and KML) files creation is
ok. We have now in the pipeline the synchronization of the IGC files on the
server with the scoring office computer.

DSX
Manual.

Questions and answers:

Who is going to pay for this?

The media part of it will be paid by the organizations (they can reduce the
costs to zero, finding some sponsorship)

The Safly now has a cost a little bit high, because it's still in the first
series production (DSX has 26 of them). The cost will change according to orders
and production batches. The starting price, maximum from where it will only
descend, is today 450€ for the GPRS version. With the satellite, only 120-130
Euros will be added.

DSX declare that the cost could be reduced about 30% selling the first 250
units. So, about 250€ per unit. Less than every kind of GPS that we are using to
compete.

During the last Italian Championship in Parma, all the Italian pilots agree with
buying one of it starting from next year if its cost will be not more than 250€.

Our goal in Italy, is to mandatory use it in all the Italian League
Competitions, starting from 2011 season. In 2010 season we'll start to test the
system with some pilots.

I think that Safly can really change the world of flight competitions. Solving
the big problem of visibility of our sport. Very important is the safety. Every
meeting director can know where every pilot is in real time.

No more queues for GPS download. Every competition will be scored in a second
after last pilot's landing. You will download your own GPS, only if safly system
is faulty for any reason.

During last world championship in Laragne my team used five of these prototypes
and I was able to follow my pilots on my Netbook in real time. Safly help us to
win significantly, especially for tactics.

If FAI will accept to introduce the system to score Cat1 competitions, it should
be enough that every NAC of the world buy six safly for their pilots and
everything will be simple. (About 1500/1800€ each NAC).

Where is the battery?

The battery is a LiPo battery available in the capacity of 4400 mAh or more, and
is inside the unit. It can be recharged via the USB connector (from PC or wall,
5V) or the RJ45, also with current of 12V (i.e. the car electric system or any
wall charger).

Battery life depends on GPRS coverage and frequency of data download, but we
have seen an endurance of 1 flying day. The system notifies automatically (via
web and/or SMS and/or emails) the condition of low battery.

The system can be reprogrammed from remote (i.e. by the contest director) to
change the fix rate intervals, the frequency of data transmission and other
operating parameters, if required, i.e. if a pilot outlands, it makes sense to
reduce the sampling rate to 1 fix every 5' or 10', and transmit the data every
say 1/2h. In this way the battery life is greatly extended (up to 2 days).

The SaFly can be interrogated via SMS by the contest director, and it responds
with its position and altitude, plus a link to display the position in Google
Map on the cellular phone (probably only in Europe)

How does it fit on the hang glider?

You does not fit it on the glider, but inside a pocket in the harness. The cable
of GPS antenna is up to 3 meters long and you can put the antenna in the best
receiving position.

What do the antennas look like?

The GPS antenna is ~3x3 cm, it's 30 grams heavy. The unit is a box with
dimensions 11x7x2.5 cm, fitted with a GSM antenna of 8 cm.

The satellite option will most likely have a unique GPS-sat antenna, of about
7x7 cm.

Having done this ten years ago, I know that putting something like this on a
hang glider is a pain.

The installation is very simple: the only requirement for a hang glider
installation is to position correctly the GSP antenna, and then there should not
be any shielding of carbon fibre or metal around the GPRS antenna.

Who is going to manage the systems on each glider?

Every pilot will manage his own unit by himself. It's very easy to install and
it's a piece of personal equipment for the flight.