Build Your Own PowerFLARM (Paper Model)
Starting late 2010 the PowerFLARM traffic awareness and collision avoidance product will be available. This will be the first FLARM product available in the USA. Flarm is well proven technology overseas and this is very interesting for glider-on-glider and glider-on-towplane collision avoidance in the USA.
The PowerFLARM dimensions are
- Width: 96 mm / 3.8 inch
- Height: 46 mm / 1.8 inch
- Depth: 94 mm / 3.7 inch
I think the renderings on the PowerFLARM web site makes the unit look slightly larger that it will really be. And as other have pointed out people may be assuming the that slot on the front of the PowerFLARM is an SD card slot when it is a microSD slot. I was giving a talk a few months ago on collision avoidance technology (transponders, ADS-B, Flarm, etc.) and wanted to show the actual size of a PowerFLARM device. There are no devices available quite yet so I made a foam core model and took that along to the talk. I just a shape cut out on the table saw and glued an image from the PowerFLARM web site to the front face.
Questions about size of the PowerFLARM have come up again on rec.aviation.soaring and in conversations with other pilots, so I’ve taken the artwork I originally used for the foam core model and made it into a cutout folding paper model. Pilots interested in making one of these to see how large a PowerFLARM can just click on either of the images below to download a PDF file to print and make the paper model. The black model is for use with a photo printer for those who don’t mind wasting ink. The white one for others. The models are split across two pages and should print on US letter and A4 size paper. Be sure to check that the print settings are not scaling the print output. There are rulers printed on each page so you can check the output has not been scaled. Ideally print on heavyweight photo paper/cardstock.
I based the dimensions on the specifications on the PowerFLARM web site, I am not sure whether the depth included the front button or not, from some renderings on the web site it appears not to, so that is what I did here, but there may not be much difference either way. Thanks to Flarm for permission to use the PowerFLARM images.
The PowerFLARM unit for sale in the USA also includes a ADS-B 1090ES receiver and PCAS to detect Mode C and Mode S transponders.
The PCAS capability will provide visibility of a lot of GA traffic today and the 1090ES receiver provides great compatibility with future technology as ADS-B rolls out in the USA. To receive ADS-B traffic information properly the aircraft will also need to have an ADS-B transmitter, so the ground infrastructure knows it is there and can broadcast ADS-R and TIS-B information for the aircraft. That transmitter could be either a Mode S transponder with 1090ES data out or a UAT transmitter or transceiver.
For areas like around Reno, NV and the San Francisco Bay Area where I fly there is a high density of airline and fast-jet traffic traffic and having a transponder is critically important for visibility to ATC radar and airline and fast-jet TCAS systems. In those areas the PowerFLARM looks an ideal product to combine with a Mode S transponder like the Trig TT21, which can also provide 1090ES data-out capability, and that combined with with ADS-B data-in in the PowerFLARM will provide full ADS-B traffic information capabilities.
