Database files

[msteen]

Could someone send me a sqlite-file generated by AirNav ? I'm developing a flight tracking and notifying system for us spotters in Kristiansund, Norway, and may incorporate a AirNav Radar Box in the system.

Right now, the system only get's flight data from the internet, and process those, and put out on the net in a way that is fine to use on cell phone browsers, and also sends us an SMS if there is something "unusual" on it's way (excludes SAS and so on).

I want to use AirNav in this system to get even better data, like fetch the registration of the aircraft when they enter air space, and also get the other flights, that is not on Avinors pages, and have the possibility to give us info about those when they arrive too.

Is this something I can do with Airnav ? I need to be able to process this automatically updated .db file with my own developed software when I want. It's this file that is 5 minute delayed ? If I can get data from the Radar box, I can do a lot of things with them in my own software. So it would have been fine to see such a file before I decide something.

Morten Steen
airpics.com

[AirNav Support]

Hi Morten,

No need to read the database file. RadarBox has a 5 minute delayed feed on port 7879 which gives information such as the following:

The data received by RadarBox is available over port 7879 to use for external applications however the data is delayed by 5 minutes for security reasons (NB, the data you view on the software is not delayed).

The feed works the following way:

1- Flight messages are received in real-time from the decoder.

2- Selected/relevant messages are added to a queue with a an attached time stamp. Not all messages are added because many of them them are irrelevant (imagine you have a flight being tracked with all the information available: aircraft type, lat/long, altitude - if a message containing only the Mode-s hex code of the aircraft is received it is not added to the queue as it adds no info to what the software already has all the information regarding that flight). If for example a change in altitude or V/S is received the message will, of course, be added to the queue.

3- There is a timer permanently checking the queue for messages older than 4 minutes 59 seconds. If there are messages in this condition, they are deleted from the queue and added to the output port.

We used XML for easy compatibility with all possible programs (XML is the world reference in data exchange).

Format as below:

<MODESMESSAGE>
   <DATETIME>20070622141943</DATETIME>
   <MODES>400F2B</MODES>
   <CALLSIGN>BAW134</CALLSIGN>
   <ALTITUDE>120300</ALTITUDE>
   <GROUNDSPEED>451</GROUNDSPEED>
   <TRACK>234</TRACK>
   <VRATE>0</VRATE>
   <AIRSPEED></AIRSPEED>
   <LATITUDE>-14.1102</LATITUDE>
   <LONGITUDE>-31.5789</LONGITUDE>
</MODESMESSAGE>

This can sent to your application and you can do anything you like with that data.

If you are looking for data access for the network then please contact our sales team.

[msteen]

Thanks for your quick answer. This sounds promising. I can see there is nothing in the data about destination, but I suppose I can make some filters in my software that excludes aircraft just passing by or going to an other airport in the area.

How about the Alert system ? Could this be set up with wildcards ? ex. LN*, SE* and so on.
I have my own mail server at an other location, and could use the RadarBox from here, and send an alert mail to that mailserver on every aircraft, and just process the mail with my software and pick out those I want in my software local on that server.

How does such a mail look ? If every mail look the same, it should be easy to automatically process...

[msteen]

About this format, is this the only data that is sent ? What about aircraft, registration and those?

Aonther question, how is the latitude format (in this example) -14.1102 turned into the format
X° XX’ X” E and vice versa? As i probably don't have destination data for all aircraft captured, I think my SMS sender will send SMS if an "new" aircraft gets within a specified distance from the airport, and below a specified altitude. So I need to calculate distances in my own scripts.. Waiting for my RadarBox now, ordered two days ago :)

[Allocator]

About this format, is this the only data that is sent ? What about aircraft, registration and those?

Aonther question, how is the latitude format (in this example) -14.1102 turned into the format
X° XX’ X” E and vice versa? As i probably don't have destination data for all aircraft captured, I think my SMS sender will send SMS if an "new" aircraft gets within a specified distance from the airport, and below a specified altitude. So I need to calculate distances in my own scripts.. Waiting for my RadarBox now, ordered two days ago :)

Aircraft registration - not needed as all aircraft are identified using the 6 figure Hex Mode S code.  Your routine would need to match this code to find the registration, so you would need a Mode S to Registration database.

Type of Aircraft - same story, no need to transmit the aircraft type using Mode S as type will also be identified from the Mode S Hex code

Destination or route - This is not required as this will be in the Air Traffic Control flight plan computer system, so controllers will always know the route if a flight plan has been filed.  Again, you will need a Flight ID to Route database - not easy due to the many different styles of ID entered by the flight crew - or sometimes not entered at all!

Converting lat/lon formats - loads of information on the web here, so do a Google search, however, there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in a degree.  The format you are looking for is:

Degrees, Minutes, Seconds

Your example of -14,1102

the "-" indicates West of datum

the "14" is degrees

60 x .1102 gives you 6.612 minutes

60 x .612 gives 36.72 seconds

Therefore:

-14.1102 = W14 6' 36.72"

I sure you can work it out the other way.

See the online convertor below:

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html