Weather radar and PM

[Patt737]

Hello,   

We have the following solution for displaying the weather radar on the project magenta  glasscockpit:
   
1) Active Sky generates the weather based on actual weather.
 
2) This data is transmitted via FSUIPC (offset 0F1C and 9C00) to P3D which displays a corresponding weather forecast. 
 
3) Depending on the configuration of FSUIPC (line ASNwxRadarBitmapPath = \) P3D generates a BMP file (radar image) which it deposits in the NetDir folder. It works very well.
 
4) PmGetWeather, scan the "NetDir" folder then it converts the BMP image into a DAT file which it transmits in the respective folders of the pilot and co-pilot's glasscockpit. This point also works.   
We have a correct image of the weather radar.   

In the project magenta there is the offset 04F4 which allows, among other things, the following commands:
   
21000 + Tilt / 2
22000 + Gain / 2
20001 Wx + TERR
20002 WXR
20003 WXR (VAR)
20004 MAP
20005 TEST
 
The problem is that there seem to be two ways for the project magenta  to display the weather.   
Either we generate an image as we do or there is another way that I do not know.   

Why I say that, because if I change the offset 04F4 for example to display the Wx + Terr mode the Glass cockpit indicator displays this indication, but we lose the display of the radar image or 3 blue bars appear ... 
 
Another example. I start the PFD / ND, activate the weather by the EFIS which is displayed correctly.

I change the Tilt, the value does not change in the indication PFD / ND. I change the mode to TEST then to WXR I lose the radar as indicated above, but the tilt display in the PFD / ND works.

 
As soon as a radar info is changed in this offset, it is no longer possible to display the radar correctly.

The only method is to stop the PFD / ND and restart it. All this seems logical, because in our configuration, project magenta only intervenes for the display of the weather in the PFD / ND.

But then, how to indicate the mode of the radar, the gain and the tilt to P3D or PmGetWeather ?   
Thank you for your help

www.737project.com

[Trevor Hale]

I have never messed with the Tilt.  And the Radar BMP is what I am Heading for according to active sky.  I think the issue here is that Active sky is generating the image in front of the aircraft based on a top down image.  Note the image is not being generated from the aircraft looking forward as it would be in real life.

The issue is not with Project Magenta, as they do not generate the WX Radar image.  The problem is the way Active Sky generates the "TOP DOWN" Image instead of the Forward image, which is why your tilt has no effect.

The other issue, is in the real 737, One ND runs Terrain and the other runs WX, you can;t run Both on the Same ND One or the other.

Trev

[Patt737]

Hello Trev.

I hope you take good care of yourself.

Thank you for that answer.

We continue to work to have a correct radar image.

We believe that the radar is managed by p3d.

Do you know if there are offset in p3d to manage tilt and gain?

Here is the video we get.

It would seem that the radar sees only the rain and not the clouds .

www.737project.com

[Trevor Hale]

Hey Bud,

I am safe and sound thanks, hope you are also.

Pete (FSUIPC) I am pretty sure had reserved OFFSETS for some companies like (cockpitsonic) or (Insert manufacturer here) that allowed those vendors to assign tilt function but again, its dependent on the software you used. (what those are who knows)

I assure you P3D has no Weather Radar functions built into it. (It reads weather and places the types of clouds randomly) in your sky.  In No way does it actually interpret or create a WX image.

Many years ago.... and Before Active Sky Started generating the WX Bmp file there was a guy that put out a program called SaWXR  and it basically would inject what it saw from active sky into PM's Weather radar, it would support Tilt/Gain and even had a cool Startup and test mode. (alas he quit developing it)

He removed the Copywrite from that software an made it freeware at some point way back (If you could find it again it would be neat to try) I expect Active sky wouldn't even be able to talk to it anymore though.

That was the best program on the market.

[Patt737]

Thanks for these informations.

There are two very interesting points, I understand that it is active Sky which generates the radar image. The information added to the file fsuipcx.ini would not be for P3D, but for active Sky.

So we should look on the side of activeSky for these offsets. hum... 

Yes, we know SaWXR very well, which we have been using for many years. The advantage of this app is that it has its own offsets, the disadvantage is the quality of the generated images really very pixelated.

I allowed myself to ask the author if we could have the code to improve, but without success.

The point that I don't understand is the role of PMGetWeather ?
 
When we work with SaWXR, it generated a file in DAT format which it deposited in the folder of the glasscockpit.

ActiveSky generates the image in BMP format, but it deposits it in the NetDir (by fsuipc information).

I think that PmGetWeather takes this image (he indicates it in his screen) he converts it to DAT format and deposits the files of the glasscockpit folder. Its good ?

The other point that I do not understand is why an image well interpreted by the GC no works when we activate the weather radar by PM offsets ?

In reality, how does the weather work with PM? Who generates it? PmGetWeather ?

So in this case , it would be PmGetWeather who would use the tilt and gain offsets?

Still a lot of questions and many thank you for taking your time for us.

Beautiful day,

[Trevor Hale]

Hi Patt,

Ok I will try to explain again.

1.Active Sky Gets the Weather.

2. Getweather asks Active Sky for the data to create the Image and Generates say an 80 mile diameter BMP (Picture of the weather) and dumps it into the Net Directory.

2.PM Get weather reads this file, and displays it on the ND (Relative to your curent position within that 80 mile bmp image)

 - Think of it as a live data feed to the Glass cockpit, rather than a dat file getting updated.

3. PM Get weather will request a new image from Active sky every so many seconds based on your settings.

Personally I Love using this setup.  Its easy and not taxing on the system and really does a good job.

I us the Project magenta (EFIS CONTROL) fsuipc offset to turn on the WX and turn off the WX.

Trev

[Patt737]

Good evening,

Thank you bein Trev for your kindness and your explanations.

We will dig a little more.
In order to know if we can make this radar work better.

Take care of yourself.

Pat