OpenRadarFeatureWishlist

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This page collects the feature proposals for OpenRadar.

General

• (by design) Callsign greater than 7 characters, cannot even have ICAO_TWR as callsign. Would like at least 10

(comment ww: The flightgear MP protocol supports only 7 chars (max. 7 chars plus trailing zero equals 8 bytes, see Multiplayer protocol)

Well this should be fixed. What if multiple controllers control with similar callsigns? (E.g. LSZH_APP_EAST,LSZH_APP_WEST)

• Inter ATC communication. Some method of talk/text just between ATC controllers would be nice, to coordinate handovers

(ww: yes, but as much as I know they use mumble right now... I am looking for a smart way to do this)

• Wider radar range for CTR controllers (FGCom radio & visibility range)

ww:I need to validate, but to my current knowledge, FGCOM is restricted on server side and the contact visibility by the MP server. I thought already about a special mode for CTR, that registers OR as MP server (proxy). Then it would get all contacts worldwide. For FGCOM we could add these special frequencies to the list of frequencies that are available everywhere at the FGCOM server.

• (DONE) Squawk / Transponder codes

ww: Are not part of the MP protocol => are not transfered to OpenRadar.

• (MP data?) Private message feature

ww: Is not part of the MP protocol.

• Intercom FGCom frequency call GND to GND to call other ATC's

ww: Some ATCs are using mumble right now, for this purpose. I keep it in mind. But I don't want to exclude the ATC-models out of the game.

• Controlling multiple airports (CTR controller)

ww: To be able switch some features from airport to airport (METAR, runways, FGCOM, StdRoutes) I need to rework some parts of the application (relocation of OR multiplayer client to new airport, loading of different METAR, runways, routes etc). It would work like an hopping from airport to airport. Something for future releases, I think.

• ATIS recording feature

ww: Recording and then replay over the ATIS frequency? This might be possible, but FGCOM is a separate application, linked to OR via a simple network protocol. Difficult... Especially as we support many different operating systems and setups.

mc: Yes. compare with VRC (VatSim Virtual Radar Client), which has a recording option and EuroScope which does generate if from recorded fragments. - Text to speech (Espeak/Festival) integration would be the "tripple-A" feature!1!! ;)

• Give the fullname of a VOR when going over it with the cursor (MLN = Melun, LGL = L'Aigle) as ATC and pilot use also VOR names in real life. (Do the same for Airports and NDB?)

ww: technically possible, but tooltips disturb usability very much. Please open a thread in forum and discuss is with the users!

• Direction finder: as we don't have flightplans yet, it would be useful to be able to find the direction from say XXXX to EDDF when sitting as ATC at XXXX so to find the best SID at XXXX. Maybe the search box at the bottom of the radar window could be able to find any apt/navaid point and indicate its distance and heading from the current airport one controls.
• Traffic counter

Aircraft/Pilot Flag

• See assigned flightlevel (according to flightplan)
• (DONE) Squawk/Transponder Code

mc: Great feature! But there is a small bug with the transponder: it counts upwards after 7, but there is no number 8 or 9 in transponder codes. (e.g. after 6707 there should be 6710, not 6708). - Also manual assigment would be lovely as sometimes VFR and IFR flights have different ranges.

• (DONE (transmitter support) "True" altitude according to local air pressure below transition level and flightlevel according to standard pressure (QNH 1013/2992) above transition level
• (DONE) Red colored flags for emergency codes such as 7500 (hijack), 7600 (radio failure) and 7700 (general emergency MAYDAY, PAN PAN)

METAR

• METAR of nearby airports

Radar Map

• separation rings (1000ft in vertical and 500ft in horizontal distance)
• alerts for collision and speed violations
• additional deselect button below the map
• (via Standard routes, have no other data source) Show Restricted, Prohibited and Danger Areas
• Accurate and up-to-date navigation data. (Some SID/STAR are not being displayed, because the navigation data is incomplete and inaccurate. - See this thread and/or this proposal.)

ww: I use the latest apt.dat file from xplane already (format 10.00) if something is missing, you can add the navaids for OR display in the standard route files. The problem for the pilots persist until the FG database is updated/corrected, but even in xplane file, there are some fixes missing)

Route Editing

• Speed limitation point tag for Elements, similar to the arrows. Requires text for speed. (ww: the attribute text="" is not enough?)

FGCom Integration

• Add "set PTT button" feature

ATC Coordination

• coordinate multiple instances of OpenRadar using a protocol a la VatSim (ww: this will work only for OpenRadar instances, not to ATC-ML, ATC-TOWER etc...)
• (mp data) see what frequencies other ATC's are using

ww: I transmit the first frequency via FGCOM protocol, but do not display it yet, because the FG frequencies are set to a fix value.

• Hand-off feature

• (mp data) See to which frequency the Pilot is connected to (com1 & com2)

ww: the frequency transmitted by FG via MP is not correct, is already implemented in background)

• "owning" and aircraft according to the flight strip
• See on the map what regions are "controlled" by who (dark grey if an area is controlled, so the ATC knows to whom he can do the handoff)

• See & edit the flightplan

ww: Suggest central registration for this.

Missing/incomplete FG MP protocol data

• Active, tuned in frequency (COM1/COM2): the tuned-in COM frequencies, there is one for COM1, but it is not implemented, it delivers no data
• MP Chat Unicode support
• MP Chat private message support