Commercial FAQ
Q. What are the different deployment options for PilotEdge in a commercial environment?
There are two distinctly separate deployment options in a commercial environment. The first is simply to hook up one or more compatible flight simulators to the existing PilotEdge network. This is the simplest solution, and will be, by far, the most common choice for commercial customers. It allows commercial customers to utilize our existing infrastructure, controllers and live traffic.
Alternatively, a customer can install a private version of the PilotEdge on their own equipment and premises. They will then have full control of the environment from the ground up, including the ability to provide their own ATC, record their own automated traffic, and use real-time traffic generation/manipulation tools that are available as part of the PilotEdge framework. This option makes the most sense for:
- pilot training that must take place outside of core coverage area of the public service
- ATC training schools
- Hybrid pilot/ATC training schools
Commercial customers can opt to use the public PilotEdge network for day to day simulator operations. Like their retail counterparts, commercial customers interact with our professional Air Traffic Controllers and work with live, organic traffic, as well as large volumes of pre-recorded VFR traffic (see the Drones section of the site for more information).
There are additional services that are exclusively available to commercial customers on the public network, too. Those with well-defined schedules can make use of our Traffic Shaping service to request live traffic along their route(s) of flight while flying on PilotEdge. We will meet those needs by providing real traffic being flown by real people. An example of this would be a flight training organization that is running a training flight from SFO to LAX. They might put in a request for heavy ground traffic, VFR traffic in and around the departure corridor, and heavy enroute traffic resulting in delay vectors, shortcuts, speed assignments, or even adhoc holds.
Lastly, commercial customers, specifically the people working the instructor consoles, have the ability to communicate, out of band, with our controllers. This allows them to setup scenarios that involve ATC. While simulator pilots are all too familiar with engine failures, engine fires, and gear failures, there are a range of mistakes or misunderstandings that happen every day in the real world. Instructors can now schedule ATC failures with a given airplane, such as:
- transposing numbers in the callsign
- turning the aircraft the 'wrong way' to a nearby by heading (ie, aircraft on 090 heading is instructed to turn left to hdg 120). Does the crew catch it? How do they respond?
- send the aircraft through the final approach course while vectoring to final
- simulate temporary or permanent Mode C failures
- issue uncomfortably high or low speed restrictions on an instrument approach or while being vectored in the terminal area
Q. What are the components that make up the private version of PilotEdge?
Data server - the glue that holds it all together. This server facilitates communication between all of the components in the system.
Voice server - this is the server which provides the voice functionality, utilized within the pilot and ATC clients
Pilot client - these are plugins for flight simulators that connect the simulator to the Data server
ATC client - this is the software used by controllers to monitor and manage traffic on the network. It is capable of simulating a number of radar modes, matching their real world counterparts (ARTS, DSR, STARs)
Drone utilities - the Data server has the capability to record flights that are conducted on the network. These utilities allow the recordings to be played back on the network as drones, reproducing the flight with perfect fidelity. The tools include complex sequencing and group management functions to accurately choreograph the activities of large volumes of drones. ATC cannot exercise direct control over the drones, therefore drones should be used primarily as a source of background VFR traffic that stays outside of airspace where ATC would normally exercise positive control.
SimTarget - powerful tool for creating streams of traffic, viewable by ATC and pilot clients, of course. The targets can fly a prescribed route AND be controlled by the SimTarget operator. It is possible to run multiple instance of this tool, with each instance having control over the targets that it generated. Future versions will allow delegation of control between instances. SimTarget is similar to what Remote Pilot Operators (RPO's) use in FAA ATC training labs today.
TowerView client - similar to the pilot client, except rather than connecting a flight simulator for the purposes of flying an aircraft, it is used purely as a visual rendering engine for an Air Traffic Control Tower. This can be run on a single machine driving multiple screens, or a network of machines, each driving a separate screen.
Q. What are the usage scenarios for a private installation of PilotEdge?
1) Traditional ATC training environment: student controllers work a stream of targets being generated by SimTarget, with a healthy level of background VFR traffic (either provided by SimTarget, or as pre-recorded drones that were recorded by a real person through a pilot client). This features heavy use of the ATC client, TowerView client, and SimTarget. No active pilot clients (other than for occasional drone recording)
2) Advanced ATC training environment: as above, except additional live traffic is provided by simulator pilots within the organization. Uses technologies listed above in addition to the pilot client.
3) Pilot Training environment: Multiple simulators hooked in using the pilot client. Heavy use of drone utilities to provide additional background traffic. Some basic ATC provided by a handful of ATC clients. However, these customers should strongly consider using the public PilotEdge service, unless they have a good reason for wanting to provide their own ATC. Exceptions would be international customers that need to train in their own, local airspace.
4) Hybrid ATC/pilot training environment: In this scenario, ATC students are working the radar scopes and visual towers while student pilots fly the simulators on the network. Each party provides a purpose for the other to be there. Additional background traffic is provided by drone utilities and/or SimTarget.
Q. How would a training center get the public service?
Commercial customers utilizing the public network would take the following steps to bring their simulators online:
1. Ensure that each simulator is able to connect to the internet. This is required to be able to interact with ATC and to see other traffic.
2. Ensure that each simulator has an appropriate audio configuration (such as an intercom) that allows all required personnel to be able to hear each other, and to hear the ATC audio being streamed to/from the PilotEdge service. For single-seat simulators a simple USB headset might be sufficient. For two-place cockpits with a separate instructor station, however, an intercom is recommended, allowing all of the participants to interact with ATC.
3. Install and configure the PilotEdge client in each of the simulators.
4. Customers that elect to use our Traffic Shaping capability will communicate their training scenarios, schedules, and desired level of live traffic to their PilotEdge account manager.
With those steps completed, the customer is ready to start running their training scenarios on the network, repleat with ATC and live traffic.
Q. How would a training center get the private service?
1. PilotEdge account manager provides the customer with the required software and a unique license key that defines a fixed number of ATC and pilot client slots.
2. Install the PilotEdge voice server, data server, and optional SimTarget traffic generator.
3. Install and configure the PilotEdge client in each of the simulators.
4. Ensure that each simulator is able to connect to the local voice and data server (internet connection is not required).
5. Customer can now begin recording flights, and playing them back as drones on the network using the included drone management utilities.
6. Ensure that each simulator has an appropriate audio configuration (such as an intercom) that allows all required personnel to be able to hear each other, and to hear the ATC audio being streamed to/from the PilotEdge service. For single-seat simulators a simple USB headset might be sufficient. For two-place cockpits with a separate instructor station, however, an intercom is recommended, allowing all of the participants to interact with ATC.
7. Install and configure the ATC clients.
8. Customer's controllers will receive familiarization training with the ATC software. PilotEdge staff can optionally assist in building the frequency mapping files, and other required data files.
9. Customer's remote pilot operators (RPOs) will receive familiarization with SimTarget, if the tool has been included in the package.
With those steps completed, the customer is ready to start running their training scenarios on their own network, and providing their own ATC.