Aurora Eurotech

One question we get asked regularly is: What is the range of the Aurora Virtual Radar 3D?

Unfortunately this is not an easy question to answer.
In simple terms it depends on what is between the receiver antenna and the aircraft.
For example if you live at the top of a hill and install an external antenna (and possibly a preamp) above your roof, then you could expect to get significantly over 200 miles.
However, if you live in a city and place the supplied antenna on a first floor window, then you can expect 100 miles or less depending on buildings or hills around your house.

The second question is: What is the maximum range for a good antenna location?

Again difficult question, as it depends how good the location is and how the antenna is installed.
When we carried out tests on our receiver we installed the supplied antennas to the roof of a car parked on open land at about 200ft above see level, our receiver range was about 180miles.

* Aircraft proximity alert (Blue LED).

The blue LED on the front of the receiver indicates that an aircraft with ANY type of transponder (Mode-A/C or Mode-S) is within 5 to 10 miles.

* Display Mode-A/C Codes.

Mode-A/C messages from aircraft can contain either squawk (Mode A) or altitude (Mode C).

It should be noted that there is no way of knowing which type of message type is being sent or the position of the aircraft.
We also only display codes from aircrafts close to the SSRx Receiver.

Information available from our receiver :-
1/ Squawk code. From this you can determine who is controlling the aircraft.
    i.e. squawk 6171 to 6177 indicates the aircraft is under the control of
    Doncaster Sheffield Approach
    There will also be a number of Mode C codes, these are of no significant use.
2/ Estimated distance to aircraft.

Just like listening to pilots, Mode-A/C helps build up a mental picture of what is going on above our heads but it wont add any more trails to our screen.

It should be noted that the Mode-AC display is still "A work in progress" and will see significant changes in the next few months.

* NASA Maps.

The NASA maps are installed with the Virtual Radar 3D, there is no need for an internet connection.
The resolution of the maps we install changes for different parts of the globe.

* Receiver outputs decoded messages with aircraft data.
* Raw data directly from receiver.

We have made it easy for third party developers to use our SSRx Receiver.

When the receiver is plugged into a Windows PC it appears as a standard serial port, you then
have 2 options.
1/ Use the fully decoded text messages (example below).
        $!MSRAPA,,,,4ca0bc,37375,53.14268,-0.31424,,0,0,0,0,*00
        $!MSRAPA,,,,4ca263,30700,53.35052,-1.10020,,0,0,0,0,*00
        $!MSRAIC,,,,4ca263,,,RYR4026 ,*00

2/ The receiver can be switched into RAW mode, the SSRx Receivers output raw data with a 64bit time stamp.

In fact you don't even need to install our software to access both decoded text messages or raw data.

* No need to set the receiver Latitude/Longitude.

When decoding ADS-B position messages from aircraft there are 2 methods that can be used:
1/ Globally unique positions.
The position for aircrafts can be found without knowing the location of the receiver.
2/ Locally unique positions.
The position of aircrafts can ONLY be found if the receivers location is set accurately.

Both methods have their pros and cons.

SSRx Receiver uses ADS-B globally unique position to find the location of an aircraft, this means the receiver can be moved to different locations even different countries without the need to change settings in the software.

In future versions of our software you will have the option of using either ADS-B globally unique positions or locally unique positions.

* Includes COAA Planeplotter Lite.

We include a copy of COAA Planeplotter Lite.
This is a version of COAA Planeplotter without internet sharing.

Planeplotter Lite will work directly with our receiver, in fact you can use Planeplotter without even installing our Virtual Radar 3D software.
Planeplotter Lite software is provided by COAA
To upgrade to the full version of Planeplotter please visit the Planeplotter web site

* Compatable with COAA Planeplotter.

Our Virtual Radar 3D / SSRx is compatible with the Planeplotter sharing network.

However it should be noted that that we are currently working with COAA to add MLAT support.
So at present you cannot use our SSRx as a Ground Station with the Planeplotter MLAT Network.

* Min PC Specification.

We would recommend Pentium 4 / RAM 512MB / Hard Disk 1GB free / DVD Drive or better with Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7.
As with other 3D software (ie Flight Simulators / Games / Google Earth) a modern graphics card is recommended.

Planeplotter Lite will run on a lower specification PC and is included with the Virtual Radar 3D.