Hello,
After an initial excitement about the additional safety level using SafeSky in connection with SkyDemon my enthusiasm starts to fade now. Reason: I m regularly loosing the traffic depiction in SkyDemon after a while (say 20 mins) and then it does not come back on my iPhone.
Does anybody know how to make sure that the info just STAYS?
Danke
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Hi Dirk,
I have the same.
And thats worries me a bit as you dont know if you can trust Safesky with showing other traffic.
As when suddenly traffic can disappear it could be also that not shown traffic can be there.
I’m flying a ‘metal’ plane, Mooney, so it could be that the signal not get through due to the metal construction.
But like you I lost my enthousiasm a bit for Safesky. Hopefully the future will bring an update that solve this problem.
Hello Laurens,
So it looks I m not the only one with this issue. And it would be interesting to see if SafeSky is reading the forum content and reacting to it.
I do not believe that your „metal“ is causing the problem because I m flying little Katanas and Aquilas with not much metal around.
Besten Gruss
And reading further posts in this forum it appears that SafeSky is having problems to keep connections in higher altitude. But my two most recent flights (where connectivity got lost) were in 3,500 and 4,500 ft respectively. That s likely no explanation for my issue, isn t it?!?
Gruss Dirk
It’s probably not SafeSky so much as your network service provider. Remember you are using the mobile phone masts that are engineered to work with mobile units on the ground, not at 4000 feet. Combine that with your device being inside an aircraft which attenuates the signal differently in different directions and you shouldn’t be surprised if you lose the connection. However, the Safesky app should be showing you that it has lost the internet connection, if that is the case.
Hi,
Are you running SafeSky and SkyDemon on the same phone? If so I take it that you are opening SafeSky and then letting it run in the background whilst SkyDemon is in the Foreground.
If this is the case then it might be that after 20 minutes the IPhone is putting it to sleep.
I don’t have much experience of IPhones but I believe there is a setting where you can make specific apps run better in the background, might be worth trying.
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That’s also a good point.
What is your setup?
What devices are you running each application on?
Hello @Dirk
Can you tell me if you are still experiencing this problem? What type of device do you use? iPhone or Android?
With Android, if SafeSky is running in background, you absolutely must tell Android not to shut down the application, Android decides to do so naturally.
Please find a link below for Android users in our new manual. You’ll also find all the other information you need to improve your experience with SafeSky.
https://docs.safesky.app/books/safesky-user-guide/chapter/5-technical-support-and-faqs
Enjoy your flight
Hello to all,
Thanks for your responses to my little challenge. Let me provide some more specifics:
- when I lost the connection in flight recently (no more aircraft traffic in SkyDemon visible) I did not receive a warning of a lost connection before (at least I did not spot it)
- my device is an iphone 11 and I m running both apps on it (SkyDemon in the foreground and SafeSky in the background)
- I m not aware of an ios setting that extends a background app activity (avoiding the sudden loss of depiction). If someone knows the trick I would be grateful to learn how
Kind regards
Dirk
Hello all,
I just tried out a parallel run of Safesky and SkyDemon in couch mode. In this situation Safesky timed out automatically after ca 25 minutes with a warning „Safesky has stopped emitting due to inactivity“.
Now, I wonder if the same happens whilst I m actually flying - not being inactive at all. Could that be an explanation?
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Hi everybody
Lost of signal has been an issue for sometime now particularly above lets say 4000ft or through mountain areas. The issue dramatically accentuates when crossing borders. Then it is mega chaos. Sim losing signal, dealing with mobile providers. Specially in converging areas (ie. France, Luxembourg, Germany)
I have posted the problem in the past.
Safesky answered there is no straight fix since it is out of their control. There are however some talks at higher level between EU mobile providers ti fix the issue since drones rely on this positioning technology also.
It is a bummer really since you cannot rely on the info displayed by Safesky hence making it useless in hot situations. It adds confussion rather than clarity. And some of us are paying € for the premium service.
Let’s hope they will fix this soon.
Hi,
Here is some explanations:
-
Loss of connection. A signal or message informing you of a loss of connection on the SkyDemon screen is managed by SkyDemon and not by SafeSky. Do not hesitate to contact SkyDemon support on this subject.
-
With an iPhone 11, no Problem if SafeSky is running in background. With Android it’s different. No worry with Apple
-
Couch : We have implemented a feature to automatically cut off SafeSky’s transmission of its position when you are on the ground, parked for more than 10 minutes. Unless you own a helicopter and have been hovering for more than 10 minutes, there’s no way this function would have activated in flight. But in your seat, of course, it’s different.
I can totally confirm what you said. It’s absolutely correct. Roaming is a concern, especially if you straddle a border.
As for mountainous areas, on the other hand, we’ve been able to experience excellent results because the antennas are placed high up and give excellent results. Fortunately, given the number of gliders and paragliders we see on the SafeSky screens.
Thanks to all for contributing to my issue. It was in fact that I was flying ( way and return) quite some time along the Dutch border. That might have caused my loss of connection.
But does it need to be that way?
Kind regards, Dirk
This is what Paul from SafeSky answered to me when I adressed the issue:
" … Roaming depends i.a. on the deals that your provider has with others in other countries. Most providers have special arrangements, connecting only to one other provider per country (exclusively or by preference).
The common settings of your phone will then only connect to that one, unless you handle your phone to search for any other possible provider.
Apparently, your provider or phone settings made it a mess…
Can you look at this on your phone and with your provider? That is important indeed to alert pilots of this issue.
That issue is also being discussed at the moment by the providers at international level, as drones are obliged to use cell phone connection to operate in Europe. So both providers and drone operators have the same interest to solve this! … "
Did many hours flying and using the App.
I use it on my iPad mini on Sky Demon.
Sometimes it works perfect but other times not at all. Also at lower altitudes like 1500 feet!
One moment you see an other aircraft on the iPad a second later it’s gone and a minute later it’s back.
Or what also happens you see an other aircraft and a few seconds later you see it a complete different position.
I don’t know what the reason is for this erratic behavior but it makes it dangerous to use as you can’t trust what its telling you.
And also some traffic you not see at all even when they have a transponder on.
Any advice or help is highly appreciated.
Hello @DEKSS
SafeSky needs an internet connection to work properly, of course. Overall coverage in Europe is very satisfactory, with more than 80% between 0 and 5000 ft AGL. If SafeSky works above 5000ft, it’s all to the pilot’s advantage.
Sometimes aircraft are no longer seen on the PCB, probably because its signal has been lost, which is what we sometimes experience with C/S Mode, because it takes 4 ground stations to calculate the position of that aircraft (MLAT).
The development team works tirelessly every day to improve the quality of traffic visibility on our app.
The question is: what can you see without SafeSky? I invite you to compare SafeSky Traffic with other systems.
Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information or to meet us at Friedrichshafen Aero 2024! !!