Skydemon drops connection via GDL 90

Thank you. I’ve had a play and it’s actually quite simple. I hadn’t allowed access to location all the time only when active. I’ve altered that permission and now seems to be working all the time. It was the fact it always worked for 15 secs that I couldn’t understand…

1 Like

I think I did everything on my phone which is in the link. (maybe I missed something) but it still not does not work.
I may try on this on my Ipad which is in my plane. But there is an other trick. I use the iPad in split screen mode. One side is my Wingman EFIS which is a box connected by Wifi to the iPad, the other side of the screen is Sky Demon. The iPad has 4GLTE SIM card too, and thats mostly not connected.
In this case how an Ipad would handle incoming and outgoing server connection via 4G, sort out internally that one app is running on Wifi and can pass data to Sky Demon ?

1 Like

I have the impression that not all android phones can run apps in the background without somehow restricting them. I have a Nokia 6.1 that I managed to get working with SafeSky running in the background and the screen off, but on my Moto G5 I tried everything but without succes.

Sander

1 Like

Well I just tried the following setup and it worked fine:
Skydemon on Samsung Galaxy Tab S with Safesky on Samsung Galaxy S7 phone.
Even if the phone goes to screen lock or I run another app in the foreground, the connection stayed up between the 2 devices.

1 Like

Indeed, that’s a pity, but each manufacturer has its own restrictions.

You have to look at the restrictions at different levels, for ex.:
-SIM card & mobile network management
-battery management, battery saving
-management of each app (e.g. battery saving, possibility to work in foreground…)
A good test is to test Waze in foreground if Waze is installed on your phone or tablet. If Waze works in foreground, you have to check the App authorisations in the parameters in your phone. If it doesn’t work, you have also to check the general parameters.

Good Luck

Have nice flights

Frédéric

I just upgraded my Samsung S7 to a Samsung A32 and could no longer run Safesky and Skydemon on the same device.
I discovered that Mrc’s post held the solution as Safesky only had access to location while active.
I have set it to “Always” and now it is working fine.

An update on this topic as I have been doing some testing with 4G data connections.
I have just bought a 4G WiFi router and an external MIMO 4G antenna.
The idea is to install the antenna on the underside of the fuselage (aluminium) to get the best possible 4G connection and to create a WiFi network in the aircraft.
I will run Skydemon on an Android tablet and Safesky on an Android phone, both connected to the aircraft WiFi.
I have been testing today on the ground with an excellent 4G connection and found it to work, but with some gaps in the traffic data, varying from 2 to 15 seconds, even though the GPS position was never lost.
I tried the same setup through my home WiFi and did not experience the same gaps in the traffic data, which made me think that this was a problem within the router. I saw that Safesky was configured to Automatically detect the GDL90 device and decided to try a fixed IP address. I gave it the IP of the Skydemon tablet and, hey presto, no more gaps !
So it seems that maybe the gaps were being caused by SS searching for the SD device.

I would be interested to know what the developers think, if this is a possibility.

If you want to see the issue, there are videos from before I configured a fixed IP here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1k0TKIan8_E2WgJPNDLhmOFfd17V92UPd?usp=sharing

I am very interested to get feedback after your flight tests to see if it really improves the internet reception. If so, till what altitude.

For my culture, what is the material you bought?

Anyway, thanks for the email. I’m sure this is of interest to developers and pilots alike.

Have nice flights

For info, the router is here:

The antenna is here:

Many thanks.
Please, give us feedback of your tests in flight when they will be done.

Have nice flights

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but I finally completed the install of the router and gave it a good functional test, although I plan to also do a more scientific test in the future. I installed the MIMO antenna on the underside of the aluminium fuselage of my Savannah and the router inside the cabin (see photos).
What I can say for now is that I have done two flights at over 3000ft, including over a sparesly populated area which probably only has average mobile coverage, and appeared to have a good connection for the whole flight, based on being able to see traffic every time that I looked at my Skydemon map.
I will figure out a way to check the connection and log it to a file so that I can get some good data. If anyone knows a free app for Android that would allow me to check my connection and log the results, please speak up.



This really looks like a practical, affordable and powerful solution!

We are really looking forward additional feedbacks, thanks a lot for that,

Tristan

Tristan, could you please contact me directly via my registered email? I have an idea for a more scientific test.

On my Xiaomi MiMax (running MIUI), I needed to “lock” the SafeSky app to prevent i stopping when in background. The locker becomes visible by:

  • touching the tasks list button (square)
  • long press on the the SafeSky task image
  • click on the lockeer icon to “lock” the application
    You only need to do this one; MIUI will remember for next time.
    I also disabled battery saving features for the SafeSky application.

Hoping this can help you.
Roger

On my Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite 5G, it was enough to only disable the battery saving features for the SfaSky App.
I have not made the “lock” procedure.

Have nice files

Frédéric

@CWilt

Hello, did you have chat with Tristan about your router 4G ?
Did you completed more tests?

Thanks , please come back to me (in FR or EN)

1 Like

Hi Christophe,

No I never heard from him.

I wanted to propose a test comparing data transfers using the on board wifi vs using a mobile in flight.

Perhaps you could ask him to contact me.

Thanks,

Clive.

Hi Clive!

Christophe did some comparable tests. Can you have a look at it? Thanks! https://www.safesky.app/en/post/a-4g-router-in-my-aircraft

Very interesting. I believe the aircraft used is of composite construction.
I think the improvement will be more significant in and all metal aircraft.
I do still intend to make some tests in my Savannah. At the moment a combination of work and weather is getting in the way of doing that.
My idea is to have a mobile in a phone holder creating one hotspot, and the 4G router with it’s own wifi hotspot. I will then run a script on my notepad pc to connect to one hotspot, send and receive some data then switch to the other hotspot and do the same, then repeat. It looks like I can compare each connection approx. every 30 seconds.

That would be great, Clive!
Christophe is creating a special WhatsApp group for those pilots wanting to test these routers and antennas. If you are interested, drop him a line : christophe @ safesky.app