29.09.2018
A well-known shortcoming of many FLARMsystems in airplanes is the low reception range. Many users wish for an improvement here and would like to receive other FLARM equipped aviators at a greater distance.
Why is an improvement in range desired? On the one hand, the area of “situational awareness” cannot be large enough; on the other hand, the low standard range of fast airplanes makes little use, since the reaction time is usually too short. Not least because of this, a larger foresight is desirable for the glider pilots, because then other gliders can be recognized in a good thermals far away.
Technically, the increase in the reception range can only be solved by a higher sensitivity of the receiving system, since the transmission parameters of the FLARM devices are fixed and must not be changed. A simple preamplifier between the antenna and the FLARM device is not applicable here, because FLARM devices also transmit, which would destroy any normal receiver preamplifier, and the transmission signal would not reach the antenna.
Jetvision now has solved this problem and developed two new products: FLARM BOOSTER and FLARM BOOSTER PLUS. An optimized low-noise preamplifier typically increases the range of the FLARM device up to four times, and bypasses the transmission signal unmodified. Switching from receive to transmit is done automatically. Existing antennas can be used with the FLARM BOOSTER, the FLARM BOOSTER PLUS comes with an attached optimized antenna. Both devices can be powered over the antenna cable (5V-15V), which greatly simplifies the installation of the preamplifier or the antenna.
