[AutoATC 0.8.7 Beta]

Just a quick progress report of the 0.8.7 Beta update, and a place to discuss any issues.

Android companion applications for 0.8.7 rolled out last weekend and now seem stable. If you spot a layout issue, please post a screenshot so I know where to look to fix it. There were a lot of layout issues in landscape mode which are hopefully fixed now, but I may not of caught all of them.

An updated plugin is ready, just needs some more testing against the new AI Server to make sure nothing is badly broken there when I make the switch.

new AI server is now completing its unit tests - not passing all of them, but at least not breaking on long runs. Both the plugin and the phone app need to be on 0.8.7 before I can make the switch to the new AI Server. 

Even if I don't have the new AI server passing all its tests this week I'll put the current plugin build online this weekend since there are already numerous improvements over 0.8.69 against the existing AI Server. 

[How do I register my username?]

There is no registration as such, I have no interest in your personal details, don't want or need your email address and certainly dont require any password system.

There is however a "special way" to register your callsign when you first connect:

 

[How do I register my username?]

Why I dont see any options to register a username or define my aircraft?

[AutoATC 0.8.7 Roadmap]

Move to payware:

Once 0.8.7 is out of Beta, AutoATC will be moving to a payware model, similar to that of X-Plane.

The flight model for AI aircraft will be additionally be bundled the plugin, (voice recognition will still require the android companion app), but without purchasing a key (or connecting via the paid android application), plugin run time will be limited to 15 minutes.  

[Somethings broken]

AutoATC is a fairly complex piece of software that is not yet quite perfect.

You can follow known issues and add new ones you find on the GitHub issues page:

https://github.com/mSparks43/XPlane-11-AutoATC-plugin/issues

[Somethings broken]

Somethings not right, its not working, help!

[FAQ:Can't find Java error message popup]

This has been by far the most commonly asked question.

There are three common places things go wrong.

1. Not using a 64bit JVM. This is most obvious if you are setting a path that includes "Program Files (x86)". This [windows] directory is for 32 bit programs.
2. Missing msvcr100.dll. This is a windows component included in the "Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package (x64)" (quick download)
3. Otherwise a wrong file path, for example a wrong version number (Java installs each version in a different directory)

The original installation tutorial can be found below. However you should use the files available here on ThresholdX rather than searching google, and you can now set the path directly from the AutoATC->Settings menu from within X-Plane.

 

[FAQ:Can't find Java error message popup]

The plugin refuses to start with a popup error message "Can't find JVM"

[FAQ:Why no apple support]

Android support was "accidental".

AutoATC started life a fairly simple idea for an X-Plane plugin: A cross platform tool to practice ATC read backs in spoken form.

Android turned out to be the most efficient way to achieve high quality universal voice recognition at an acceptable cost (both for users and for development). The plugin itself runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS.

Developing for iOS would require starting completely from scratch, whereas most of the code for Android was a simple copy paste from code already in the plugin. Starting from scratch to support a $1000 device for a plugin doesn't seem like a good use of time.

[FAQ:Why no apple support]

Why is the phone application only available for android?

[AutoATC 0.8.7 Roadmap]

Just out of the other side of preparing 0.8.7 to begin beta testing and thought I would share the roadmap. I’ve included what happened so far so those who are new can catch up.

Early releases

 

• Plugin side framerate upscaling. Phone output fires at a constant 40fps, I'll upscale the rest in the C code section, because that 40fps becomes visible when ai planes are flying fast (this is a must for the next release).

• Pin aircraft to the ground during taxiing.

• Better message syncing to ensure random network errors and timeouts dont result in lost messages 

• Transfer Aircraft type being used and load respective model

• Add aircraft type-to-model configuration to jvmsettings.txt

• menu items (probably default planes off in case it's crashy) and "clear voice" settings (this is a must for the next release).

• Fix voice recognition on longer messages (hopefully now done, more testing week commencing 23rd Sept)

• Better plane expiry - atm I never stop AI planes after they are initialised, this is wasting a ton of server resources as people fly past airports and wake them up. They also get left behind in the sim frozen in place when they go out of range and leave less planes than before at the moment (this is a must for the next release).

• location hit boxes and initial zoning- make the ai planes do crash avoidance or wait for you on the airport (server side update that can probably wait) - they already wait for each other, but its no fun being run over by a 747. (Will need some client side hit detection too)

• I wrote up the help content last week, need to add it to the definition file and display it in the plugin/app (this is a must for the next release).

• Version 1 goal (what I start shooting for after the next update) is to get the AI planes theoretically capable of passing the pilotedge CAT tests https://www.pilotedge.net/pages/cat-ratings, wish someone had pointed them out to me earlier, kudos to pilotedge and the guy for promoting it in one of the many "ATC sucks" threads.

• Settings: Realised that overwriting jvmsettings.txt when you update would be a pita, need to make the plugin create an active copy so the original can be overwritten without having to change the file every time I put out a new update (this is a must for the next release).

• Fly it as much as possible, I've made a lot of changes to the ai server and phone apps, need to make sure everything is working as expected.

• Add check if airport has had no activity and spawn more planes if its been to quiet (Planes are expiring now, but not necessarily coming back).

• Add some more functionality to AutoATC Pro radar function (pan, better zoom, altitude on planes)

• Drop legacy use of squawk code to ID planes and replace with longer temporary id to deal with user collisions.

0.8.6 Roadmap

 

• AI planes now follow a schedule when they wake up (<callsign> becomes active in xx minutes). So when an airport activates it doesn't spam the radio with a ton of planes all starting up at once

• Controllers are now aware of the airspace class aircraft are occupying.

• much clearer information on what airports are working, and not "crashing" so many planes when the airspace becomes overloaded

• hugely improved CPU utilisation so less freezing under heavy load (and you guys have been loading it heavily every day)

• I can now debug individual flights without halting all the others - vital now its down to around 1 flight in 2000 having some kind of problem.

• Some "big ticket" bugs should now be fixed (for example there was a race condition getting aircraft callsigns, which was happening every couple of days)

• There is now "hooks" into the AI flights which will let me drive them from live flight data (e.g. spawn planes aloft from live traffic), this is currently used to "teleport" planes for landing so airports are fully utilised within a few minutes of becoming active. (shows in the video as "teleported <callsign>")

• The hooks into the AI planes will also allow some really nice features in the phone app, but they will probably come after the next plugin and app release.

• Enabling and disabling airports is now much cleaner and controlled - less (no more...) planes jamming up the airspace or hogging taxiway permissions during enabling/disabling of AI planes.

0.8.69 Roadmap

Total application overhaul:

 

• Ground School (Phonetics and Morse code theory and exercises done, Starting up, Taxiing, take off, Navigation, approach, landing etc a WIP)

• Flight Plan filing (this will be integrated with the AI server once I have a load of filed plans to test with)

• Separated "connect to sim" and "begin stand alone" modes

• Moving map on your position and showing all the AI aircraft replaces the "radar" place holder

• Two way control - set instruments from simulator or android app.

• permanent sim-android connection with radio power on/off (rather than disconnecting from the phone when the radio powers off)

• Designer isn't quite finished yet, but most of the redesign is in.

• Integrated music player which pauses when radio traffic comes in.

• "push to talk" application mic button replaces "tap to start talking, tap to stop talking"

• "full page" log window

• tap the signal icon to bring up nearby frequencies

0.8.7 Roadmap:

App UI Update

I just received a load of the new design for the android app, plus there’s a few remaining crash fixes. This just went up on as an alpha so a couple of people can run through all the functionality over the next week or two and write down whats got broken. There will also be an option added to settings to “prefer 0.8.7Beta AI Server” which will use the beta AI server when its running, and fall back to production if its offline.

shared cockpit functionality. (linked AI aircraft in multi-PC, shared cockpit set ups)

New android versions are already rolling out on the google play store.

Update datasets

A lot of the datasets were out of date (I just grabbed the first free dataset I could and ran with them), next update should bring most of these up to date.

ATC treat Light/Medium/Heavy aircraft differently

One of the largest gaps in the AI language at the moment is not treating different aircraft differently, this should be good by the time 0.8.7 comes out of beta

Support for untowered airports & communication

Another gap is the lack of plane-plane communications for untowered and sport fields with A/G comms. This also should be good by the time 0.8.7 comes out of beta

AI planes fly filed flight plans

Probably my personally most anticipated update, also helps a lot with testing for other features to come later. Basically, when you file a flight plan via the android app, an AI plane will fly that route

Upgrade controller state perception and performance improvements

There are still a few instances where the controller gets a little lost during various procedures, a big target for 0.8.7 is to get this as solid as everything else

C172’s dropping parachutists at skydive centers and doing training at untowered airports

Probably.

Feed high altitude flights from live flight data

This already passed the first hurdle (generating high altitude AI planes from live data) small step to change them over to full AI approaches and departures.

Airport Variation and Vectors

A load of functionality I wanted in already got held up because I hadn’t given ATC access to magnetic variation information. They have this now and getting assigned vectors will be in by the time 0.8.7 goes final.

Regionalise

This ones a monster, and may not be fully complete by the time it comes out of Beta, at the very least I want the Tower voices to use regional settings, but this also applies to the actual language used. As I’ve gone through the theory, there are (at least) 4 different standards used (FAA, UK, ICAO and EASA), each with their own subtleties. Heathrow airport in particular has procedures not used anywhere else in the world.

Ground school updates

I’ll be putting theory onto the ground school as it becomes active on the beta AI server, so having “prefer Beta” checked in the app and checking the ground school will probably be the main means I communicate theory based things.

Some others which will come later

Standalone mode:AI planes fly filed flight plans, you control the radio

IFR approach and departures

Support for WT3 ground routes for complex airports