User`s manual

1 INTRODUCTION
1 Introduction
This document is a pilot’s manual that describes the functionality of XCSoar when used with Altair.
XCSoar is an open source glide navigation system for portable devices. The audience is assumed
to have a sound knowledge of the fundamental theory of flight for gliders, and at least a basic
working knowledge of cross-country soaring.
Updates to the XCSoar software may result in some of this manual being out of date. You should
read the release notes distributed with the software to keep track of changes. Updates to the
manual and software are available from http://www.triadis.ch .
1.1 Organisation of this manual
This manual is broadly organised into the major functions of the software from a pilot’s perspective.
The remainder of this section deals with how to download, install and run the software on various
platforms. Section 2 introduces the user interface concepts and gives an overview of the display.
Section 3 describes the moving map part of the display in greater detail and describes how the
software can assist in general navigation. Section 4 describes how cross-country tasks are spec-
ified and flown, and presents some of the analysis tools available to pilots to help improve their
performance. Section 5 goes into further detail on the glide computer functions as it is important
for pilots to be aware of how the computer performs its calculations.
Section 6 describes how the computer can interface to variometers and other air data sensors,
and how it uses these measurements to provide various models of the atmosphere, in particular
on winds and thermal convection. Section 7 describes how XCSoar can assist in managing flight
in special use airspace and the FLARM collision awareness system. Section 8 deals with systems
integration and systems diagnostics, the integration of XCSoar with communications devices and
with airframe switches.
The remainder of the manual contains mainly reference material. Section 10 lists the types of
information that can be displayed in the grid of InfoBoxes next to the map display. The configuration
of the software is described in detail in section 11. The formats of the various data files that program
uses, as well as where to obtain them from and how to edit them, is described in section 12.
Finally, a short history and discussion of XCSoar’s development process is presented in section 13.
1.2 System requirements
• Altair The triadis engineering GmbH Altair glide computer is a glide computer factory installed
with XCSoar.
• GPS data source The Altair Pro version contains an internal GPS. The standard version addi-
tionally needs an external GPS data input. This must be a NMEA-0183 data source that
outputs GPRMC and GPGGA sentences. Suitable devices include handheld serial GPS
devices, glider flight loggers, GPS-integrated variometers, and FLARM. Up to two GPS de-
vices may be used simultaneously, giving XCSoar a degree of redundancy of the GPS fixes.
1.3 Running XCSoar
XCSoar starts up automatically when Altair is powered on. The PWR/ESC button (top left) on Altair
has multiple functions:
1 XCSoar Manual (Altair version) • XCSoar-A-EN