AirAware 0.8

AirAware answers one question for anyone working under or in the air: what is in the column of air I am in, and what am I allowed to do here. Eight layers, each switched on its own, plus a UAS flight planner.

New in 0.8: the UAS No-Fly layer. The FAA's National Security UAS Flight Restrictions under 14 CFR 99.7: the military bases, Coast Guard stations, national laboratories, dams and nuclear sites no drone may fly over at all, from the surface to 400 ft above the ground. The whole country is one download kept on the phone and fetched again only when the FAA's list changes. Each area is a red ring with a light fill and the facility's name; part-time areas are orange, pending ones gray. Tap one for its page: the prohibition in plain words, the facility and base, who runs it, where it is, and the point of contact the FAA publishes with it. When you are standing inside one, the pinned status line says so. Show at (fifty miles by default) and 3D are under the row's arrow.

Version 0.7 was the same layer submitted for ATAK 5.8 only, to photograph; it was not published.

ATAK-CIV	APK
5.6	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.8--5.6.0-civ-release.apk
5.7	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.8--5.7.0-civ-release.apk
5.8	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.8--5.8.0-civ-release.apk

Pick the one matching your ATAK-CIV version, sideload it, then load it in ATAK's Plugins manager. Everything in AirAware is advisory: it is not a substitute for current charts and NOTAMs, and it is not a clearance.

User guide with screenshots: https://github.com/takwerx/air-aware/blob/main/docs/USER_GUIDE.md

AirAware 0.6

AirAware answers one question for anyone working under or in the air: what is in the column of air I am in, and what am I allowed to do here. Seven layers draw on the operator's own device, each switched on its own; nothing is sent to a TAK Server and nothing leaves the phone.

New in 0.6: NOTAMs

What is going on in the air right now that no chart shows: drone operations, parachute drops, towers with their lights out, cranes, closed runways.

• A takwerx relay reads the FAA NOTAM Management Service every three minutes and publishes the picture as tiles. The phone reads the tiles and never holds an FAA credential.
• Sorted by kind, the way the FAA does it: Airspace, Obstacles, Airfields on by default; Navigation and Other off by default. Each kind is its own color, with the key under the row's arrow.
• Where the FAA gives an area, in its geometry or in its text, the plugin draws it. Otherwise a NOTAM is a glyph at its point with a label saying what it is: "UAS", "Tower lights out 303'", "RWY 06/24 CLSD".
• Tap one for its page: the text as issued, when it started and ends, altitudes, kind, and where it was filed. A NOTAM that has not started yet is drawn at half strength.
• The row says how many are drawn and how old the FAA picture is. With no network, the last picture stays up and the row says so.

Also in 0.6: a tap on any AirAware item clears ATAK's own pinned callout, and zooming in refreshes what is drawn instead of keeping the wide view's nearest set.

Which APK

ATAK-CIV	File
5.6	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.6--5.6.0-civ-release.apk
5.7	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.6--5.7.0-civ-release.apk
5.8	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.6--5.8.0-civ-release.apk

Sideload the one matching your ATAK version, then load it in ATAK's Plugins manager. Signed by the TAK Product Center.

User guide with screenshots: https://github.com/takwerx/air-aware/blob/main/docs/USER_GUIDE.md

A NOTAM is a notice, not a restriction. Always check the official NOTAM search before a flight.

AirAware 0.4

AirAware answers one question for a crew working under or in the air: what is
in the column of air I am in, and what am I allowed to do here. Built for
wildfire aviation and UAS crews.

What changed in 0.4

• A geofence is drawn where it alerts. A geofence made from a restriction
  now stands from the ground up to the restriction's published ceiling in 3D.
  Before, its shape was drawn up from sea level, so over high ground it sat
  inside the hill, even though the alert itself was already right. Geofences
  made with 0.3 keep their old shape; make a new one from the restriction to
  get the corrected drawing.
• A new icon: an airliner and a drone inside the airspace "wedding cake".

Everything else is as in 0.3: TFRs, Airspace, Special Use, UAS ceilings,
Obstacles and METARs as switchable layers, and the UAS flight planner. All of
it is drawn on your own device. No TAK Server, no Data Sync, no CoT.

Which download

ATAK-CIV	APK
5.6	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.4--5.6.0-civ-release.apk
5.7	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.4--5.7.0-civ-release.apk
5.8	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.4--5.8.0-civ-release.apk

A plugin built for another ATAK version will not load. Sideload the one
matching your ATAK, then load it from ATAK's Plugins manager. 0.4 installs as an
update over 0.3.

User guide with screenshots
— the same guide is built into the plugin, under Settings → Tool Preferences →
AirAware.

---

Everything AirAware draws is advisory: a picture of published data at the time
it reached the device. It is not a clearance and does not replace current
charts, NOTAMs or a call. Data published by the Federal Aviation
Administration; use of FAA data does not imply FAA endorsement.

AirAware 0.3

AirAware answers one question for a crew working under or in the air: what is
in the column of air I am in, and what am I allowed to do here. Built for
wildfire aviation and UAS crews.

Everything is drawn on your own device. No TAK Server, no Data Sync, no CoT —
nothing about you or your position leaves the phone.

Six layers, each switched on its own

• TFR — Temporary Flight Restrictions as 3D volumes between their published
  floor and ceiling. Red in effect, amber scheduled.
• Airspace — Class A through G, one shelf per published step, so a Class B
  airport is drawn as the stack the FAA actually publishes rather than one
  ring. Sectional colors.
• Special Use — Prohibited, Restricted, Warning and Alert areas and MOAs,
  with whether each is continuous or activated by NOTAM.
• UAS ceilings — the FAA UAS Facility Map: how high you may fly without an
  authorization, green through red, and whether LAANC covers that airport.
• Obstacles — the FAA Digital Obstacle File, standing at their published
  height with the height on a label.
• METARs — flight-category chips in the aviation convention: green VFR,
  blue MVFR, red IFR, magenta LIFR, as published and never derived here.

UAS flight planner

Place a launch point and a circle or a drawn area, see the terrain above your
ceiling painted as islands and the charted obstacles with their headroom, and
work the ceiling out both ways — given one, see what reaches it; need one, and
be told the number to ask for. Links out to file a LAANC authorization and to
notify Flight Service, with the plan's own numbers filled in.

Also

• A restriction can be turned into an ATAK geofence, so you are warned when you
  cross it.
• What the plugin has downloaded comes back after a restart with no network.
  Switching a layer off hides it; it never deletes it.
• The pane says what it is not showing — a trimmed list, a layer under its
  zoom gate, an area never downloaded.

Which download

ATAK-CIV	APK
5.6	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.3--5.6.0-civ-release.apk
5.7	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.3--5.7.0-civ-release.apk
5.8	ATAK-Plugin-AirAware-0.3--5.8.0-civ-release.apk

A plugin built for another ATAK version will not load. Sideload the one
matching your ATAK, then load it from ATAK's Plugins manager.

User guide with screenshots
— the same guide is built into the plugin, under Settings → Tool Preferences →
AirAware.

---

Everything AirAware draws is advisory: a picture of published data at the time
it reached the device. It is not a clearance and does not replace current
charts, NOTAMs or a call. Data published by the Federal Aviation
Administration; use of FAA data does not imply FAA endorsement.