ACROWRX - Formation Sidebars

📢 - INFO

This page describes the four sidebars of the Formation page: File, Obstacles, KML Overlay, and Configuration.

Accessing the Sidebars

The Formation page has four collapsible sidebars, all accessed from icons stacked on the left edge of the screen. From top to bottom:

Icon	Sidebar	Tooltip	Description
	File	"Pull file menu"	Flight upload, video, observer height
	Obstacles	"Toggle Obstacles Sidebar"	Obstacle overlay management
	KML Overlay	"Toggle KML Sidebar"	KML overlay management
	Configuration	"Pull side menu"	Airplane configuration

Only one sidebar is visible at a time — opening one automatically closes any other. Clicking on the map area also closes the open sidebar.

File Sidebar

The File sidebar contains controls for loading flight data, attaching video, and setting the observer height.

Resampling

At the top of the File Sidebar, a Resampling slider controls the downsample divisor applied when loading flight data. Moving the slider to the left reduces the sample rate (÷20, ÷10, ÷8, ÷4, ÷2), and moving it to the right keeps the full resolution (÷1). A lower sample rate uses less memory and loads faster, which can be useful for long flights or lower-performance computers.

Once flight data has been loaded, the slider is locked and displays the resulting sample rate in Hz. You must delete all loaded flights to change the resampling setting.

Flight Upload

When in upload mode (no flight loaded), the sidebar displays a "Choose Files" button to select data files. Supported formats include .dat, .acrowrx, .acrowrx_plus, and .bin. You can upload multiple files — each file adds a new airplane to the formation.

As each airplane is loaded, an Airplane Tag row appears above the file selector with three controls:

• Delete button (red X) — Removes this airplane from the analysis. Tooltip: "Delete Airplane".
• Color picker (colored circle) — Click the circle to open a color palette and choose a different color for this airplane. The selected color is used for this airplane's trajectory on the map, its line in the strip chart, and its chip in the leader/chase selectors. Available colors: cyan, magenta, red, yellow, green, blue, orange, and purple.
• Name field — A text input where you can type a name for the airplane (up to 20 characters). This name appears in the strip chart legend, the leader/chase selectors, and other UI elements.

When in view mode (flight already loaded from the database), the upload area is replaced by:

• "Analyze a New Formation Flight" button — Resets the current session and redirects to a clean formation page for loading a new set of flights.

Video Upload

Below the flight upload section, you can attach a video to synchronize with the flight data:

• "Upload Video" label with a "Choose Video" button.
• Accepts video and audio file formats.
• The button is disabled until flight data is loaded, showing "Load data first" as a placeholder.
• Once a video is loaded, the filename is displayed and the video becomes available in the Judge View for synchronized playback.

📌 - TIP

Load your flight data before attempting to upload a video. The video upload becomes active only after flight data is present.

Observer Height

The Observer Height slider sets the altitude of the observer (judge) above ground level:

Property	Value
Label	Observer Height
Tooltip	"Select Observer's height AGL"
Range	0 to 5,000
Step	20
Unit	m (meters) or ft (feet), depending on your distance unit setting

This setting directly affects the judge's perspective in the Judge View.

Obstacles Sidebar

The Obstacles sidebar allows you to load and display obstacle data (towers, antennas, utility poles, etc.) on the map as a safety reference during formation flight analysis.

Obstacle overlays are fixed-location imports — they are rendered at the exact geographic coordinates defined in the KML file and cannot be repositioned. This makes them suitable for permanent real-world objects such as radio towers, power lines, and tall structures.

Obstacle KML Selector

A dropdown at the top of the panel lets you select from previously uploaded obstacle KML files, or choose "none" to clear the current overlay.

Upload Obstacles

Next to the selector, an upload button lets you upload a new obstacle file. Only KML and KMZ formats are accepted. After a successful upload, the obstacle overlay is automatically loaded and the panel opens.

📌 - TIP

Obstacle KML files do not need a center-point placemark. Every feature is displayed at the coordinates embedded in the file.

Show All Labels

A "Show all labels" checkbox controls whether labels for all obstacles are displayed on the map at once. When unchecked, labels may only appear on hover or when zoomed in.

Layer Tree

Once an obstacle KML is loaded, the panel displays a Layer Tree showing all obstacle layers organized by folder. You can toggle individual layers on or off to control which obstacles are visible on the map.

KML Overlay Sidebar

The KML Overlay sidebar allows you to load KML/KMZ files to display geographic references on the map, such as aerobatic box outlines, airspace boundaries, or custom waypoints.

Unlike the Obstacles overlay, KML Overlays are movable — you can reposition and rotate the overlay on the map to align it with the actual flight area. This is useful because the same aerobatic box layout may be used at different locations and orientations.

Center-Point Requirement

To be movable, the KML file must contain a Placemark named "CP" (Center Point) or "SC" (Show Center). This placemark acts as the anchor around which the overlay is positioned and rotated. The CP/SC placemark must include coordinates, either as a Point geometry or as a LookAt element with latitude and longitude.

Only KML/KMZ files that contain a valid CP or SC placemark will appear in the KML Overlay selector. If your file is missing this placemark, the upload will be rejected with an error message.

⚠️ - WARNING

Your KML file must include a Placemark named exactly "CP" or "SC" with coordinates. Without it, the file will be rejected during upload and cannot be imported as a KML Overlay.

KML Selector

A dropdown at the top of the panel lets you select from previously uploaded KML files. Only KML files that contain a valid CP or SC placemark are listed.

Upload KML

An upload button lets you upload a new KML/KMZ file. The file is validated on selection — if it does not contain a CP or SC placemark, an error is shown and the upload is blocked.

Add to Collection

When viewing a saved formation flight that already has a KML associated with it, the panel shows an "Add to Collection" button instead of the selector, allowing you to save the KML to your personal collection.

Position Controls

Once a KML overlay is loaded, the KML Position section appears with tools to move and rotate the overlay on the map.

Moving by Latitude / Longitude

The position of the overlay's center point is displayed in degrees and decimal minutes format. You can type new values directly into the Latitude and Longitude fields to reposition the overlay to any location. The overlay (and all its features) shifts so that the CP/SC placemark lands on the new coordinates.

Snap to Observer Location

Click the "Center on Observer" button to instantly move the KML overlay so its center point coincides with the current observer (judge) position. This is the fastest way to align the overlay with your flight area when the observer has already been placed at the correct location.

Heading Control

Below the position fields, a circular KML Heading dial lets you rotate the overlay around its center point. You can drag the knob or type a heading value (0–360°) to match the actual orientation of the aerobatic box or reference area. A toggle lets you switch between true and magnetic heading.

Layer Tree

Once a KML is loaded, the panel displays a Layer Tree showing all layers organized by folder structure. You can toggle individual layers on or off to control which elements are visible on the map.

📌 - TIP

The KML Overlay and Obstacles sidebars are mutually exclusive — opening one automatically closes the other.

Configuration Sidebar — Airplane Configuration

The Configuration sidebar is dedicated to configuring the currently selected (leader) airplane. The title reads "Airplane Configuration".

Active Airplane Indicator

At the top of the sidebar, the currently selected airplane is displayed with its color-coded background. If no airplane is selected, it shows "No Airplane Selected" in red text.

📌 - TIP

The Configuration Sidebar edits apply to whichever airplane is currently selected as the leader in the leader airplane selector. Change the leader selection to configure a different airplane.

Model Selector

A dropdown to select the 3D airplane model used for visualization. This is purely cosmetic and does not affect data analysis. The selector is disabled when no airplane is selected.

Alignment Adjustment Sliders

These sliders allow you to fine-tune the alignment of the selected airplane's data. This is useful for correcting small mounting offsets of the data unit in the airplane:

Slider	Range	Step	Unit	Description
Yaw adjustment	-20 to 20	0.1	°	Corrects yaw (heading) offset
Pitch adjustment	-20 to 20	0.1	°	Corrects pitch offset
Roll adjustment	-20 to 20	0.1	°	Corrects roll offset
Ver. adjustment	-2 to 2	0.01	m / ft	Corrects vertical position offset
Hor. adjustment	-3 to 3	0.01	m / ft	Corrects horizontal position offset

Fine-tune Synch

Property	Value
Label	Fine-tune Synch
Range	-100 to 100
Step	1
Unit	Frames

This slider adjusts the time synchronization offset for the selected airplane in frame increments. Use it to align data from different data units that may have slightly different time references.

Zero Button

The Zero button resets all position and orientation adjustment sliders back to their default values (zero).

• Tooltip: "Set all position adjustments to zero"

Unit Selectors

At the bottom of the Configuration Sidebar, two dropdowns control the units used throughout the Formation page:

Distance Units

Option	Value
Meters	m
Feet	ft

Speed Units

Option	Value
km/h	kmh
mph	mph
knots	knots

These unit settings affect all distance and speed displays across the entire Formation page, including the strip chart, HUD displays, and altitude readouts.