Additional target symbols

[Jonas Kuster]

EuroScopes currently provides a high differentiation regarding correlated and uncorrelated tracks and regarding transponder modes. But as the technology develops, more and more civil units stop to use primary radar, some even work with ADS-B only. Unit using secondary radar don't care that much if the aircraft is mode C oder S. Of course, there are some additional options available for mode S aircraft, but regarding the radar target, it doesn't matter that much. More important to differentiate between different types of traffic is the type of traffic and if the traffic is controlled by you (tracking). To support this kind of differentiation, I would appreciate the possibility to define different target symbols for tracked and non-tracked aircraft and an additional target symbol for VFR traffic.

VFR traffic is special anyway because they sometimes us the same squawk in a region and therefore can actually not be identified by secondary radar (except using mode S capabilities). Taking into account that there are no unique codes used (but specific VFR codes), tracking could (as an option) be made unavailable for aircraft using this code. Of course then this code(s) would be part of the general settings (making a differentiation of the already existing group "do not auto correlate") and help to identify VFR aircraft (additionally to the flight plan item).

What do you think about this direction of development?