VATSIM medium term roadmap

[David Chambers]

I'm fairly new to VATSIM and quite impressed with the quality and professionalism of ATC and pilots to date. It's quite a realistic environment.
I've also found xPilot to be quite an easy plug-in to use with X-plane, for example right click to copy an active ATC frequency into COM 1.
The fact that it is entirely free to use (including training and documentation) says a lot about the volunteer community that supports it.

It seems to me that the last major system upgrade related to voice quality, which to me seems more than adequate now. I've found ATIS broadcasts very flaky/intermittent, sometimes not present, sometimes only said once, at other times quite reliable. A search on the forums suggests this is a known problem for some months and it's being worked on.

I wondered if there was a VATSIM technology roadmap published anywhere? The main feature that I'd like to see is support for 8.33 frequencies which are now mandated throughout Europe. I appreciate that this isn't relevant in the US and that many simulators (including physical equipment with selector knobs and numeric displays) won't support it. However, all 8.33 radios can also transmit/receive 25kHz frequencies while all 25kHz only radios can at least receive the main 8.33 ones - typically still used for ATIS. So it's far from a simple upgrade and would need careful thought. It would make it much more realistic for Transatlantic and European flights.

Other more minor features I'd like to see are:

• Clearer indication of which controller is actively covering the airport/area I'm in. Sometimes area controllers will provide tower/ground services across a series of airports while others don't. The coverage areas shown on VATTASTIC don't quite match up with what I've been getting. The list of active stations shown on xPilot includes several that might be nearby but don't provide local coverage.
• Some applications show how long a controller has been on shift for. You can perhaps deduce whether they might drop off soon or not. There is also a page on my divisional site listing fixed bookings but many controllers log-on/off in addition to those. It would be great from a pilot's perspective to have a better idea of how long they intend to remain on station. I typically log-in and decide where to fly based on what's online,  then take time to pre-plan the flight. It's disappointing when after doing that to find the ATC at that tower has then gone offline.

 

[Ernesto Martinez]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the network. There is a Tech blog which you can read here. That was last updated December. The other source of information would be the Board of Governor minutes which you can read here. They are however, usually released a quarter late. So when Q1 2021 happens, they'll likely release Q4 2020. 

As for the features you mentioned, if you're unsure who to contact, controllers will usually have that information up in their remarks. You'll see this a lot in areas where it's not always clear or there are sector splits. (New York, London, Events, etc.)

The controller booking idea has been brought up and it's been talked about quite a bit. For the time being, facility or divisional website are the only way to go about this. I know some facilities are better in doing this such as Boston Virtual ARTCC. 

[David Chambers]

I forgot to say thanks for posting an answer. Both of those links are helpful. There is clearly quite a lot of development activity and improvements ongoing throughout the organisation, with the system holding up under very much increased traffic/usage levels over the past year. A great success.

I noted that the Board minutes refer to a separate Annex document for Europe division report which was not included or published. 

I was (pleasantly) surprised to read that the majority of active users are based in EMEA, with less than 40% from North America. Perhaps that will influence a future upgrade to support 8.33 frequencies that are now mandatory throughout Europe and common for long haul flights.

[Koen Meier]

The radios are down to the simconnect version that fsx or p3d v3 or earlier have. Those sims do not support the tuning of 8,33. Since vatsim doesn’t want to limit users to specific sims they opted not to switch over to 8,33. While it can be done in a client however most people tune in the sim.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

There is always a fine line to walk between progress / improvement, and backward compatibility.  The beleaguered switch from the legacy voice system to AFV was deliberated and delayed in large part because there was resistance to rendering some of the older Pilot Clients obsolete, making a few of the older sim platforms no longer accessible on VATSIM.  Eventually, the desire to continue to support the few users still on the most outdated platforms was outweighed by the desire to update the technology for the betterment of those who remained using newer ones.  I expect 8.33kHz support will work out much the same.

[Torben Andersen]

As many flightsimmers still use FSX (or earlier) one should not expect a transition to 8.33kHz support any time soon. But it would be interesting, when it happens as we perhaps then can use real world frequencies on vatsim instead of the mix we see today, when some positions use rw frequencies and some don't.