[@IRONMIKE one follow-up question] F14 Datalink works even if the corresponding AWACS is late activated and not yet spawned

[trampi]

Title should summarize the issue. The F-14 is able to get AWACS information and the AWACS position via DL, even though the AWACS is not yet spawned.

 

I've attached a simple miz to reproduce the issue almost instantly.

 

Steps to reproduce:

 

1. Have a mission with a flying blue E-3A in the AWACS role (but has late activation checked!), a player controlled F-14 and a red unit outside the F-14 Radar but inside the AWACS range

2. After spawning in the F14, switch to the RIO seat. Verify that the TID does not display the red unit.

3. Open the kneeboard, lookup the DL frequency of the E-3A and dial it in (e.g. 314.00)

4. After not more than five seconds, the TID will display information about the blue AWACS unit, even though no AWACS is spawned

5. After not more than 60 seconds, the TID will display information about the red unit as well

6. switch the DL frequency to something unused to observe that the red unit and the AWACS disappear

 

The attached mission allows to quickly verify this test case. Be sure to use TID in GND STAB and with sufficient range to observe the effects mentioned above on the TID.

f14.miz

Edited March 10, 2021 by trampi

[caponi]

Hi, 

 

i can confirm that and ...

 

the same problem occurs if the Awacs is on ground (Cold start from ramp), uncontrolled and not activated via trigger.

 

And ...

it occurs if the Awacs is landed, parked on park position and has shut down.

[Skysurfer]

Wonder if this is what might cause the ghost-tracks sometimes.

[IronMike]

On 2/24/2021 at 7:14 PM, Skysurfer said:

Wonder if this is what might cause the ghost-tracks sometimes.

 

 

Unlikely, unless they are specific datalink ghost tracks.


In general this is a dcs issue, I would say, we will double check ofc. However, we have no influence of datalink at all, we simply receive what DCS delivers. So this appears to be a bug with the AWACS late activation in general, or link4 in particular, if link16 doesnt show the same results.

Runway, etc spawns are in the hands of the mission creator, as many forget to turn off the awacs advanced waypoint option until it is on station. So if you spawn an AWACS on the runway without doing that, it will simply start transmitting and awacs-ing. That is the responsibility of the mission designer, as we cannot influence when or what we receive.

Thank you for the report though.

[Csgo GE oh yeah]

Never saw any DL info without an Awacs in the air in the F16/Hornet/Flaming cliffs modules . Maybe not a DCS issue indeed.  

[trampi]

On 3/3/2021 at 4:38 AM, IronMike said:

 

 

Unlikely, unless they are specific datalink ghost tracks.


In general this is a dcs issue, I would say, we will double check ofc. However, we have no influence of datalink at all, we simply receive what DCS delivers. So this appears to be a bug with the AWACS late activation in general, or link4 in particular, if link16 doesnt show the same results.

Runway, etc spawns are in the hands of the mission creator, as many forget to turn off the awacs advanced waypoint option until it is on station. So if you spawn an AWACS on the runway without doing that, it will simply start transmitting and awacs-ing. That is the responsibility of the mission designer, as we cannot influence when or what we receive.

Thank you for the report though.

 

Hi IronMike, thanks for replying.

Should your investigation yield no results in the F14 code, could you kindly report this bug upstream or drop me a note to report it myself to ED?

 

Thanks!

trampi

[Northstar98]

Seeing the same thing.

 

Just did a test with a simple mission; I had set up an E-2 set to late activation, and isn't set to activate until a minute has elapsed. The automatic AWACS advanced waypoint task is removed, but is set to start when the E-2 reaches its first waypoint (which the AI announces as waypoint 2 for some reason). There is an Su-24MR ~95nmi away that is 35° off my nose to the left.

 

In the Tomcat, I can see both the E-2 and the Su-24MR as a DL donor track on the TID from the get go - before the E-2 spawns and before its AWACs task has started (my own RADAR is set to standby, and the Su-24 is outside the scan-zone at mission start). I repeated the same test, only this time I also set the E-2's EPLRS to be off for the duration of the test and got the same results (DCS uses this to control data-link emission, although personally, data-link usage should have it's own dedicated 'data-link using' task - but I'm getting side tracked).

 

I repeated the exact same tests in the Hornet, I didn't receive any DL from the E-2 until it activated, and I didn't get a DL donor track of the Su-24 until the AWACS task had activated. With the test with the E-2 with its EPLRS off, no DL appeared at all, as expected.

 

 

F-14_Link4_Active_Before_Start.trk F-14_Link4_Active_Before_Start_(no_EPLRS).trk FA-18_DL_Active_Before_Start_Test.trk FA-18_DL_Active_Before_Start_Test_(no_EPLRS).trk

Edited March 14, 2021 by Northstar98