EuroScope plugin guide v2

EuroSCOPE
PLUGIN GUIDE

NOT FOR REAL LIFE AVIATION!

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EuroScope plugin guide v2

Introduction
Belux vACC offers a range of plugins for EuroScope to make controlling easier and
make the radar look as close as possible to the real-life counterpart.

This guide is divided two different parts: A part dedicated to the plugins used for
aerodrome procedures (Up to Tower) and chapters dedicated to the more
advanced plugins used for radar controllers.

In this guide you will find all info needed to use and understand our plugins.

Copyright
Any use outside Belux vACC, including real-life aviation & use on other networks is
strictly forbidden unless prior, written permission is given by the Belux vACC
director.
Some information in this guide was taken from the respective plugin manuals.

Version Date Editor Changes

01 2021 Luka Stevens Initial release
Erik Wachters
02 14.07.2022 Luka Stevens -Layout changes
Erik Wachters -Merged existing TopSky guides
-Added TopSky basics chapter

03 15.06.2023 Erik Wachters -Update Belux plugin v1.1.5

-Update Belux vSMR v1.7.1
-Update Detailed Topsky label
04 02.11.2023 Erik Wachters -Update Belux plugin v1.3.0
04a 23.11.2023 Erik Wachters -Correction in belux commands
2403.0 21.03.2024 Erik Wachters -Update for vSMR version 1.9.0

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EuroScope plugin guide v2

Table of contentsIntroduction ........................................................................................................................................... 2

Copyright ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

Aerodrome plugins ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4

vSMR Belux version ................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Belux plugin & API ...................................................................................................................................................................... 9

TopSky Plugin basics ..................................................................................................................................................................13

Global menu .................................................................................................................................................................................13

Radar menu ..................................................................................................................................................................................13

Flight Plan window ..................................................................................................................................................................13

Track label...................................................................................................................................................................................... 14

TopSky S-NET, MONA & FPCP Introduction............................................................................................................. 16

Connecting multiple EuroScope instances running TopSky .......................................................... 17

TopSky Safety Nets (SNET).................................................................................................................................................... 18

STCA ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18

APW....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

MSAW ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 20

TopSky Flight Plan Conflict Probe (FPCP) ................................................................................................................ 21

MTCD .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21

SAP ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 23

TopSky Monitoring Aids (MONA) .................................................................................................................................... 24

AIW........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 24

RAM ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 24

CLAM ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25

DUPE .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25

WTC ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26

Abbreviations............................................................................................................................................................................. 27

TopSky holdings ............................................................................................................................................................................ 28

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EuroScope plugin guide v2

Aerodrome plugins

vSMR Belux version

This version is an improved version of the vSMR plugin for use at Belux. This new
Belux version is developed in-house by some of our tech contributors.

Improvements:

- The labels are more like the real AMS system used at skeyes.
- New Belux menu to select Pro Mode and Easy Pro Mode
- The label background colour of a departure flight will be kept until the flight is
airborne.
- Field added to display the assigned arrival gate by the gate API below 50kts.
- Belux Pro Mode added:
o Aircraft with squawk standby will only have a primary radar return
data.
o Aircraft with squawk mode-C will have primary, secondary and flight
plan data displayed.

Belux Pro Mode

The use of Pro Mode is advised.
Make sure to unselect this setting in the General Settings:

A new menu is added to the top bar called Belux. In this menu you can select the
mode you want to use. 3 modes are possible:

- Normal mode (All labels visible)

- Belux Pro Mode enabled (Only SQ Mode-C labels visible)
- Belux Pro Mode + Easy Mode Enabled (Reduced label for SQ STBY)

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Track symbols
Primary Primary selected Primary coupled Secondary coupled

Labels
Label for arriving flights:

Callsign Comm Type

SPD/GATE ATYP/sq error WTC category
OP_TEXT (Scratchpad)

Label for departing flights:

- Transponder Standby
Normal Mode Pro Mode Pro, Easy Mode or Moving while SQ Stby

- Transponder Mode-C +
Code correct Callsign Comm Type
DEP RWY ATYP WTC category
OP_TEXT (Scratchpad)

- Transponder Mode-C +
Code incorrect
SSR alert (if track and FPL code are
different)*
Callsign Comm Type
DEP RWY sq error WTC category
OP_TEXT (Scratchpad)

* This line can be disabled/enabled in the vSMR Display menu, “Tag Error Lines”

OP_TEXT Field (Euroscope scratchpad)

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EuroScope plugin guide v2

A third line is present in all the vSMR labels to display the OP_TEXT or scratchpad
content. If the OP_TEXT is empty the line will be hidden.
This field can be used to add any operationally needed data to a flight like holding
point or CTOT……
Entering data in the field can be done via lists or air label scratchpad fields in
Euroscope (OP_TEXT2 in Topsky). Changing the content can be done by right-click
on the vSMR OP_TEXT field.

Change content Arrival Departure Airborne

Label colour coding

vSMR uses like in real life a background colour coding to help the ground
controllers to build the most efficient departure sequence. For departing flights the
colours represent the direction of the first turn after departure.

Departure flight with first turn after departure in the direction of

the North-west. Mostly KOK, HELEN, DENUT, NIK…..

Departure flight with first turn after departure in the direction of

the south-east. Mostly LNO, SPI, SOPOK, PITES, ROUSY…..

Departure flight almost straight ahead. At the moment only

some CIV departures.

Departure flight with ELSIK SID.

Departure flight without a SID fix in the flight plan (unknown

departure direction).

Flight without a flight plan

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Arrival flight. (Without assigned gate)

Airborne flight.

Departing flight on the ground with RIMCAS1 Alert.

Airborne flight with RIMCAS1 Alert.

Selected ground flights have a yellow border around the label.

Selected ground flights with a SSR alert have an orange border.

Selected airborne labels have yellow text.

Arrival Gate indicator

For selected arrival flights, the plugin will indicate the assigned gate with an orange
arrow pointing at the gate.

1
RIMCAS = Runway Incursion Monitoring and Conflict Alert System

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Force label display/release in Pro Mode

Release a label of a flight:
Display a label of a SQ Stby flight:

- Useful dot commands

.smr Opens the CPDLC settings window

.smr connect Connect to Hoppie to provide DCL services

.smr poll Manually check for new Hoppie messages

.smr shift-top-bar This will shift the vSMR top bar below the Topsky menu if both
plugins are used at the same time.

Foe more info:

https://github.com/Epse/vSMR-belux/wiki/

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CPDLC DCL (departure clearance)

https://github.com/pierr3/vSMR/wiki/CPDLC-Clearance-system

Belux plugin & API

This is our in house plugin, it is used for various things like setting the initial climb
automatically and an automatic gate assigner.

Installation
This plugin is automatically installed with our custom setup.

Features
- Automatic initial climb setting: The plugin will automatically set the correct initial
climb in your departure list based on the ADEP.

- Automatic departure gate detection: The API shall detect the gate by
comparing the track position of a flight with a database of all the stands and
gates at the airports and provide the info to ADIDS and the public Belux website
about the gate occupancy.

- Automatic arrival gate assigner: This function only works for EBBR and ELLX
(integration of all airports is planned). Once an aircraft is within the EBBU AoI
(Area of Interest) the plugin will automatically assign a gate taking into account
the following: Departure airport (Schengen, non-Schengen), aircraft type,
passenger, cargo, low cost, MIL or general aviation.

The assigned gate can be changed via the dedicated Gate assigner page on
ADIDS or via the following command:
.belux setgate <gateid>

- Automatic arrival runway logic: In case of both 25L & 25R in use for arrivals, the
plugin will ‘suggest’ traffic to land on 25R to reduce taxi time by adding an “*” to
the gate fields.

- Add the assigned gate to the flight data: The plugin will automatically write the
arrival gate in the flight strip (F6) of the flights. By doing this the Belux version of
the Belux vSMR plugin (see below) can display the gate in the label.

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- Air position Gate label field: A new field is added to display the gate in the label.
By clicking on the field, the gate will be refreshed. When a gate change is
detected the field will turn green for maximum 1 minute.

- Arrival gate list field: This is a new list field to use I the Sector Inbound List and
arrival list to display the assigned arrival gate. This field has the same
characteristics of the Air label field (“*”, green color, clickable for update).

- SID and Runway allocation: The plugin will calculate and suggest for each
received FPL the best departure runway and SID according the following data:
o SID allocation data file
o Runway configuration according the EuroScope runway setup
o Active TRA/TSA areas according LARA (manually activated areas via
the Topsky AMS window will NOT be taken into account)
o Time and Weekday
o Number of engines of the ATYP

The suggestion can be displayed in your Departure list with a new TAG Item:
Belux / Procedure Suggestion. The item will display in ‘NON_CONCERNED’ color if
the assigned RWY/SID is the same as the suggested and in ‘INFORMATION’ color
if there is a difference. If the field is linked with the new action item: ‘Belux /
Assign RWY/SID’ you can assign the suggested RWY/SID to the flight.

The plugin will under no circumstance modify the flight plan of a flight
matching any of these conditions:
o Clearence flag set

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o Not departing from a Belux airport

o Invalid flightplan or invalid radar target
o Assumed by a controller that’s not me
o Airborne (defined as above 1500ft)
o Underground
- Add the new item to your departure list:

- Useful commands: Dot-commands that can be used with the plugin:

.belux gate(on|off) Toggle gate assigner function ON/OFF

.belux climb(on|off) Toggle automatic initial climb function ON/OFF
.belux mach(on|off) Toggle IAS/MACH DAPs ON/OFF

.belux refreshgates This will refresh the gates

.belux setgate <gateid> Change an arrival gate manually

.belux help Display all .belux commands

.belux alert_gates <x> To set the alerts to: x = blink/quiet/none

blink: Euroscope message indicator will blink when
a gate change is received.
quiet: Euroscope message indicator will be
present without blinking on reception of a gate
change.
none: No message will be displayed on reception
of a gate change.

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More info

.belux force-sid Assign the suggested RWY/SID to all flights

.belux fresh-sid Force the recalculation of the RWY/SIDs

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TopSky Plugin basics

In this chapter we will go over the functions of the TopSky plugin that are
applicable to our vACC.

We will refer a lot to the TopSky user manual called TopSky plugin for EuroScope –
General.pdf. You can find this manual in the following folder:
Documents/EuroScope/plugins/TopSky/DOCS/

There are references to A and B in many parts of this document. They refer to
the two main ways the plugin can be set up. Our setup uses the B version.

Global menu
The plugin adds a new menu on the top edge of the radar screen. Submenus and
other options can be accessed through this menu.

Note: Don’t modify the local settings as these are already correctly set up for our
airspace.

Refer to chapter 4 on page 8 in the TopSky guide for a full explanation of this menu.

Radar menu
This menu allows you to access tools and modify certain aspects of your radar
display.

Refer to chapter 8.1 on page 40 in the TopSky guide for a full explanation of this
menu.

Flight Plan window

The TopSky flight plan window allows you to view, create and/or modify flight plans.
This window can be opened via left clicking on the arrival airport in the label.

Refer to chapter 8.14 on page 57 in the TopSky guide for a full explanation of this
menu.

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Track label
In this chapter we will go over all the data that can be found in the track label.

Label colours
- White: Track label is assumed (aircraft is on frequency and in
contact with us.

- Yellow: Track label is not assumed. The aircraft

will soon be entering our controlled area.

- Grey: Track label is not assumed. The aircraft will

not enter our controlled area.

- Brown: Track label is not assumed. The aircraft

was in contact with us and has been transferred to the next
sector.

Standard label
The standard label contains critical info needed during controlling. When more
information is needed you use the detailed label (see next page).

Information between brackets is not always shown.

- Row 1: Callsign – Next sector – (WTC if not M)

- Row 2: Current FL/altitude – (CFL) – (arrival runway)

- Row 3: Sector exit point when assumed, otherwise sector

entry q point

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Detailed label
The detailed label can be seen by hovering over the standard label.

- Row 1: Callsign – Next sector – A/C type – WTC – Current squawk code
- Row 2: Current FL/Altitude – ATT indic – CFL – des/clb rate – Sequence - gate
- Row 3: Ground speed – Assigned speed – Next waypoint – Req flight level
- Row 4: Departure airport – Sector exit point – Sector exit FL/altitude – STAR –
Destination airport
- Row 5: Calculated IAS/Mach - Mode S downlinked info: heading, des/climb rate.

You can open an even more detailed label by right clicking on the callsign.
Information such as alternate airports or the full route can be seen here
without opening the flight plan itself.

Track label menus

This menu can be opened by left clicking on the callsign. Actions not performed in
the label itself can be done via this menu.
To open the full menu simply hover over  More with your mouse.

Refer to chapter 7 on page 21 in the TopSky guide for a full explanation of this menu.

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TopSky S-NET, MONA & FPCP Introduction

This chapter will help you understand and analyse the different Safety Nets, Flight
Plan Conflict Probe and Monitoring Aids in EuroScope with the TopSky Plugin.

It is not the intention of this chapter to describe all parameters used, but only to
give an idea of what the used warnings and alerts mean.

This chapter is written to use with version 2.4 or later of the TopSky Plugin and only
for airborne traffic. vSMR warnings and alerts are not included.

This chapter will only describe the ground-based safety nets included in the
TopSky plugin for EuroScope. Ground-based means that the alert or warning is
generated by a system on the ground (TopSky in our case) and not in the aircraft.

The table below shows which warnings and alerts fall into which category. All alerts
and warnings in the table will be described later in this document.

Safety Nets Monitoring Aids Flight Plan Conflict Probe

Based on surveillance For coupled tracks, based Based on flight plan 4D
tracks. on flight plan 4D trajectory trajectory prediction.
prediction.

STCA: Short Term Conflict RAM: Route Adherence MTCD: Medium Term
Alert Monitoring Conflict Detection
MSAW: Minimum Safe CLAM: Cleared Level SAP: Segregated Area Probe
Altitude Warning Adherence Monitoring
APW: Area Proximity
Warning

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Before you continue reading, make sure you understand the two different input
methods for the alerts and warnings:

Based on surveillance tracks

In this group the calculations are done on the radar track positions and therefore
the calculations can only be done up to 2min in the future.
Here an alert or warning can be solved by altering the track: changing the heading
or altitude or flight level.

Based on flight plan 4D trajectory prediction

In this group the calculations are done on the predicted flight plan track. This
means that for each flight the system calculates a 4D trajectory (lateral and
vertical position + time over the fixes) and then checks if there will be a conflict
based on this trajectory.
In this case alert or warning can be solved by altering the flight plan of the
concerned flight by changing the route or RFL2 or PRFL3.

Connecting multiple EuroScope instances running TopSky

A good practice when using multiple EuroScope instances via proxy, where the
proxy instance(s) also use the TopSky plugin, is to disable the Safety Nets that use
an audible alert to avoid duplicate alerts.

You do this in the "Safety Nets Status" window under the TopSky drop-down menu
"STS". De-select the safety Net you don't want to hear on this instance (usually STCA
& APW) and press OK. Don’t do this on your main EuroScope instance of course.

2
Requested Flight Level
3
Pilot Requested Flight Level

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TopSky Safety Nets (SNET)

Safety nets help prevent imminent or actual hazardous situations from developing
into major incidents or even accidents. Safety nets, for airborne phases of flight
and for preventing collisions between aircraft or with terrain or obstacles, are either
ground-based or airborne. Ground-based are warnings and alerts generated by a
system on the ground and airborne are generated by a system in the aircraft
(TCAS, GPWS,…..)

Using primarily track data (see introduction), they provide warning times of up to
two minutes. Upon receiving an alert, air traffic controllers are expected to
immediately assess the situation and take appropriate action.

In the real TopSky system used by skeyes, there is an audible alert for each Safety
Net. At the time of writing this document, TopSky for EuroScope only has an audible
alert for STCA and APW (TopSky plugin v2.4).

STCA
Short Term Conflict Alert

STCA is a safety Net that will detect and warn the ATCO for a conflict between any
controlled flight and any other track by both a visual and audible alert.

In the example below you can see that flight SAM01 and DEP007 are in conflict with
each other and where the minimum separation (5NM in this case) has been lost or
will be lost in the near future.
TRAFFIC !!!!

The track symbol, leader lines, history

dots and callsigns of both tracks will
be displayed in urgency colour (Red)
and the audible alert will sound
“TRAFFIC” once.

All colours will revert to normal as

soon as the conflict is resolved.

Different parameters are present depending the controlling sector. Minimum

separation is 5NM lateral and 1000ft vertical except in the approach volumes where
the minima are 3NM & 1000ft.

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In our Belux TopSky setup:

- a vertical border of 9500ft MSL is used to divide the

STCA area into 5 and 3NM minimum separation.
- All concerned, correlated IFR tracks will be eligible
for STCA.

Attention: If two tracks are not controlled by the same controller, the largest
separation minimums will always prevail. This means that if track1 is under control
at APP and track2 at ACC (CTR), the minimum lateral separation will be 5NM.

APW
Area Proximity Warning

APW is a ground based safety net which uses surveillance data and flight path
prediction to warn the controller both visibly and audibly when an aircraft is, or is
predicted to be, flying into a volume of notified airspace, such as controlled
airspace, danger areas, prohibited areas and restricted areas. APW is intended to
function in the short term.

Warnings and colours will disappear and revert to normal once the track is back
outside the area.

In our Belux TopSky setup:

- the APW is set to warn when a concerned, correlated IFR track is about to
enter or inside the vertical or lateral (with buffer) defined area (with APW
warning defined as ON).
- CFL4 is used to predict the alert.

In the example below you can see that flight SAM01 flies in the area TRA_S6. "APW"
will be visible in line0 of the label together with the callsign in alert colour.
The "M" in line0 is indicative of SAP which is described later in the document.

TSA !!!!

4
Cleared Flight Level

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MSAW
Minimum Safe Altitude Warning

MSAW is a ground-based safety net intended to warn the ATCO5 about the
increased risk of controlled flight into terrain by generating, in a timely manner, an
alert of aircraft proximity to terrain or obstacles.

Warnings and colours will disappear and revert to normal once the track is back
outside or above the minimum altitude or flight level.

In our Belux TopSky setup:

- the MSAW areas are created to keep in mind the different MVA6 of different
airports.
- All controlled, correlated IFR tracks are eligible for MSAW.
- CFL is used to predict the alert.

In the example below flight SAM01 is flying under the MSA7/MVA (FL60). "MSAW" is
displayed in line0 of the label in alert colour WITHOUT audible alert.

5
Air Traffic Controller
6
Minimum Vectoring Altitude
7
Minimum Safe Altitude

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TopSky Flight Plan Conflict Probe (FPCP)

MTCD and SAP are flight plan-based Monitoring Aids meaning that the calculations
are done on the predicted flight plan track (4D trajectory) and not the radar track.
A flight will be eligible when the flight is less than 6 min or inside the AoR8.

MTCD
Medium-Term Conflict Detection

MTCD is a flight data processing system designed to warn the controller of

potential conflict between 4D trajectories in his area of responsibility in a prediction
time window.

Warnings and colours will disappear and revert to normal once the 4D trajectory
conflict is resolved by adapting the flight plan, changing the altitude or flight level
in the trajectory or manually acknowledge the conflict in CARD.

The flight leg will indicate the timing in alert colour when the MTCD minimum
separation will be lost.

All MTCD alerts are displayed in the CARD9, available via the TopSky, “Tools” drop-
down.

- X-axis represents time in minutes until

the predicted conflict.
- Y-axis represents the minimum
predicted separation.
- The shaded area is the minimum
separation area (5NM and below).
- In the example the conflict is predicted
in 8 min and 0 NM separation.

8
Area of Responsibility
9
Conflict And Risk Display

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In our Belux TopSky setup:

- Minimum separation minima are set to 5NM and 1000ft.

- All flight plans above 9500ft AMSL and more than 20NM from ADEP or ADES
are eligible for MTCD.
- No MTCD is provided between traffic in a holding within 15NM of the holding
fix.
- Look-ahead time is 15min, so MTCD is calculated on flight plan tracks 15
minutes in the future.
- An indication in the label (Dot in line1, left of the callsign) will be displayed
only if the start of the conflict is in 7 or less minutes.

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SAP
Segregated Area Probe

SAP will check if a 4D trajectory will cross or enter an area in the near future lateral
and/or vertical (15min).

A dedicated “Segregated Are Probe” window can be opened via the TopSky “Tools”
drop-down menu. In this window all flights will be listed that are calculated in a
predefined future time window to cross an active area.

A “M” will be displayed in label line0 if a SAP warning is active for a trajectory
meaning “Military Coordination Needed”. This warning can be acknowledged by left
click on the indicator after coordination and approval to cross the area.

The flight leg will also indicate where and when the trajectory is predicted to enter
the area with or without a buffer. Buffers are programmed in the TopSky dataset.

Warnings and colours will disappear and revert to normal once the 4D trajectory
prediction will not enter the area by adapting the flight plan or changing the
altitude or flight level in the trajectory. Entering a heading will not resolve the
warning because the predicted 4D trajectory will still enter the area.

In the example the predicted 4D

trajectory of flight TEST007 will enter
area TSA26A at the coordinates
displayed in the “Segregated Are Probe”
window at time 1040Z.

The “M” is displayed in label line0 and

the flight leg indicates where and when
the trajectory is predicted to enter the
area.

In our Belux TopSky setup:

- All flight plans with a RFL above 4500ft AMSL are eligible for SAP.
- Look-ahead time is 15min, so SAP is calculated on flight plan tracks 15
minutes in the future.

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TopSky Monitoring Aids (MONA)

The purpose of Monitoring Aids is to assist the controller in the routine monitoring of
the traffic situation, warning the controller when aircraft deviate from their planned
route or clearances, reminding the controller of actions that need to be performed,
and keeping the trajectories updated with the progress of the flights.

AIW
Airspace Infringement Warning

The Airspace Infringement Warning warns the controller if a NON-assumed track

(radar track-based warning) will enter or is already inside controlled airspace.

In line0 of the track label “AIW” in warning colour shall

be displayed for the concerned track.

Warnings and colours will disappear and revert to

normal once the track is assumed or remains outside
controlled airspace.

In our Belux TopSky setup:

- All tracks above 500ft AMSL and faster than 75kts IAS are eligible for AIW
- Prediction time is set to 1min.

RAM
Route Adherence Monitoring

RAM is a calculation that compares the lateral track position with the flight plan
route.

The alert is represented by the warning “RAM” in line0

of the track label and a circle around the RPS10.

The alert disappears as soon as the 4D trajectory is

updated, the track resumes is flight plan route within

10
Radar Position Symbol

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the RAM corridor, a heading input is done or a non-numerical CFL is set (CA or VA).

In our Belux TopSky setup:

- All controlled IFR tracks, at least in coordinated state are eligible for RAM
- Corridor around flight plan track is 5NM on each side.
- No RAM warning when a heading is entered in the label.

CLAM
Cleared Level Adherence Monitoring

CLAM is a function that monitors the compliance of the vertical tendency of a track
with the cleared flight level. If the level of a track is not the same as the cleared
flight level (plus or minus a tolerance band) or the level tendency is not towards it,
an alert is triggered.

The alert is represented by the warning “CLAM”

in line0 of the track label and a circle around
the RPS (Radar Position Symbol).

The alert disappears as soon as the tendency

of the track is towards the CFL or if the AFL11 is
the same as the CFL.

In our Belux TopSky setup:

- All controlled IFR tracks, at least in coordinated state are eligible for CLAM.
- When an update of the CFL is done, a 90sec delay is set before displaying
the CLAM alert.

DUPE
Dupe Alert

The Dupe Alert informs the controller when a radar track can be coupled to two or
more flight plans or when two or more radar tracks can be coupled to the same
flight plan.

11
Actual Flight Level

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On the VATSIM network and in our setup it means

that two tracks are using the same TSSR12 code.

The alert is represented by the warning “DUPE” in

line0 of the track label.

The DUPE alert will not be displayed on codes:

7000 and 1000 for obvious reasons.

The alert disappears as soon as one of the tracks

squawks a different code.

WTC
Wake Turbulence Category

Since version 2.4 of the TopSky plugin it is possible to set specific WTC or specific
ATYP in warning colour.

The following WTC will show in warning colour:

- “H” Heavy
- “J” Super
- “?” Unknown

The following ATYP13 will show in warning colour:

- B752
- B753
- ZZZZ

12
Transponded Secondary Surveillance Radar, transponder code
13
Aircraft Type

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Abbreviations

AFL Actual Flight Level The actual flight level transmitted by the
aircraft’s transponder
AoI Area of Interest a defined volume of airspace not constrained by
the AoR within which the
flight trajectories shall be available for all flights
AoR Area of Responsibility the volume of airspace for which a service is
provided by the ATSU
ASD Air Situation Display The radar picture display on a ATCO Working
Position (CWP)
ATCO Air Traffic Controller The guy in charge
ATSU Air Traffic Service Unit In our case the Belux FIR
ATYP Aircraft Type The aircraft type filed in the flight plan
CFL Cleared Flight Level The flight level cleared by the ATCO and entered
in the track label of a flight
CARD Conflict And Risk Display A window where an ATCO can see the possible
conflicts in a graphical way
MSA Minimum Safe Altitude A generic expression, used in various cases to
denote an altitude below which it is unsafe to fly
owing to presence of terrain or obstacles.
MVA Minimum Vectoring Altitude The lowest altitude to which a radar controller
may issue aircraft altitude clearances during
vectoring/direct routing except if otherwise
authorized for radar approaches, departures
and missed approaches
RFL Requested Flight Level The flight level filed in the flight plan.
Intermediate flight levels in field 15 of the flight
plan included
PRFL Pilot Requested Flight Level The flight level requested by the pilot in the
airspace volumes controlled by you.
RPS Radar Position Symbol The symbol on the ASD that represents the most
plausible position of an aircraft
TSSR Transponded Secondary The code that the pilot actually put in his
Surveillance Radar transponder

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TopSky holdings
Holding list
The list includes the aircraft that have been given a holding clearance. It is
automatically displayed whenever there is at least one aircraft in the list.

• “View” opens the View menu which contains only one item, “Header”. It
toggles the visibility of the list’s header line.

• The “Options” menu is inaccessible as there are no selectable options in the

holding list.

• The list sorting option is displayed next to the “Options” menu. Clicking on it
opens a menu to select between “ETO on Holding point” (sorting criteria in
priority order: ETO at the holding point, holding point name, callsign) and
“Holding point” (sorting criteria in priority order: holding point name, CFL,
callsign).

The ETO column initially displays the estimated time over the holding fix. Once the
aircraft enters the holding, the displayed time is fixed to the holding start time. For
present position holds and holding points whose positions are unknown, the time
when the holding clearance was given is displayed.

Fields & manipulation:

FIELD LEFT CLICK RIGHT CLICK

Label Hide/display track label

Callsign Open Callsign menu

AFL (actual FL) Open AFL menu Toggle route draw

Attitude Indicator

CFL (cleared FL) Open CFL menu Toggle route draw

HPT (Holding point) Open Stack Manager Window

ETO (Estimated Time Over)

If a track label has been hidden, it will be automatically unhidden if the aircraft is
cleared to leave the holding or an incoming coordination message for the flight is
received.

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Holding menu
This menu automatically opens when “Hold” is selected in the callsign menu.

From the TopSky plugin manual:

The Hold menu allows you to enter a holding clearance (add the
aircraft to the holding list). It displays for selection the points in the
aircraft’s route that are ahead of its current position. Left-clicking “Here”
enters the present position coordinates as the holding point, right-
clicking opens a text entry box to enter any holding point name. The
holding point is automatically sent to your other EuroScope instances
with a small delay and can be sent to other controllers by pushing the
flight strip as the information is stored there.

Stack manager window

The Stack Manager Window can be opened by clicking on the “HPT” item in the
“Holding List”

From the TopSky plugin manual:

To help with controlling holding aircraft, Stack Manager Windows can be opened.
They give a quick look into the vertical positions of aircraft that have been given a
holding clearance to the holding fix associated with the window in question.

The window is split into three columns:

Approaching Aircraft approaching the holding area

Hold
(more than 5 minutes flying time away from the holding fix)

Hold Aircraft in the holding area

Leave Hold Aircraft cleared to leave the holding

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The mouse-click areas of the Stack Manager Window:

FIELD LEFT CLICK RIGHT CLICK

Slider or view background Drag to adjust the lowest

area shown FL

Callsign Open Callsign menu Right clicking a callsign in

the Leave Hold column
immediately removes the
aircraft from display.

CFL (cleared FL) Open CFL menu

“+” symbol (see below) Open window to view all

callsigns with that CFL

FL numbers Toggle overflight status for

that level (orange line)

The window displays the aircraft labels at their cleared flight levels. For each
aircraft the callsign, the vertical speed arrow if not in level flight (“#” in “Warning”
colour for aircraft without altitude information), the RVSM capability indicator if
applicable, and the CFL is displayed.

If there are more than one aircraft with the same CFL, only one callsign will be
shown. A ‘+’ symbol in “SMW Overlap Box” colour after the CFL value indicates that
there are more flights to be displayed. Clicking on the symbol will display a window
with all the callsigns with that CFL.

For each aircraft an altitude box will be drawn that extends from AFL to CFL.
Normally the colour of the box is “SMW Level Band”, but in the Hold and Leave Hold
columns if it is closer than 300ft or overlaps any other aircraft’s box, the colour will
be “SMW Overlap”. For an aircraft with a CLAM alert, the box will be in “SMW
Overshoot” colour. The altitude box of aircraft in the Leave Hold column extends
into the Hold column as well.

A flight level reserved for an overflight is shown in “SMW Overflight” colour. Triggered
by left click on the level.

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Aircraft will be automatically removed from the Leave Hold column after 10
minutes, but they can also be manually removed by right clicking the callsign.

Any number of Stack Manager Windows can be opened to monitor multiple

holdings at the same time. For CFLs at or below the transition altitude, the aircraft
label is placed on the numerical value of the CFL, but the altitude box is always
based on flight levels.

Examples
Holding management
Situation:
4 flights (TEST1 to TEST4) will enter the holding at KERKY as published. They are
controlled by EBBU_W_CTR.

Flight TEST1 is inbound KERKY at FL100 and is put in holding state by selecting “Hold”
in the callsign menu. The Holding Menu will open and KERKY is selected as the
holding fix.

An ‘H’ indicator is shown in the label next to the holding fix name and the Holding
List is displayed.

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Left click on the HPT (Holding Point) (KERKY in this case) will open the Stack Manager
Window for this holding fix. If a flight is less then 5min inbound for the holding fix the
flight is displayed in the “Hold” column.

In the next picture a second flight TEST2 at FL120 is put in the holding state for the
KERKY holding. The flight is still more then 5min away from the holding fix so it is
displayed in the “Approaching Hold” column.

Later on, a 3rd flight TEST3 at FL140 is added to the hold and now all three flights are
within the 5min window to the holding fix.
TEST2 is cleared to descent to FL110. In the Holding Manager Window you can see
the occupied levels per flight. In this example FL120 & FL110 are still occupied by
TEST2.

By deselecting the Label check box, the Track label is

hidden on the radar display to declutter the display. The
label is automatically displayed again when “XHold” is
selected in the Callsign menu.

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In the next picture a fourth aircraft TEST4 is put in hold state in the KERKY holding
and cleared to the same CFL as TEST3 flight. In the Holding Manager Window a red
box is drawn around the conflicting Flight Levels. By left clicking on the ‘+’ next to the
CFL a list of all flights with that CFL are displayed.

By selecting the “XHold” in the Callsign Menu

a flight is taken out of holding state and the
label will appear automatically if it was
hidden. In the Holding Manager Window the
flight will display in the “Leave Hold” column.
Aircraft will be automatically removed from
the Leave Hold column after 10 minutes, but
they can also be manually removed by right-
clicking the callsign.

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Traffic crossing a holding volume

Situation: Two aircraft are in the KERKY holding. One (TEST1) at FL80 and another
(TEST2) at FL100. A third aircraft (TEST3) is inbound KERKY at FL90 and need priority
landing. The standard behaviour of the Holding Manager is to not display TEST3
flight because the flight is not put in holding state.
By left-click a level in the Stack Manager Window a level can be ‘reserved’ for
crossing flights and the level will be displayed in orange. Be aware that the
crossing flight is still not displayed in the Stack Manage Window.
A good practice is to put this flight in hold state for the time it’s crossing the holding
volume to display it in the Stack Manager Window.

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