Positive Control Network (POSCON) has officially opened the flood gates for anyone to now sign up the “next-generation flight simulation network.” Announced on their Discord, anyone can now sign up and join the Open Beta of POSCON. Users can now sign up and will get access to all services provided by the online network.
The post on the Discord channel confirmed that all restrictions on entry have been lifted and enable anyone to register. For those looking to join their ATC network, registrations are still being accepted. The team confirmed they expect a major onboarding in a weeks time when the ATC permissions are developed for the server.
We last wrote about POSCON back in February 2020 when closed-beta invites were about to be sent out to pilots. A lot has changed since then, but many of the core features are still available for pilots to now try and use. As mentioned, POSCON will be compatible with various flight simulators and include an advance pilot client and voice system. The entire product has been built using modern technology to provide powerful model matching, incredibly fast refresh-rates and a large number of simultaneous connections. A full list of pilot client features and the voice system is listed down below.
If you’re interested in joining the POSCON Open Beta, you can sign up now via their website. We’re working on some first look impressions and be sure to report back to you soon. You can also join the POSCON Discord to stay up-to-date.
Pilot Clients and User Interface
POSCON network will be compatible with FSX, P3D and X-Plane. While there will be small differences between platforms, they will all retain the same basic features.
- VHF push to talk activation indicator (to avoid overlapping another transmission accidentally)
- Ability to control the maximum of displayed aircraft for better performance.
- Automatic detection of change in aircraft in sim.
- Error messages explaining reasons for disconnection
- Ghost mode – this mode will activate as soon as the client detects the sim enters slew mode, replay or deliberate pausing. Pausing is however allowed when the client is on the ground.
- X-Plane customers will also be able to monitor closely the ground speed and control the AI model and sounds that are used. These are distributed through the client itself.
- Pilots appearing on a runway or repositioning on a runway through a menu are able to see and hear pilots/ATC but they cant hear/see mentioned pilots
In addition to this in-game client, the pilot will be able to use a web interface that will enable the following features :
- Partial CPDLC
- D-ATIS (only the text part works for now, but voice D-ATIS is planned)
- METAR/TAF reports
- Radio synchronization
- Ghosting mode toggle
Voice System
While POSCON was expecting to use the Teamspeak 3 technology for the network, it will no longer be the case. The team has been hard at work implementing their own infrastructure, that they say is future-proof. The main features of the new voice system are as follows :
- Ground base transceiver locations
- Realistic propagation laws with terrain line of sight, wavelength and beat simulation.
- Terrain line-of-sight implementation
- Separate Push To Talk for VHF1 and VHF2, separate volume control, separate audio devices (which should please very much home cockpit builders)
- 8.33 kHz spacing
Launcher client
These features will be centralized using a Single Sign On technology. There will be a POSCON Launcher, that targets at bringing to POSCON an experience similar to Steam or other game launchers. The launcher will hence:
- Download, install, update and launch all POSCON software
- Switch between development and stable release
- Token authentication.
Updated the article with new information about a feature for the pilot client (bolded).
