This document describes how to properly configure your IVAO ATC Software Aurora according to your preferences for the version:
Aurora version higher than 1.2.20b
There are some features of the Aurora that are not explained in this document. For some advanced functions, please refer to our Advanced Aurora Functions document.
The first time you open up Aurora, the screen where you can find all of the sector files will welcome you:
Here, first column on the left shows available sector files downloaded in your computer and the right column is where you can find all the sector files in the IVAO Download Server.
You can press IVAO DOWNLOADS to hide/unhide the download column.
Here, you can choose your desired sector file and install it (right column) by pressing the button on the right.
You can also use the FIND box (at the bottom right column) to make things easier for you.
Once your download is finished, you can use the folder icon (left column) to load your sector file.
Once you download a sector file, Auto Update for the Sector you are using will be automatically enabled. When an update is available, Aurora will download automatically.
Sector screen will automatically close after opening sector files. If you wish to keep it open, use the pushpin on the top right.
When pressing Login, a new window is displayed; this is where you will insert your station callsign, network credentials, first and last name, and if you wish select appropriate network and voice servers.
You may show / hide server details using the gear icon.
If included in the sector file you are using, the recommended frequency for the position you are trying to connect will appear next to the Callsign box and will be automatically set as your MAIN frequency.
If you wish to connect to the TRAINING SERVER, make sure you have the box selected. For more information on the TRAINING SERVER, check here.
If you wish to connect to the ARTIFICE, make sure you have the box selected. For more information on the ARTIFICE, check here.
If you wish to use the Datalink System, make sure you have filled the Hoppie box. For more information on the Datalink, check here.
After connecting, the Connect button changes to “Logout”. You need to press Logout before closing your ATC Client, to ensure that Network Servers do not hold a “Ghost Connection”.
When you connect to IVAO as an Air Traffic Controller, you no longer need to create a room or follow any additional steps. After you connect, a new window will appear with your frequency.
Auto Zoom : Zooms to or Selects Traffic transmitting on frequency.
Grey : Off
White : Place rings around traffic on the radar screen
Green : Select the aircraft
Amber : Zoom on the traffic
TX & RX & BL (BL Only for SUP and Trainers)
TX : Transmit
RX : Receive
BL : Click on BL to disable Block Tone.
You may right click on a user to kick, mute or grant CA (Channel Admin) to them when necessary.
Since air traffic control receivers are much stronger than those on a plane, it does also sound different. We have gathered the most commonly used ATC Receivers and integrated it with our software. Characteristics may differ depending on the receiver selected from settings, equipment.
We've gathered the most commonly used ATC Receivers and intgrated them with our software. Here are details regarding each equipment type:
Each equipment has different filters so they sound different. You can try each one and choose the one you like the most, or browse through the list below and choose the real receiver used in the real world.
All receivers are used worldwide, below you can find the most popular uses.
PAE is the receiver developed by Park Air, used worldwide in over 180 countries.
PAE is commonly used in Tower and Approach control, but this may change depending on the country and airport.
When you connect to any voice channel and get Channel Admin permissions or go online as ATC you'll see a green CA icon indicating that you are the Channel Admin.
When you connect to IVAO as an '''Observer''', as before, you can switch between servers and rooms easily from the new window. The Frequency might be replaced with the ATC Station name if the station is outside your Range. Different from the ATC's, on the user list you will see a green user, being the channel commander. And the user with Green Bar next to their name is Channel Admin.
When online as Observer, instead of the station frequency, you might see the Station Name.
This means that this station is outside of your range.
You can use the pushpin on the User List to separate it from the VHF Window.
In real life, ATIS is a continuous broadcast of automatic or recorded voice, on a specific VHF frequency or via the vocal channel of a radio-navigation beacon. It contains essential information, such as weather information (METAR), active runways, available approaches, NOTAM, and any other information required by pilots.
At IVAO, we have adapted our ATIS information for pilots, due to the current network/technology limitations:
ATIS is written in text, by the controller, in a predefined form
Pilots can only read ATIS information as text when tuning the ATC frequency or sending the appropriate command to the server
ATIS contains the TeamSpeak (voice) server info in the first line.
Only one ATIS is available for each aerodrome and the ATIS owner is determined by ATIS Priority. The sequence for an aerodrome is TWR > APP > GND > DEL. e.g if all four different ATC stations are online at an aerodrome, TWR will be responsible for the ATIS, if TWR closes, the ownership will transfer to APP.
If there is more than one TWR are connected, the first connected will have priority.
Approach positions have the option to leave/join the ATIS sequence.
When pressing the COM button, it opens a new window, where we have our main text communication.
The COM Box may have up to eight (8) tabs:
The first tab is your MAIN frequency. You can change this frequency using “//xxx.xxx” where the x's will be replaced with your frequency.
The second and Thirdoptional tab represent other frequencies that you can use to “monitor”. For example, you can set UNICOM (122.800) or another ATC frequency. These additional frequencies can be set in PVD -> Settings -> COM window. Like the primary frequency, you can change these with “//xxx.xxx”.
D-LINK shows the log of Telex/CPDLC communications. When traffic is selected, Telex/CPDLC options will be visible. More information regarding Datalink can be found here.
GUARD tab represents the emergency frequency, 121.500. When a pilot changes his main frequency (COM1) to 121.500 and sends a text message, this message will be delivered to all near pilots, no matter the main frequency they have tuned, and to nearby online ATC.
ATC tabs contain the message from ATC for broadcasting information to all ATC (like opening and closing)
BRDCST tab means Broadcast. Supervisors can send messages to the whole network. These messages arrive in this tab.
MSG tab means Messages. In this tab, messages arrive from the server; Force Act sent a response and COM checks are examples.
PRIVATE tab. Here you can view and send private messages with different stations (ATC, Pilot, or Observers).
Dialog icon next to the frequency shows which window is currently active.
When pressing the ATC button, it opens a new window, where we can see ATC or Observers online, near our station (based on Range and Center Point). Here, you have five (5) columns:
Call, which is the Callsign
Freq, which is the primary frequency of the station
R, which means the ATC rating
Name
Options
C : Controlling: if the ATC position is active, it will be white. If observer, it will be grey.
T : Transfer List: if marked (white), this station will be available in your transfer list and the position's fill color, if present in the sector file, will be shown.
M : for creating a chatbox
A : to request ATIS of the station, as a private message
CC : to change the fill color of position. If not visible It might not be included in your sectorfile.
On the title of the window, you can see the total number of connections being displayed. In this case (5).
You can use the filtering options to customize your ATC window.
When using the FIND box:
If FILTER is selected, It will filter the ATC positions and only display those matching with your search.
If FILTER is not selected, It will search for the exact phrase and highlight ATC positions matching your search.
For example, if you wish to only see airport EHAM positions. Then, you should have the FILTER on and write EHAM to the find box. (left picture)
Or, if you wish to highlight EHAM positions. Then, you should have the FILTER off and write EHAM to the find box. (right picture)
You can filter multiple stations by putting a space between.
So writing AM BK EH will filter all positions for EHAM, EHBK and EHEH
Multi Filter will not work when FILTER option is off. You can only search for exact phrases.
In this window, we have a general/basic flight strip display with information regarding the selected aircraft.
The first column shows UGGG as the destination, I as IFR flight, then 2000 for the transponder code selected by the pilot.
The second column shows F390 as the final Flight Level (FL), MD11 H as aircraft type and category, M083 as speed, and UGSB as the alternate airport.
The third column shows CWC552 as the aircraft callsign, and Challenge Cargo as a reminder for the radio callsign, LGKR as the departing airport, and 2150 as the departure time.
The fourth column shows the Flight Plan (FPL) route, and underneath is the other info or remarks section (Item 18 of FPL).
In addition to the above description, at the bottom there is a row where ATC can write information into the aircraft TAG:
WP as waypoint or text, with a maximum of XX characters.
ALT as Altitude
SPD as Speed
Writing information in any of these boxes, and then pressing the “tick” button or just hitting “enter” on the keyboard, will send the information. When pressing the “DEL” button, all information will be removed from the aircraft tag.
There is a SQK box, meaning Squawk (Transponder), where ATC can assign a transponder code, so when selecting a new aircraft, and hitting the REQ SSR button, the client will automatically assign a new transponder code, based on the last one used.
The PM Button will open a private chat tab in the COM window, to talk with the pilot in private.
The TRFC LIST button expands the TRAFFIC window and will display aircraft based on the buttons selected below: DEP for Departures, ARR for Arrivals, OVER for Overfly, and UNCO for uncontrolled (not assumed). All this will be based on what is selected in the AIRPORTS window.
On the Traffic Manager window, you can see three columns. Each representing DEP (Departure), ARR (Arrival) or OVER (Overfly) based on your controlled airports from the Airports Menu.
For each window, you can use the U button on the right of each section to choose to display or not display Uncontrolled Traffics. Meaning assumed traffics.
If U button is Bold, this means Uncontrolled Traffic will be displayed.
You can also activate/deactivate each column by pressing the respective button from above or separate them from the TRAFFIC MANAGER window by pressing S.DEP, S.ARR or S.OVER, each meaning Separate Departure, Arrival or Overfly windows.
The window is split into two main columns, where the one on the left displays airports, based on sector file information. When an airport is selected in the list underneath, full METAR for that station (if available) will be displayed. In addition, for those stations with a valid METAR, QNH and wind information will be shown.
When controlling an airport, or more, first you must select that airport “as controlled” by clicking the funnel in the C column. You can select the “crossed runways” icon (R), to let the system choose the active runway automatically. The magnifying glass icon (Z) will focus the main radar screen over that airport. The V column is for toggling on the VFR waypoints for that airport and the M column for toggling the MRVA.
The right column is split into two sections. The top section refers to runways of the selected airport (on the left). RWY indicates Runway number, CRS indicates Runway course (magnetic). P shows advise on which runway should be selected for the active runway (automatically selected by the system), D is where you can set the departure runways and A to select the arrival runways.
On the bottom of the screen, you can see 5 buttons and a FIND box:
You can use the FIND box to search for airports.
CTRL ALL will select all airports controlled, on the C column.
CTRL NONE will deselect all controlled airports, on the C column.
CTRL FOUND will select the airport in the FIND box and select it as controlled, on the C column.
GATES will display the gates of the airport and aircraft on the gates, you can assign gates to traffics by clicking the sign icon.
HIDE UNCO will hide uncontrolled airports, so you will see only controlled airports.
Between the runways and arrival/departure procedures window, you will see 8 buttons:
TRANS : Displays TRANSITION procedures when active, for the selected runway.
HOLD : Displays HOLDING procedures when active, for the selected runway.
IAP : Displays INITIAL APPROACH procedures when active, for the selected runway.
FAP : Displays FINAL APPROACH procedures when active, for the selected runway.
GA : Displays GO AROUND procedures when active, for the selected runway.
AUTO button activates automatic filtering for the active runways:
When AUTO filtering is enabled;
If the runway is selected for Departure, you will see:
SIDs
Departure Transitions, if you have TRANS button activated above.
If the runway is selected for Arrival, you will see:
STARs,
Arrival Transitions, if you have the TRANS button activated above.
Initial Approach Procedures (IAP), if you have the IAP button activated above.
Final Approach Procedures (FAP),if you have the FAP button activated above.
Go Around Procedures (GA), if you have the GA button activated above.
When assigning Gates to aircraft, you can remove any gate assignment by deselecting any aircraft that was selected and press the sign icon.
T column, left of the Gate ID, shows the Type of Gate. L for Light, M for Medium, H for Heavy or S for Super
Profiles are text files where different settings are saved, to make save setting everything again, the next time you log on. When pressing this menu option, a dropdown list with three (3) options is shown:
Open, lets you select a profile.
Save (Key Shortcut: F4), lets you save the current profile (the name of the profile will be the station callsign currently used).
Supervisor (Key Shortcut: F3), opens the Supervisor module (Appendix to this document).
It’s important to note, that the system will not save the profile when exiting, so make sure to press F4 each time you make an important change (FIX selection, zoom, etc), so the profile will be saved.
Opens the Sector File window where you can download (right column), load (left column folder icon), delete (left column X icon) or enable/disable Auto Update of your desired Sector File.
Sector screen will automatically close after opening sector files. If you wish to keep it open, use the pushpin on the top right.
Opens the Sound settings where you can choose your Output Device, mute/unmute sounds or decrease/increase volume of notifications. These sounds refer to the files in the Sounds folder, with specific filenames.
To activate the label editor, go to PVD → SETTINGS → LABELS, choose label type from DYNAMIC (that is the standard label) to the STATIC that is the editable one. After that, to customize them, choose OPEN on Static Label Editor
Label editor:
On the label editor, there are three situations: NORMAL, ASSUMED and SELECTED. On each one, you have the options to activate all types of labels, such as:
IDENT – Traffic callsign.
SSR - active SSR (it will show the SSR code of the aircraft regardless of the identification state)
SSR A – assigned SSR.
DEST – FPL destination.
AIRCR – Aircraft ICAO code.
ID STATE – state around IDENT (regarding departure or arrival colorschemes).
TEXT – free text area, to do any types of personal notes. The text written here will be transferred to the adjacent ATC when the traffic is transferred.
UNIT – which ATC is the traffic with.
COMP – company.
RVSM – RVSM status.
MSG – messages such as CA, IDENT, and others.
VS Symbol – shows arrow of climbing and descending (symbol editable by editing profile)
ALT – current traffic altitude.
ALT A – cleared altitude.
ALT C – FPL altitude.
VS – vertical speed.
SPD – current speed in GS.
SPD A – assigned speed.
WAKE – wake turbulence of the aircraft
FRAME – STRIP boundaries. Activating it will show the boundaries.
N.FREQ - display the selected next ATC frequency (will only work on assumed/selected states)
You may change the label positions by moving with the mouse or with precision, by right-clicking on the label and moving it.
Regarding FRAME, there are some options
By that, you can edit the label boundaries as it says.
When having a traffic assumed, Def. Label will show these informations if active:
By that, you can name what will the labels be named
E.g. Instead of showing wpt, you can change to hdg for example, changing the name on the label itself and so on.
To allow dynamic moving on STATIC labelling and to make them be on the same line, use LINK. That will keep labels aligned. To do that, click on the first label that will be the reference label, then click on LINK and select the following labels that will be on their right. To unlink all labels, just click UNLINK and select the group of labels that were linked.
The same process works for GND, which represents the labels for ground traffic. To copy the currently selected type of label to all others (NORMAL, ASSUMED, OR SELECTED), for example, copy NORMAL to ASSUMED and SELECTED on AIR, click on Copy ALL. Same thing on GND
This button, when enabled (BOLD), lets you open up to 8 new radar windows, so for example when controlling a large area, with multiple airports, you can open an INSET and zoom to each airport. You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 1 to 8.
This button, when enabled (BOLD), lets you work with labels of aircraft, HALO radius, Range Rings distance and aircraft speed vectors.
L+ = Moves the aircraft label away from the plane.
L- = Moves the aircraft label towards the plane.
Also, you can move the aircraft labels using the “Mouse Wheel button” or holding SHIFT.
H+ = Increase HALO
H- = Decrease HALO
R+ = Add Ring
R- = Remove Ring
0 = Set Speedvector off.
1 = Set Speedvector to 1 minute.
2 = Set Speedvector to 2 minutes.
4 = Set Speedvector to 4 minutes.
8 = Set Speedvector to 8 minutes.
You can use the Spaced Traffic Vector function to have spaces, indicating 30 seconds, 1 minute or 2 minutes on the speedvector of Traffic. This can be activated from PVD>SETTINGS>VECTOR>Traffic vector spaced, time spaced vector and space spaced vector.
GTR = Show or Hide Ground Traffic. When GTR is disabled, if you press SHIFT + GTR, It will display assumed ground traffic.
This button, when enabled (BOLD), lets you display or hide some information of the Sector File (radar screen content) like Airports, Runways, Buildings, etc.
By pressing SHIFT + GEO, if defined in your sectorfile, you can see a list of where you can enable/disable or change the color of certain things.
This button, when enabled (BOLD), lets you display or hide some information of the Sector File (radar screen content) related to Navigation, like VORs, FIXs, Frequencies, Airways, etc.
Show, Hide or Manage VORs. If you press the shift key and press the VOR button, a list with all the available VOR’s will be displayed, where you can enable or disable each one to be displayed, clicking on the “eye” icon. Also, you can enable or disable all by pressing the buttons at the bottom of the window.
Show, Hide or Manage NDBs. If you press the shift key and press the NDB button, a list with all available NDBs will be displayed, where you can enable or disable each one to be displayed, clicking on the “eye” icon. Also, you can enable or disable all by pressing the buttons at the bottom of the window.
Show, Hide or Manage FIXs. If you press the shift key and press the FIX button, a list with all available FIXs will be displayed, where you can enable or disable each one to be displayed, clicking on the “eye” icon. Also, you can enable or disable all by pressing the buttons at the bottom of the window.
You can use the buttons on the bottom to filter FIXES.
To view the special areas, you must be connected to the network. After becoming online, make sure that S AR is white and you will see special areas on your radar if there are any.
To view their details, press the S AR button while holding the “SHIFT” key from the keyboard.
There, you can see their names, altitude restrictions, date/time restrictions, and their type (Danger/Prohibited/Restricted)
On the radar, they can be seen with their names, labels or just as an area.
Click to L/N on the right of the S AR to switch between viewing modes.
Colors of the special areas can also be changed via Colors menu for each type (Danger/Prohibited/Restricted)
