Spider X Diagnostics

Spider X (firmware v6.7.1 and later) can collect and report summary diagnostics to assist with commissioning and troubleshooting.

Minimum Requirements For Using Spidertracks Diagnostics:

Spider X firmware v6.7.1 and later is required for Diagnostics to work.

Spidetracks mobile application v5.7.0 or later is required to display these diagnostics.

Status Summary

To access the Spider Status Page, open the Spidertracks Mobile App.

1. Tap More.

2. Pair with the Spider X via Bluetooth.

3. Tap Spider Status.

The colour of the Status icon reflects the Spider X unit status LED for core tracking states:

Amber	The device may be still establishing a connection or experiencing delays in tracking data offload.
Green	The device is connected and offloading tracking data

Status Page

Click on 'Spider Status' to enter the Spider Status page.

Diagnostic information is grouped into five sections, each giving a summary status and being expandable to provide more information.

Connectivity	The health of communication links the Spider must establish and maintain for core features to work.
Tracking	The health of Track position generation and offload. This data is key to real-time flight following.
Insights	The health of Spider orientation calibration, internal buffer and flight data offload. This data enables 3D replay and 1s data in Flight Explorer. It is also essential for Insights events generation (optional add-on module).
Integrations	The status of receiving, buffering and offloading a serial data stream. This is only applicable to Spiders connected to external serial devices. These are required for integrations that share fire, engine and airframe data with Spidertracks. The Spidertracks Keypad and Input Cable serial accessories also fit within the Serial Integrations category.
Firmware	Version details of the three firmware images running in the Spider X, as well as the details of any remote update delivery.

All diagnostics update once per minute.

Some diagnostics need an initial data collection window to lapse before the status can be determined and shown. 

1. Connectivity Diagnostics Section

An example of the 'Connectivity' diagnostics section is shown below;

1.1 GPS Connectivity

Spider X uses GPS signals to determine the location and altitude of the aircraft it's mounted in. It will typically achieve a GPS fix within the first minute after powering on.

Once a position fix has been achieved, it is very robust and should sustain a Normal status.

If the GPS status shows Degraded or Needs Attention, the following should be checked:

• The Spider (or external antenna, if used) has a suitable sky view, the following support guide explains what your Spider needs to work correctly: How To Install Your Spider.
• Make sure there is no other nearby equipment operating that is causing RF interference (such as survey equipment).
• (External antenna only) The antenna being used is dual band (supports GPS and Iridium).

Note the Spider X must be running for more than 1 minute to show GPS signal status. It will then update every minute.

1.2 Iridium Connectivity

Spider X uses the Iridium satellite network to achieve pole-to-pole data connectivity.  All outdoor locations are supported, however there are a number of variables that can impact performance.

One key variable is the movements of the Iridium satellites themselves - these pass overhead every ~9 minutes. For this reason, this diagnostic status requires an initial data collection window of 10 minutes before a summary metric can be shown. Status is then updated every minute thereafter.

The following list covers the possible statuses and their meaning:

Excellent	Latency is optimal. Achieving this status is typically only possible with an optimally mounted external antenna
Good	Latency is likely acceptable; satellite visibility is rarely obstructed by aircraft or terrain. A Spider X install following the User Guide installation information should be capable of achieving this status.
Average	Tracking over satellite will often be delayed by a couple of minutes. Whilst signal is generally available, it may be weak periodically due to poor satellite view, or generally limited by interference sources.
Below Average	Tracking will often be delayed by a few minutes. Whilst signal is generally available, it may be absent periodically due to poor satellite view, or severely limited by interference sources.
Needs Attention	Tracking will often be delayed by more than a few minutes. This is normally indicative of issues that should be resolvable and Spidertracks recommends customers investigate and address causes to deliver a more effective and safer solution.

To improve the Iridium status:

• Review the Spiders (or antennas) sky view and make adjustments to improve if possible.
• If improving the Spiders sky view is not possible, contact our team about our external antenna options. Our in-cockpit adhesive mount external antenna provides an economical solution for many situations.
• Check whether any nearby equipment is degrading performance by cycling through powering other specific equipment on, waiting up to 10 mins, checking results then switching off and moving to the next piece of equipment.
• For higher resolution (1s) signal strength data, please contact our support team.

When Requesting assistance, please contact Spidertracks support including this information:

- A photo of your installation.

- Aircraft model.

- Does the aircraft have electrically heated windows?

- How the Spider is powered.

- If you are using an external antenna, please supply the make and model.

1.3 Cellular Connectivity

Spider X supports 2/3/4G (LTE) cellular connectivity in most countries around the world. Availability of cellular services varies, so this diagnostic is primarily providing visibility of which network and radio technology the Spider X is connected to, along with it's signal strength. It is expected that some locations and also select countries will not deliver cellular service.

The following list covers the possible statuses and their meaning. The status updates every minute.

Excellent	Signal strength is consistently strong.
Good	Signal strength is on average good.
Average	Signal strength is average. When airborne, this likely indicates the signal was variable in the past minute.
Weak	Signal strength is weak. When airborne, this likely indicates the Spider had no signal for most of the past minute.
No Signal	This is not necessarily an issue. Ideally, cellular connectivity would be achieved at some point in every flight, however, this is not a necessity for all features to work - it will however add latency to the availability of 3D replay, 1s flight data and Insights events. It will also delay the delivery of firmware updates.

In addition to signal strength, the carrier name and country are displayed when known. Spider X will automatically roam between carriers (and bands) based on availability and performance to achieve optimal cellular service. 

2. Tracking Diagnostics

An example of the Tracking diagnostics section is shown below;

 

2.1 Tracking Status

Initialising	This will always be shown after power on until the Spider X has successfully determined its location AND connected with the Spidertracks cloud. The following sub-statuses can be shown to assist with diagnosing possible setup issues:	Cloud handshake pending	If this takes more than 5 minutes, there could be an issue with the device activation status. Please have your account Admin check, and contact our support team if needed.
		GPS location fix pending	If this is taking longer than expected, check install and antenna settings are correct.
		Serial device missing	This only applies if the Spider has been configured to interface with a serial device; in this case, the status will remain in 'Initialising' status until the Spider is successfully communicating with the external device. This helps ensure any power or connectivity issues with external devices are able to be identified and resolved before takeoff.
Normal	The Spider X is successfully connected with the Spidertracks tracking platform and offloading tracking data within normal latency.		This status should be achievable for all Spider X installs and be sustained for the majority of any flight.
Degraded	This status means the Spider X is still tracking, but alerts the user that performance is currently degraded and this may require investigation and/or intervention. The Spider status indicator will also show amber to communicate this, which can be used as a trigger to open the app and investigate. The following sub-statuses can be shown to assist with diagnosing possible issues	Location offload delayed	The latency of sharing the latest location is currently below average. This could be caused by loss of GPS fix or poor communications connectivity. Refer to the 'Connectivity' section for more details on cause and resolution.
		Event offload delayed	Some events have been queued for offload for longer than normal. This is likely caused by poor communication connectivity. Refer to the 'Connectivity' section for more details on cause and resolution.

2.2 Tracking Offload Status

The main item to check here is that the Pending item count is not building up - it should be at or near zero most of the time. 

The 'Sent' items count should increase every minute.

3. Insights Diagnostics

An example of the Insights diagnostics section is shown below:

 

3.1 Insights Status

This diagnostic provides feedback on whether the Spider X is successfully generating attitude data. Possible statuses and their meaning include:

Healthy	This Spider X has established the necessary orientation and offset values to enable the generation of AHRS (attitude and heading) values.
Initialising	This Spider X install has not yet met the criteria required for calibration. This process is automated and typically requires a combination of a flight and a period of static operation after landing. For most installs, these requirements will be satisfied after the first 1-2 flights.
Needs Attention	This Spider X has detected that it's orientation is outside of the installation guidance.

To get more details on current calibration, go to:

1. Tap More.

2. Tap Manage Spider.

3. Select Advanced Setup

4. Confirm you have permission to change the settings.

5. Orientation Correction to view the current offset angles. If these have been caused by the Spider calibrating before the final install (i.e. during bench testing) or if the Spider mounting has been updated to comply with Install Guidance, use the Reset calibration button to restart the auto-calibration process.

3.2 Insights Storage

The Spider X can buffer around 100 flight hours of 1s AHRS data in internal memory. This covers windows where cellular coverage is lost, either intermittently or for an extended period.

This diagnostic provides visibility of how full the internal memory buffer is to assist with understanding your aircraft's Insights Data offload performance.

Possible statuses and the meanings include:

Healthy	The buffer is <50% full. As a long-term status, this indicates that the Spider is performing sustainably to offload Insights Data.
Check offload	The buffer is >50% full. This is signalling a potential issue, especially if this occurs within 1-2 months of flight activity.
Check offload	The buffer is >75% full. This is flagged red as it's normally indicative of sustained offload issues and a trend that needs attention to avoid heading into data overflow risk.
Data overflow	The buffer is >98% full and it's likely that data will be lost during upcoming flights unless circumstances are changed.

Data overflow will result in gaps being introduced into the oldest flight data in the buffer, compromising 3D flight replay and Insights Events detection for these flights. 

3.3 Insights Offload

Whilst local storage helps buffer data during cellular coverage gaps, the overall solution is only sustainable if the average volume of Insights Data offloaded over a period is greater than what is generated. The Offload diagnostic shows the Stored and Sent ratio for the current power cycle.

If the buffer is filling unsustainably, contact Spidertracks about options for external cellular antennas to improve cellular performance.

This diagnostic is useful to understand which flight routes are problematic and to check the benefit of altering the installation as part of seeking to address this issue. 

4. Integrations Diagnostics

An example of the Integrations diagnostics section is shown below:

4.1 Integration Status

This diagnostic reflects what is shown in the Advanced Setup for Spider 'Serial Device', but has the benefit that it's more accessible to crew without risking making and setting changes.

It provides feedback on whether the configured integration appears to be present and communicating normally, or if an issue has occurred that needs to be investigated.

Possible statuses and meanings include:

Normal	The Spider X is receiving serial data and successfully decoding it.
Check setup	The Spider X is receiving data but it does not match the expected format according to the applied configuration. This issue should be escalated to a Maintenance Engineer for investigation.
Check install	The Spider X is not receiving any data, which is unexpected according to the applied configuration. After successful commissioning, the most likely causes are that the 3rd party serial device is not powered on, or that the serial cable has been unplugged or damaged. The latter issues should be escalated to a Maintenance Engineer for investigation.

4.2 Integration Storage

Serial Integrations are allocated their own memory buffer, similar to Insights.

Refer to section 3.2 for statuses and their meaning.

4.3 Integration Offload

Serial Integrations data offload functions identically to Insights Data offload.

Refer to section 3.3 for an explanation of the Stored and Sent ratio and how this diagnostic can be utilised to improve performance when needed. 

5. Firmware Diagnostics

An example of the Firmware diagnostics section is shown below:

The Spider X device has three different firmware images, each of which has its own version number.

All of these images are updated remotely by Spidertracks as needed to deliver enhancements and new features.

Release notes are only provided for the 'Main' processor image, and these are linked for convenience.

Along with visibility of the current versions, this section shows the status of any 'over-the-air' firmware update activity. This is helpful to assist with investigating and/or addressing any possible impediments to automatic updates. Possible update statuses and their meanings include:

Booting Images	This will only be seen after power is on if a new update has just been applied.
Awaiting Network	Unable to check for updates or download updates.
Checking for Updates	Contacting Spidetracks cloud to query whether any more recent images are available, and if so, establishing which image to update next.
Downloading new firmware	An update is available and being downloaded over cell. This will typically take a couple of minutes. If cellular connectivity is interrupted, the download will pause and resume when it is restored.
Idle	No action is needed. No new updates are pending download or restart.
Awaiting restart	A new image has been downloaded and checked. It will be applied on the next Spider X power cycle. This behaviour prevents updates from interrupting tracking for flights in progress.

Diagnostics Improvements

Spidertracks collects detailed diagnostics for most Spider X devices and is able to assist with more detailed information to support performance investigations and analysis as required.

To request the addition of any further diagnostics data to the mobile app to support commissioning and ongoing device health checks, please connect with our product team via our public Ideas Portal here.