BACK Some thoughts about creating the flight Matrix

The way the flight matrix is build has got a big influence on the F3J competition. There are some things pilots like and some things the organization like, and they are not always the same. But to make live easy for the pilots you want the following rules for your matrix:

· Pilots do NOT have to change there frequency during the competition. The fly-off is threaded as a different competition!

· Pilots do NOT fly in the same slot(startgroup) as other pilots that are helping each other

· Pilots from the same helper team that fly after each other in consecutive slots will stay on the same startposition.

· Pilots will fly against as many other pilots as possible.

The main thought when creating the flight matrix should be to let each pilot fly against as many different pilots as possible. In this way a honest (fair) competition can take place.

While creating the matrix there are two limiting factors :

· The first limiting factor is pilots who are helping each other. You do not want to place these ‘helping’ pilots in the same slot, because they will have problems getting there planes up (no starters, no timers etc.)
So in F3Jsetup it is possible to group pilots to so called ‘helper teams’. And while creating the matrix (automatic or manual) an option can be specified to use this helper information or not. This will be explained further on.

· The second limiting factors are the frequencies the pilots are using. It’s simply not possible to make a ‘perfect’ matrix. This would force the pilots to come to the field with a large box with all possible frequencies in there.

So we have to except that a perfect matrix is not possible !!

Some tips for creating the matrix

With the known limitations it is still possible to create a good matrix. But this requires some help from the competitors as well. Take the next list in consideration while setting up a competition, pilots and the matrix.

· Always create a bit more space in the matrix then there are pilots in the competition. This will help for single pilot reflights, put also gives some room for a better matrix.
For example: When 60 pilots are flying, a logical step would be to make 6 slots of 10 start positions. But a better choice would be a matrix with 8 slots of 8 start positions each. This will give you 4 start positions ‘spare’.

· Try to divide each round in as many slots as is possible (based on time per round, and number of rounds per day/competition). While dividing a round in more slots, there is less risk that a certain pilots has to fly to the same pilot multiple times. Also the influence of the helper teams will be less. And off course the number of frequency conflicts will be less.

· Limit the size of the helper teams to 5 or 6 pilots. In any case the size of a helper team should be less then the number of slots. Otherwise it will not be possible to place all members of this helper team in a separate slot . Also in larger competitions, large helper teams will have some impact on the results. If the helper team contains some very good pilots, they will never fly against each other and the whole group will move up in the results.

Furthermore I would recommend the following when F3Jsetup is used for creating the matrix:

· Always start the automatic creation of the matrix with the options use same freq/channel for all rounds and Use team info while setting up matrix switched ON. This will create a matrix which is as friendly to the pilots as possible (no freq/channel changes and pilots can help each other because of the helper teams )

· Then when pilots are not placed, use the manual dialog to try to fit the pilots in the empty start positions. If this is not possible without changing frequencies or causing a team conflict, then it can be decided to switch of one or both of the options.
Do remember that this will have impact on the pilot and that it is advisable to tell this in the briefing.

· Use the frequency overview to see on which frequency the pilots are flying. This overview can be found in F3Jsetup->View->Freq.Sorted on pilot
Please make sure to inform the pilot(s) which are not using the same frequency for the whole competition.

· When you think you are finally there use the Who2Who overview to check if no pilot is flying to many times against an other pilot. The who2who view can be found in F3Jsetup->View->Who2Who . With the use of the Manual dialog it should be possible to change this. The threshold to show the who2who conflicts is specified when setting up the Competition

When creating a matrix automatically or manually, you will see the next options appear:

Use helper team info while setting up matrix

When this option is switched on:

· the information about the helper teams will be used when an attempt is made to add a pilot to the matrix. The algorithm will not allow members of the same helper team, to fly in the same slot. In this way pilots of the same team can help each other.

Keep in mind that for a larger competition the effect of large helper teams can have some side effects. One of them is that pilots of a helper team will never fly against each other.

For a correct matrix, keep the number of helper team members down to the number of slots per round – 1 (so if you have got 5 slots, allow only 4 helpers in a team). My recommendation for larger competitions with 8 slots or more is to limit the number of pilots in a helper team to 4 or 5 any way.

When this option is switched off :

· The information about the helper teams is not used while setting up the matrix. This can cause very frustrated pilots, because it can happen that all helpers are flying in the same slot. Switching of this option is therefore only recommended for small competitions, so that a honest matrix can be calculated.

Use same freq/channel for all rounds

When this option is switched on :

· When attempting to place a pilot in the matrix, only in the first round the possible frequencies of a pilot will be used to find an optimum matrix. For all other rounds this frequency will be used. This makes it easy on the pilot, he doesn’t have to change crystals in between rounds.

The disadvantage is that the creation of the flight matrix is limited, especially when a lot of the same frequencies are used it can happen that there are a lot of not placed pilots after the automatic creation of the matrix is finished.

This option is therefore recommended for larger competitions.

When this option is switched off :

· The algorithm will use all of the specified frequencies (per pilot) to see if the pilot will fit in the calculated slot. This will cause the pilot to change frequencies in between rounds, but will cause a much more ‘honest’ matrix.

Switching this option of is recommended for smaller competitions.

Sort helper teams on same start position

When this option is switched on (like in the image above) :

· The F3Jsetup program will sort all members of a helper team to start on the same start position (ball). This will help to speed up a competition, because the start lines can be left rolled out.
The sorting will take place after the initial flight matrix is calculated.

Some competitors do complain about this, because in a large field (say 12 startpos) the distance from the start line to the ‘thermal’ location is further. It’s up to the competition organization to use this optimalization or to leave the matrix totally random.

When this option is switched off :

· No sorting is performed.

It is also possible to sort the teams on the same start position via the manual dialog.

In the manual matrix dialog, the the functionality of each option is the same as discussed above but in this dialog they are only valid for the pilot which is added to the matrix by hand.

Only in situations where it is not possible to add a pilot to the matrix, these options should be switched of (depending on the problem when adding the pilot)

Changing the frequency of a pilot

· Only when the option use same freq/channel for all rounds is switched off it is possible to change the frequency of a pilot which is already placed in the matrix.

When the option use same freq/channel for all rounds is switched off, the right-mouse-button (RMB) can be clicked and then ‘change freq’ can be chosen.

A dialog like in the image below will appear :

In this dialog, you can see several things. First of all the current allocated frequency for this pilot (76). Then in the list with possible frequencies you will notice the following :

· Channel 62 can not be used because it will cause a freq conflict in this slot. Therefore this Channel can not be chosen and is made inactive.

· This pilot only specified two frequencies. That is the reason that the last line is made inactive.

Off course the look of this dialog can be different per pilot.