North Sector PIREP Bot
Temporal-Decay Weighted Crowdsourced Intelligence for Cadet Pilots
The North Sector PIREP Bot is a serverless, high-utility tool designed to solve the "information lag" in general aviation training environments. While official ATIS and PIREPs provide critical data, they often fail to capture the high-frequency shifts of the Sonoran Desert's thermal cycles.
This bot allows a community of pilots to log subjective conditions in seconds, which are then processed through a temporal-decay algorithm to provide a real-time, peer-reviewed status board of the practice areas.
🌪️ The Core Problem: The Friction of PIREPs
Standard PIREPs (Pilot Weather Reports) are essential but suffer from high friction. Reporting via Radio (ATC) or Flight Service takes significant mental bandwidth during high-workload phases of flight. Consequently, reports are infrequent, and the data is often "stale" by the time a student enters the practice area.
The Solution: A Calm interface via Telegram that reduces a complex meteorological observation to three taps, processed at the edge with zero latency.
🚀 Key Features
1. The Dynamic Status Board (/status)
A live dashboard showing the status of the SATR, Local Patterns, and Anthem sectors. Instead of a simple average, the board uses a weighted scoring system that prioritizes recent data over historical logs.
2. Calibrated 1–5 Reporting (/landed)
To prevent "Subjective Drift," all reports are mapped to a strict Standard Operating Procedure (SOP):
- Turbulence: Calibrated from 1 (Glassy) to 5 (Unsafe/RTB Required) based on airspeed fluctuations and control workload.
- Winds: Calibrated from 1 (Calm) to 5 (Hazardous) based on personal and solo crosswind minimums.
3. Shift Detection (Automated Intelligence)
A background process monitors the rate of change in the North Sector. If the average turbulence score jumps significantly (e.g., +1.0) within a 30-minute window, the bot autonomously blasts a 🚨 ** SHIFT** alert to the group to warn incoming blocks of rapidly degrading conditions.
4. Anomaly & Troll Filtering
The system compares new entries against a 2-hour rolling peer average. If a report deviates by more than 2.5 points from the current consensus, it is automatically flagged and its weight is reduced to 0.2, preventing a single outlier from "poisoning" the dashboard.
🧮 The Mathematics of Freshness
The heart of the bot is the Exponential Time-Decay Function. Weather is a high-entropy variable; a report from 10 minutes ago is significantly more valuable than one from 2 hours ago.
The Decay Formula
Each report is assigned a weight W based on its age t in minutes:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
e |
Euler's number |
t |
Minutes elapsed since the observation |
λ (Lambda) |
Decay constant — shifts dynamically based on the Phoenix sun cycle |
Dynamic Lambda Values:
| Condition | λ | Half-Life | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midday (11am–4pm) | 0.02 |
~35 min | High decay as thermals peak |
| Morning / Night | 0.005 |
~140 min | Low decay for stable laminar air |
| Default | 0.01 |
~70 min | Standard transition periods |
Weighted Average Calculation
The final score displayed on the dashboard:
Final Score = Σ(Scoreᵢ × Wᵢ) / ΣWᵢ
This ensures the live status is always an accurate reflection of the current atmospheric state.
🛠️ Tech Stack & Architecture
Developed with a 100% iPad Pro-native workflow, utilizing Cloudflare's serverless ecosystem for maximum uptime and zero maintenance.
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Runtime | Cloudflare Workers (JavaScript / V8 Engine) |
| Database | Cloudflare D1 (SQL-based Edge Database) |
| Messaging | Telegram Bot API (Webhooks) |
| Scheduling | Cloudflare Cron Triggers (Shift monitoring) |
📖 Standard Operating Procedures
🌪️ Turbulence Scale
| Rating | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glassy | Zero movement. Trim-only flight. |
| 2 | Light | Occasional rhythmic bumps. Standard AZ heating. |
| 3 | Moderate | Constant corrections required to maintain altitude. |
| 4 | Heavy | Airspeed fluctuations ±10 knots. Loose items shift. |
| 5 | Unsafe | Momentary loss of control. RTB Suggested. |
💨 Winds / Gusts Scale
| Rating | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calm | <5 knots. No crab required. |
| 2 | Within Mins | Noticeable wind, well within solo minimums. |
| 3 | At Mins | At personal/solo crosswind minimums. High focus required. |
| 4 | Exceeding Mins | Exceeding standard training minimums. Go-around likely. |
| 5 | Hazardous | Approaching control limits. Divert Recommended. |