Problems Current flight simulators MS Flight Falcon xplane Flightgear	You cant talk to it. i.e. Use keyboard decoders, etc. (very ugly!) Not Modular, very Monolithic. No Communications.
Solution Next Gen flight Simulator.	System must be modular Should be open architecture. (APIs, Interfaces, etc.) Should use standard protocols. Each Box / Task / System could start in software and then be converted to hardware. Each Box / Task / System should talk / listen to other modules. The system should be channelized, for private messages. The system must talk & listen on Ethernet UDP see AFDX (Avionics Full DupleX) Switched Ethernet. Check out this white paper. The system could use any of the following flight dynamics models. JSBSim YASim UIUC LaRCsim or roll your own. The system will use Flightgear's scenery. Pick any plane and put it into a standard 3d model. The system could have multiple users i.e.. pilot, co, wiso, etc. The systems could 'play' together, i.e.. formation flying, or good guy, bad guy.
Pilot/ Auto pilot	Really two systems: The pilot and the controls: Stick, throttles, Rudder, Gear, etc. Auto pilot system (optional)
Flight Dynamics Model	This box does calculations on: The Aircrafts Frame of Reference which is a 3-D Cartesian (orthogonal right-handed) coordinate system (x, y, z), which is centered (origin) at the rear of the aircraft. Where: ROLL-axis passes through the propeller and tail. (Positive to the nose) PITCH-axis passes though wing tip to wing tip. (Positive to right wing) YAW-axis is a vertical axis, and is perpendicular to both the ROLL-axis, and PITCH-axis. (positive is down) which contains a hierarchical model of the aircraft. In this way parameter data inputs can drive individual parts, such as control surfaces. Also parts may be attached to other parts in such a way that movement of one part will cause movement in anoter. The Local Frame of Reference which is a 3-D Cartesian (orthogonal right-handed) coordinate system (x, y, z), whose origin is defined to be the origin of the Aircraft's Frame of Refence North-axis East-axis Down-axis all so factors such as wind, baro, temp, rain, lift, drag, thrust, control surfaces, etc. will factor into this module. When the aircraft is flying North (0 roll, 0 pitch, 0 yaw) both Reference Frames will line up. To transform points in the aircraft (AFR) to the LFR you must use matrix math. To find out what atitude the aircraft is in you need to to perform intergration on PITCH, ROLL, YAW velocity += acceleration * Dt value += velocity * Dt THIS MODULE Will run @ 100/fps updated 9APR08
Navigation Model	This box does calculations on: Earth Frame of Reference, which is a 3-D Cartesian (orthogonal right-handed) coordinate system (x, y, z), and whose origin is defined to be the center of the Earth. Axis of Rotation (x) passes through the North Pole, Center of the Earth, South Pole. (Positive is North) Axis of Prime Meridian (z) passes through the Prime Meridian at the equator and pass out the other side. (Positive is Prime Meridian) Axis of (y) passes 90 deg from the Prime Meridian at the equator and passes out the other side. (Positive is East) the Earth Frame of Reference is encluded here for referance only and only is used when you are off world or in space. So we will skip this step and convert directly to Geocentric (Spherical) Frame of Referance from the LFR. Tangential Plane, which is a 3-D Cartesian (orthogonal right-handed) coordinate system (x, y, z), parallel to the LRF and is tangent to the surface of the earth. Geocentric Frame of Reference which is a spherical coordinate system, who's origin is at the center of the earth. Distance from Center of Earth to Aircraft: Ρ = √(x2+y2+z2) Latitude of Aircraft on Earth: arcsin(x/Ρ) Longitude of Aircraft on Earth: arcsin(z/√(y2+z2)) Geodetic Frame of Reference which is a ellipsoid model of the earth, World Geodetic System (WGS84). this box does caululations Dead Reckoning Nav Model this box does calculations on lat-new = (cos(heading)*Dt*V) + lat-cur lon-new = ((sin(heading)*Dt*V)/cos(lat-cur)) + lon-cur THIS MODULE will run @ 10/fps updated 9APR08
Navigation Management / Displays	needs the following information when starting (maybe more) Lat, Lon, Alt (from the Flight Dynamics and Nav Models Temp Barometer Time (Zulu) most likely a time stamp, UNIX time would be good.. The time should be derived from an NTP Server(Network Time Protocol) This would sync all boxes in the world to the same time. Navigation can use ellipsoid models such as WGS84, or others. Navigation can be both entered or displayed in both LAT/LONG or MILL-GRID. The time should be derived from an NTP Server(Network Time Protocol) This would sync all boxes in the world to the same time. Outputs to ADI, HSI, etc.
Out The Window(s) Sub-System	The Display Frame of Referance is a 3-D Cartesian (orthogonal right-handed) corrdinate system ( x, y, z ), and whose origin is defined as the pilot's eye which is a vector in the Aircraft Frame of Rreferance. Up (x) is defined as Up and Down or in the Aircrafts Yaw Axis (positive up) Right (y) is defined in the Aricrafts Pitch Axis (right wing positive ) In (z) is defined along the Aircrafts Roll Axis ( Forward is positive ) 21MAY08
Radios / Radar	Build the Radio Stack of your dreams. Turn the knob, or click the mouse. This could be its own processor. It has four functions: Voice Messages should be VOIP It passes both simulated, and live messages between you the pilot and other planes, tower, control, etc. It filters messages out that are not tuned-in or out-of-range It passes messages to HSI, DME, etc for flying the needles UPDATEWe are now desinging a radio/intercom system. This system will support up to 20 channels of audio, each one is seperatly controled and the intercom head (boeing 757) can be dasiy chained with outputs to cockpit recorder(option). The following inputs have volume controls & on/off switchs VHF radios L/R HF radios L/R VOR radios L/R ILS radios L/C/R PA CAB INT MKR L ADF there is inputs for arual warnings (con-controled) The following switches Mic Boom or Oxy mask PTT on/off ADF Filter VOICE/BOTH/RANGE R ADF Push Switch. 7 mic select switches. The Master Unit also has Smart Card. It will automaticly log you into you voice bots, and has system serial number etc. all you need is a ethernet cable and power and away you go. Our first unit will have Boeing Pin Outs and Cables. so just buy the boxes, wire them up and your live. Our Secound unit will look like the same thing but will have all the boxes connected together via USB cable... Plus power and your network cable.
Out the window stuff	Out the window should be its own processor, it just listens to system messages. Therefore you could have lots of displays and one computer.. No more computers just for displays.