 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Full Motion Based Piloted Flight SimulatorOn 24 April 1998 the Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department formally declared its flight simulation laboratory "Open for Business".The simulator was delivered to the Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department on March 5th of 1996 from NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach. Originally an A-6E Intruder Operational Flight Trainer (OFT), the simulator was declared "in excess" when the Navy retired its A-6E's and replaced them with F/A-18's. The transfer was made possible with the help and support of research sponsors at Naval Air Systems Command Headquarters and at the Manned Flight Simulator branch of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Patuxent River, Maryland. The trainer is a computer-controlled flight simulator that faithfully simulates the operation and response of the Navy A-6E Intruder aircraft flight controls, instruments, and systems, as well as its visual, aural, environmental, and motion sensations. The 3 window visual display shows the surrounding terrain throughout take-off, maneuvers, and landing approach as a function of the aircraft attitude, altitude, and speed. Motion cues are provided by a 3 degree of freedom cantilevered motion system. The simulator was originally procured by the Navy to provide pilot and air crew training in carrier based takeoffs and landings. It retains its original capability, and can still give seasoned Naval Aviators sweaty palms. The simulator is currently being utilized for both classroom instruction and for research. Classroom instruction ranges from demonstrations of the phenomena being discussed in dynamics, stability, and control classes, to hands-on flight control system design. In introductory courses the development and analysis of the physical laws governing the responses of aircraft are taught, then demonstrated on the simulator: a far cry from waving plastic models of aircraft around in the classroom. Seniors studying Aircraft Automatic Flight Control design stability- and control-augmentation systems on desk-top simulations, then implement and "flight test" their designs on the simulator. Research efforts include the practical implementation of nonlinear control law design for highly maneuverable aircraft; and research into the problems of redundant aircraft control effectors, the robustness of nonlinear control law design, loss of control, control failure identification and reconfiguration, and pilot-induced-oscillations. Each of these areas of research relies heavily on the high fidelity of the simulator to make the transition from theory to practical application. Extensive modifications to the simulator are being made to enhance the instructional and research capabilities. Primary among modifications already made are: (1) Installation of a two-axis Fokker electric control loader. (2) Reconfiguration of the cockpit right crew station (B/N) to accommodate an engineering workstation. (3) Expansion of the simulator computer architecture to off-load computationally intensive research applications to a Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 computer. Future modifications are expected to range from the upgrade of obsolete and unsupportable subsystems, to a complete rehosting of the simulator computer.
|
AOE Research
|
|
Privacy Statement |
Webmaster |
Information |
Search © Copyright 1993-2009. All rights reserved. Last updated: June 2, 2009 02:08:51 PM |
Virginia Tech Department of Aerospace & Ocean Engineering |