implicitly correcting for that yet. The plane now makes it to 11000ft on
autopilot *slowly*. I think I'll have to look at the prop parameters
next - altering the diameter and blade angle just slightly can have
quite an effect. If you want to play then try changing the values
prop_diameter and blade_angle in FGNewEngine::init. Keep blade
angle between 20 and 25 (since those are the only values for which
I've entered data and I interpolate between them) and ignore
FGProp1_Blade_Angle since that's an old variable that isn't used. I
really ought to read all the engine and prop parameters from file to
avoid recompilation when tweaking !
the actual air pressure and temperature from the LaRCSim model
instead of assuming that it is at sea level as before. This has
reduced the ceiling from over 60000 ft to about 9000 ft. This is a bit
low (should be around 13 - 14000 ft I think) but I still have some
stuff to do with the engine power correlation and its ignoring the
temperature at the moment so I'm not panicking yet :-)
I've also changed the mixture-power correlation to one from a
published paper since the curve from the IO360 manual seemed to
be a load of rubbish, and didn't have any numbers on the mixture
axis anyway.
I've also knocked the full rich mixture down a touch in line with
Riley Rainey's recommendation, and cleaned up the code a bit.
a) I was compairing feet vs. meter (making the range 3x too. big)
b) I was using the diameter in place of the radius (making the range an
additional 2x too big.)
c) Updated the equation for calculating range to model the weak transmitter
not being picked up at upper altitudes.
We still might need some additional tweaking, but I think we are starting to
get in the right ball park.
is 9 not 8.) Note that the initial altitude setting was placing us way below
the ground, but as it doesn't seem to have caused us problems, it's probably
redundant!
When you tune into a station start at a "random" point in the sequence.
Sped up the words per minute to 13 to which means one sequence per about 4 secs.
This means we get through the whole sequence in about 20 seconds leaving 10
seconds of silence.
joystick input, and then will ignore the actual position of that input
until the user places it in the proper position to match the trimmed position.
At that point the joystick input captures control over the value and the
value will match the joystick position from then on. This is primarily set
up so that the FDM can trim in an initial throttle position.
Added fuel-flow and total fuel to the LaRCSim model. Its still a bit
rough for now but it works, except the engine dosn't stop when fuel runs
out at the moment since there's no refuelling capability in the sim just
now. It takes about 4 gallons use before you see the fuel guages begin
to drop since there's 28 gal per tank but the guages go to 26.
DG heading bug initializes to a random setting.
Activating heading hold doesn't touch the DG heading bug any more.
Max autopilot decent rate is now -1000.
Basically I've rewritten the prop model along similar lines to how
Jon has done his - using published efficiency and coefficient of
power data. It works *much* better - try pulling the throttle back
to idle and putting the plane into a dive before and after updating
and you'll see what I mean. It doesn't require a fudge factor either
:-)
good as we can get" until we find a data source with actual VOR magnetic
offsets. We can use VOR offsets from some fixed date, but not all VOR's
were installed on the same day so no matter what date we pick we will be off on most of them.
restoreInitialState methods to FGGlobals, as well as the two-stage
commit described above for loading saved files. fgInit now takes a
snapshot of the initial state before handing off to the main loop, and
the GUI reInit function restores that state explicitly before calling
fgReInit.
The FlightGear patches also modify fg_props.hxx to add optional
useDefault arguments to all of the fgTie functions -- that lets you
choose whether you want to pick up any default value in the property
tree when you tie the property (the default is true).
FGOptions is history, and the modules are (starting) to use the property
manager directly. Let me know if I left any files out.
Inevitably, there will be some problems with broken options, etc.,
that I haven't found in my tests, but I'll try to fix them quickly.
We also need to stress that the property names currently in use are
not stable -- we need to reorganize them a bit for clarity.
FlightGear subsystems -- it isolates some of the config and #ifdef
stuff in a single place.
2. Added a new FGSubsystem interface, defined in fgfs.hxx; so far,
only FGControls implements it, but if that works, we can start letting
it propagate through the system and simplify the code in main.cxx and
fg_init.cxx (which is terrifyingly complex for anyone new to the
project).
3. Added new src/Main/fgfs_props.[hc]xx files with convenience
functions for tying properties under FlightGear.
4. Experimentally modified src/Controls/controls.cxx to tie properties
directly (rather than tying to BFI functions). I'd appreciate it if
you could get this into CVS as soon as possible, so we can see if the
template stuff causes trouble for any other platforms before I add
properties to the other subsystems.
5. Miscellaneous superficial modifications to other files.
In addition, I've made a couple of further changes:
6. Modified BFI to add support for setting the view axes (i.e. with a
joystick hat).
7. Cleaned up bfi.cxx and removed all cout statements.
====================================
Cockpit.cxx
-----------
Commented #ifdef FIGHTER_HUD.
Hud.cxx
-------
Included code to read the xml file and draw the corresponding instrument.
Hud.hxx, Hud_ladr.cxx, Hud_card.cxx and Hud_labl.cxx
---------------------------------------------------
Integrated code to draw any kind of hud.
Preference.xml
---------------
Included XML file path in the sim/hud property.
ReadMe.xmlhud
-------------
The Readme.xmlhud describes the reconfigurable HUD implemented thru XML
files.
Save/restore seems to be working now, thanks to a couple of
unspeakable kludges:
1. Every time the altitude changes, pause the flight simulator for
five frames and then change it a second time.
2. Every time the latitude or longitude changes, wait five frames,
then invoke fgUpdateSkyAndLightingParams() a second time.
structure. The new approach is simpler, more flexible, and more dynamics.
We can now dynamically size the tile cache up and down. Also, the range
of tiles to load is now dependent on visibility and is calculated to always
bring in enough tiles.
bring EGT down to a more reasonable range. EGT is now returned in
deg Fahrenheit (yuk!!) by the accessor function since that is what
the guage is calibrated in, and the absolute max value that can be
output (max power mixture at max power) is about 750 deg F. Dave, I
suggest that you set the guage to run from 450 - 750 deg F between
the four big marker ticks. What do the offset and scale actually
refer to in the .xml config file BTW?
Fuel flow, better handling of manifold pressure wrt engine speed, and
proper consideration of altitude effects next, hopefully.
- removed Toggle Clouds menu item
src/Main/options.cxx:
- (minor) added some code to sync up options with properties
src/Main/bfi.[ch]xx:
- removed (get|set)Clouds(ASL)?
- removed setSpeedNorth, setSpeedEast, and setSpeedDown -- these are
all read-only now
- added setAirspeed (for calibrated kt)
- extensive rewrite to support Tony's FDM changes
- rearranged everything in bfi.hxx to mess up Curt's ediff examination
- added properties for setting initial panel position
src/Main/save.cxx:
- reinit the tile cache after restore
temperature. The cylinder head is assumed to be at uniform
temperature. Obviously this is incorrect, but it simplifies things a
lot, and we're just looking for the behaviour of CHT to be correct.
Energy transfer to the cylinder head is assumed to be one third of the
energy released by combustion at all conditions. This is a reasonable
estimate, although obviously in real life it varies with different
conditions and possibly with CHT itself. I've split energy transfer
from the cylinder head into 2 terms - free convection - ie convection
to stationary air, and forced convection, ie convection into flowing
air. The basic free convection equation is: dqdt = -hAdT Since we
don't know A and are going to set h quite arbitarily anyway I've
knocked A out and just wrapped it up in h - the only real significance
is that the units of h will be different but that dosn't really matter
to us anyway. In addition, we have the problem that the prop model
I'm currently using dosn't model the backwash from the prop which will
add to the velocity of the cooling air when the prop is turning, so
I've added an extra term to try and cope with this.
In real life, forced convection equations are genarally empirically
derived, and are quite complicated and generally contain such things
as the Reynolds and Nusselt numbers to various powers. The best
course of action would probably to find an empirical correlation from
the literature for a similar situation and try and get it to fit well.
However, for now I am using my own made up very simple correlation
for the energy transfer from the cylinder head:
dqdt = -(h1.dT) -(h2.m_dot.dT) -(h3.rpm.dT)
where dT is the temperature different between the cylinder head and
the surrounding air, m_dot is the mass flow rate of cooling air
through an arbitary volume, rpm is the engine speed in rpm (this is
the backwash term), and h1, h2, h3 are co-efficients which we can play
with to attempt to get the CHT behaviour to match real life.
In order to change the values of CHT that the engine settles down at
at various conditions, have a play with h1, h2 and h3. In order to
change the rate of heating/cooling without affecting equilibrium
values alter the cylinder head mass, which is really quite arbitary.
Bear in mind that altering h1, h2 and h3 will also alter the rate of
heating or cooling as well as equilibrium values, but altering the
cylinder head mass will only alter the rate. It would I suppose be
better to read the values from file to avoid the necessity for
re-compilation every time I change them.
derive specific viewer classes from it. Here's what I currently have in mind:
FGViewer
|
|-> FGViewerPRH (current system with orientation specified in
| LaRCsim Euler angle convention)
|
|-> FGViewerLookAt Feed in a position, view direction, and up vector
|
|-> FGViewerHPR (similar to PRH, but using ssg hpr euler angle
| convention)
|-> others?
LaRCsim c172 on-ground and in-air starts, reset: all work
UIUC Cessna172 on-ground and in-air starts work as expected, reset
results in an aircraft that is upside down but does not crash FG. I
don't know what it was like before, so it may well be no change.
JSBSim c172 and X15 in-air starts work fine, resets now work (and are
trimmed), on-ground starts do not -- the c172 ends up on its back. I
suspect this is no worse than before.
I did not test:
Balloon (the weather code returns nan's for the atmosphere data --this
is in the weather module and apparently is a linux only bug)
ADA (don't know how)
MagicCarpet (needs work yet)
External (don't know how)
known to be broken:
LaRCsim c172 on-ground starts with a negative terrain altitude (this
happens at KPAO when the scenery is not present). The FDM inits to
about 50 feet AGL and the model falls to the ground. It does stay
upright, however, and seems to be fine once it settles out, FWIW.
To do:
--implement set_Model on the bus
--bring Christian's weather data into JSBSim
-- add default method to bus for updating things like the sin and cos of
latitude (for Balloon, MagicCarpet)
-- lots of cleanup
The files:
src/FDM/flight.cxx
src/FDM/flight.hxx
-- all data members now declared protected instead of private.
-- eliminated all but a small set of 'setters', no change to getters.
-- that small set is declared virtual, the default implementation
provided preserves the old behavior
-- all of the vector data members are now initialized.
-- added busdump() method -- FG_LOG's all the bus data when called,
useful for diagnostics.
src/FDM/ADA.cxx
-- bus data members now directly assigned to
src/FDM/Balloon.cxx
-- bus data members now directly assigned to
-- changed V_equiv_kts to V_calibrated_kts
src/FDM/JSBSim.cxx
src/FDM/JSBSim.hxx
-- bus data members now directly assigned to
-- implemented the FGInterface virtual setters with JSBSim specific
logic
-- changed the static FDMExec to a dynamic fdmex (needed so that the
JSBSim object can be deleted when a model change is called for)
-- implemented constructor and destructor, moved some of the logic
formerly in init() to constructor
-- added logic to bring up FGEngInterface objects and set the RPM and
throttle values.
src/FDM/LaRCsim.cxx
src/FDM/LaRCsim.hxx
-- bus data members now directly assigned to
-- implemented the FGInterface virtual setters with LaRCsim specific
logic, uses LaRCsimIC
-- implemented constructor and destructor, moved some of the logic
formerly in init() to constructor
-- moved default inertias to here from fg_init.cxx
-- eliminated the climb rate calculation. The equivalent, climb_rate =
-1*vdown, is now in copy_from_LaRCsim().
src/FDM/LaRCsimIC.cxx
src/FDM/LaRCsimIC.hxx
-- similar to FGInitialCondition, this class has all the logic needed to
turn data like Vc and Mach into the more fundamental quantities LaRCsim
needs to initialize.
-- put it in src/FDM since it is a class
src/FDM/MagicCarpet.cxx
-- bus data members now directly assigned to
src/FDM/Makefile.am
-- adds LaRCsimIC.hxx and cxx
src/FDM/JSBSim/FGAtmosphere.h
src/FDM/JSBSim/FGDefs.h
src/FDM/JSBSim/FGInitialCondition.cpp
src/FDM/JSBSim/FGInitialCondition.h
src/FDM/JSBSim/JSBSim.cpp
-- changes to accomodate the new bus
src/FDM/LaRCsim/atmos_62.h
src/FDM/LaRCsim/ls_geodesy.h
-- surrounded prototypes with #ifdef __cplusplus ... #endif , functions
here are needed in LaRCsimIC
src/FDM/LaRCsim/c172_main.c
src/FDM/LaRCsim/cherokee_aero.c
src/FDM/LaRCsim/ls_aux.c
src/FDM/LaRCsim/ls_constants.h
src/FDM/LaRCsim/ls_geodesy.c
src/FDM/LaRCsim/ls_geodesy.h
src/FDM/LaRCsim/ls_step.c
src/FDM/UIUCModel/uiuc_betaprobe.cpp
-- changed PI to LS_PI, eliminates preprocessor naming conflict with
weather module
src/FDM/LaRCsim/ls_interface.c
src/FDM/LaRCsim/ls_interface.h
-- added function ls_set_model_dt()
src/Main/bfi.cxx
-- eliminated calls that set the NED speeds to body components. They
are no longer needed and confuse the new bus.
src/Main/fg_init.cxx
-- eliminated calls that just brought the bus data up-to-date (e.g.
set_sin_cos_latitude). or set default values. The bus now handles the
defaults and updates itself when the setters are called (for LaRCsim and
JSBSim). A default method for doing this needs to be added to the bus.
-- added fgVelocityInit() to set the speed the user asked for. Both
JSBSim and LaRCsim can now be initialized using any of:
vc,mach, NED components, UVW components.
src/Main/main.cxx
--eliminated call to fgFDMSetGroundElevation, this data is now 'pulled'
onto the bus every update()
src/Main/options.cxx
src/Main/options.hxx
-- added enum to keep track of the speed requested by the user
-- eliminated calls to set NED velocity properties to body speeds, they
are no longer needed.
-- added options for the NED components.
src/Network/garmin.cxx
src/Network/nmea.cxx
--eliminated calls that just brought the bus data up-to-date (e.g.
set_sin_cos_latitude). The bus now updates itself when the setters are
called (for LaRCsim and JSBSim). A default method for doing this needs
to be added to the bus.
-- changed set_V_equiv_kts to set_V_calibrated_kts. set_V_equiv_kts no
longer exists ( get_V_equiv_kts still does, though)
src/WeatherCM/FGLocalWeatherDatabase.cpp
-- commented out the code to put the weather data on the bus, a
different scheme for this is needed.
ing features:
a) ADA Flight model - ADA.cxx, ADA.hxx, flight.hxx
b) Fighter a/c HUD - flight.hxx, hud.hxx, hud.cxx, cockpit.cxx, hud_ladr.c
xx, hud_card.cxx
c) 3-window display - options.hxx, options.cxx, viewer.cxx
d) Moving objects (ship) - main.cxx
e) Patches - main.cxx
ADA.cxx, ADA.hxx
--------------------------
Interface to the external ADA flight dynamics package.
flight.hxx
----------
Included prototypes for accepting additional data fron the External flight
model for fighter aircraft HUD
Hud.hxx
-------
Included prototypes for accepting additional data for fighter HUD from Exernal F
light model.
Defined FIGHTER_HUD pre-processor directive to enable compilation of fighter hud
code.
hud.cxx, cockpit.cxx, hud_ladr.cxx, hud_card.cxx
---------------------------------------
Included code to initialise additional reticles/text for fighter HUD which is co
nditionally
compiled if FIGHTER_HUD is defined.
options.hxx
-----------
Added window_offset, and function to retrieve its value for 3 windows
options.cxx
-----------
Changed few options to suit ADA/CEF projection system/screens and checks for win
dow offset.
views.cxx
---------
Added code to retrieve view offset for window.
Main.cxx
--------
Added code to load and move an aircraft carrier.
Patch to enable clouds from command line until Curtis fixes it. By default cloud
s are disabled.
with jsbsim since no engine is currently created. This will all have to be
revamped in the future, but jsbsim has the structure for doing engines so
that is good.
I have a scrollable panel working (it didn't take long in the end). A
panel can now be much wider or higher than the available area, and the
user can scroll around using [Shift]F5, [Shift]F6, [Shift]F7, and
[Shift]F8. The user can also scroll the panel down to get a bigger
external view. Mouse clicks seem still to be working correctly.
To set the panel's (virtual) height and width, use the panel file's /w
and /h properties in a panel XML file; to set the initial x- and y-
offsets (untested), use the panel file's /x-offset and /y-offset
properties; to set the initial height of the external view (untested
and optional), use the panel file's /view-height property. Note that
none of these show up in the regular FGFS property manager.
Unfortunately, these patches will not affect your initialization
problems with the property manager -- I'm having a hard time tracking
them down because I cannot reproduce them.
I have also made some patches to main.cxx and views.cxx to do two
things:
1. Expand or shrink the external view as the panel moves up and down.
2. Set the window ratio correctly, so that we don't get an oval sun
and flat clouds when the panel is visible (the problem before was
integer division, so I added casts).
Unfortunately, the window ratio is not set properly at start-up --
there are too many dependencies, and I haven't figured that part out
yet. As soon as you hide and redisplay the panel or move it
vertically (i.e. force fgReshape to be called), you'll see the correct
ratio.
- /engines/engine0/rpm changed to read-only
- /engines/engine0/egt added (read-only)
- /controls/mixture added
- /controls/propellor-pitch added (not used for C172)
BFI:
- getEGT() added
- getMixture() and setMixture() added
- getPropAdvance() and setPropAdvance() added (= pitch)
- cleaned up reinit function a bit
- force reinit only when values are actually changed; for example,
setting the flight model to the current flight model will not cause
a reinit
LaRCSim:
- hook up mixture and pitch to FGControls (they were hard-coded
before)
- /engines/engine0/rpm changed to read-only
- /engines/engine0/egt added (read-only)
- /controls/mixture added
- /controls/propellor-pitch added (not used for C172)
BFI:
- getEGT() added
- getMixture() and setMixture() added
- getPropAdvance() and setPropAdvance() added (= pitch)
- cleaned up reinit function a bit
- force reinit only when values are actually changed; for example,
setting the flight model to the current flight model will not cause
a reinit
LaRCSim:
- hook up mixture and pitch to FGControls (they were hard-coded
before)
and prop inertia and passed the timestep from LaRCsim in order to have
the engine rpm behaving according to the applied torque and the laws of
physics.
Added an initial freeze on startup so that we can try to avoid bouncing the
plane on it's back during the very low frame rate / scenery loading startup
conditions.
src/Cockpit/radiostack.cxx
- extended VOR ranges to make them slightly more usable (pending some
real radio code)
src/Cockpit/sp_panel.cxx
- fixed heading bug on gyro compass (sort-of -- the AP still doesn't
work quite as expected)
- skid ball moves the right direction
- moved whiskey compass more to the co-pilot's side, as suggested by
Alex a while back
src/Joystick/joystick.cxx
- included Norm's Windows patches
- renamed brake properties (see bfi.cxx, below)
src/Main/bfi.cxx
src/Main/bfi.hxx
- renamed getBrake and setBrake to getBrakes and setBrakes
- added getCenterBrake and setCenterBrake
- added getAPHeading (without mag correction, needed for the panel)
- renamed property /controls/brake to /controls/brakes/all
- renamed property /controls/left-brake to /controls/brakes/left (as
requested by Alex)
- renamed property /controls/right-brake to /controls/brakes/right (as
requested by Alex)
- added property /controls/brakes/center
- added property /autopilot/settings/heading
- fixed bug in setAltitude so that altitude will be property restored
from a save file
- fixed getBrakes to return the highest of the three brake settings
src/Main/save.cxx
- call FGBFI::getBrakes instead of FGBFI::getBrake
Cleaned a bit of cruft out of gui.[ch]xx
Cleaned up win_ratio() and fov code to make more sense and be a bit more
consistant and robust and less buggy and less susceptible to screw ups.
Panel is activated now by default, HUD is off by default.
