AnglaisEnUzes
03-09-2008, 09:49 AM
Hi everyone,
I few weeks ago I introduced myself and the "generic" cockpit I was planning. Since then I have had a rather major change of circumstances and have started developing a new project, which at the moment is dubbed "777 Advanced" (although the open source nature of the software is intended to be able to plug any aircraft into it).
At the recommendation of Andy on the simFlight forums, I am posting here. I am hoping that there will be all sorts of answers to help me define the precise "feature list" of this project (although bear in mind that I personally want to stick with Boeing; maybe when the framework is there others will adapt it for other 'pits).
The problems I keep mentally coming across when thinking about simulator 'pits, is that they rely on such a wide variety of interfaces and software, that to have everything properly integrated is very difficult - every piece of hardware from different manufacturers has a different driver and setup procedure, and all the various pieces of software need separately seting up. Also, the problem that every addon comes across is the limitations of the FS SDK.
So, I have decided to develop a "hybrid" system of soft- and hardware which includes:
a) an FS aircraft addon (model/FDE)
b) software simulation system (see below)
c) hardware ("traditional" cockpit building!)
The "software system" mentioned above will run on a second computer and includes several modules:
- system logic (the system logic will be completely external to FS - i.e. not programmed as gauges, but as a separate Windows application). This will overcome the limitations of the SDK, and will allow for things like sounds being triggered from a multichannel sound card.
- glass cockpit main and standby displays: programmed using XAML using the WPF (CLR 3.5).
- Quasi "Class III" Electronic Flight Bag (obviously excluding the video surveillance system, but including Moving Map, Moving Airport Diagrams, Electronic Documentation, Charts etc.).
- Aircraft Configuration Module: configures the aircraft and displays - all the settings will be made here. In addition, differnet ops procedures can be selected for different airlines (the choice of airline can be made in this module).
- Flight Planning / Ops - planning the flight, printing the routes and details etc, setting the aircraft loading and fuel etc etc etc...
- Hardware I/O interface: an interface to simplify the connection of hardware to the system (incidentally, the hardware will connect to the system PC, NOT the FS PC. The system logic will communicate over the network with FS).
Another part of the EFB will be defining new XML schemas for vector enroute charts and electronic documentation.
Now, while a lot of the above has already been achieved for FS, there is currently no completely "integrated" system dedicated to a certain aircraft.
As for the aircraft itself: 777-200LR. Why? Firstly because I adore the 777, and secondly, because it is the only aircraft I have an almost full set of documentation for (Ops manuals, MMEL, Training Manual, AMM etc). Oh, and an ex 777 captain is a very good friend of mine ;)
If anyone has any comments or ideas for "features" that they would like to see in system like this, then please let me know! I am looking for constructive ideas for features. This is a HUGE project, and could well be 2 to 3 years very hard work (as well as a couple of FS iterations down the line), but everything has to have a beginning :D
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will have a website with a far more structured description of the project.
As I mentioned before, the complete source code will be released under the GPL. The development environment I am using is Visual C#/C++ 2008. A lot of the system logic will be definied in MatLaB/SimuLink, and the code generated from that.
Thoughts and ideas welcome!!
Cheers,
Martin
I few weeks ago I introduced myself and the "generic" cockpit I was planning. Since then I have had a rather major change of circumstances and have started developing a new project, which at the moment is dubbed "777 Advanced" (although the open source nature of the software is intended to be able to plug any aircraft into it).
At the recommendation of Andy on the simFlight forums, I am posting here. I am hoping that there will be all sorts of answers to help me define the precise "feature list" of this project (although bear in mind that I personally want to stick with Boeing; maybe when the framework is there others will adapt it for other 'pits).
The problems I keep mentally coming across when thinking about simulator 'pits, is that they rely on such a wide variety of interfaces and software, that to have everything properly integrated is very difficult - every piece of hardware from different manufacturers has a different driver and setup procedure, and all the various pieces of software need separately seting up. Also, the problem that every addon comes across is the limitations of the FS SDK.
So, I have decided to develop a "hybrid" system of soft- and hardware which includes:
a) an FS aircraft addon (model/FDE)
b) software simulation system (see below)
c) hardware ("traditional" cockpit building!)
The "software system" mentioned above will run on a second computer and includes several modules:
- system logic (the system logic will be completely external to FS - i.e. not programmed as gauges, but as a separate Windows application). This will overcome the limitations of the SDK, and will allow for things like sounds being triggered from a multichannel sound card.
- glass cockpit main and standby displays: programmed using XAML using the WPF (CLR 3.5).
- Quasi "Class III" Electronic Flight Bag (obviously excluding the video surveillance system, but including Moving Map, Moving Airport Diagrams, Electronic Documentation, Charts etc.).
- Aircraft Configuration Module: configures the aircraft and displays - all the settings will be made here. In addition, differnet ops procedures can be selected for different airlines (the choice of airline can be made in this module).
- Flight Planning / Ops - planning the flight, printing the routes and details etc, setting the aircraft loading and fuel etc etc etc...
- Hardware I/O interface: an interface to simplify the connection of hardware to the system (incidentally, the hardware will connect to the system PC, NOT the FS PC. The system logic will communicate over the network with FS).
Another part of the EFB will be defining new XML schemas for vector enroute charts and electronic documentation.
Now, while a lot of the above has already been achieved for FS, there is currently no completely "integrated" system dedicated to a certain aircraft.
As for the aircraft itself: 777-200LR. Why? Firstly because I adore the 777, and secondly, because it is the only aircraft I have an almost full set of documentation for (Ops manuals, MMEL, Training Manual, AMM etc). Oh, and an ex 777 captain is a very good friend of mine ;)
If anyone has any comments or ideas for "features" that they would like to see in system like this, then please let me know! I am looking for constructive ideas for features. This is a HUGE project, and could well be 2 to 3 years very hard work (as well as a couple of FS iterations down the line), but everything has to have a beginning :D
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will have a website with a far more structured description of the project.
As I mentioned before, the complete source code will be released under the GPL. The development environment I am using is Visual C#/C++ 2008. A lot of the system logic will be definied in MatLaB/SimuLink, and the code generated from that.
Thoughts and ideas welcome!!
Cheers,
Martin