Has anyone already done this ? GPWS

[JBaymore]

I am guessing that is should be possible to implement a reasonable GPWS emulation that would activate the GND PROX and PULL UP annunciators, be "silenceable", and also plays the appropriate .wav sound files ("TERRAIN TERRAIN" / "PULL UP" / "ALTITUDE" / "TOO LOW FLAPS", and so on) at the appropriate times.

The data about the various GPWS modes is readily availabel........ it is the simulator cockpit emulation that I haven't seen. There are guages for virtual panels that do this... but the data stream is not "accessible, to my knowledge.

I am anticipating that FS2Phidget and Phidgets can play a part in this idea.

SO... instead of reinventing the wheel here... I am looking for input as to how others might have approached it.

Suggestions?

best,

.................john

[alandyer]

John,

Hmmmmmm. Interesting thought.
Height above ground is available as FSUIPC offset.
There is the Rate function (rising terrain).
One can assign sounds.

Might just be possible for TERRAIN/PULL UP.

Try it out and let us know.

I have to tell you this is dangerous work.
You will need to fly low in various configurations.
If anything happens we will hold a memorial service for you at the local.
I will also have to remove disclaimer in manual.
"No simulator pilots crashed during the making of this product".

[JBaymore]

Alan,

Oh... geezzzz.. I don't want to spoil your perfect FS2Phidgets safety record. ;) I am aware of the risks ...... but being a skilled test pilot ...... I am willing to accept such necessities for the furthering of aviation and avionics research. :cool: Of course, every precaution possible will be taken to assure that no undue risks are taken on in the development of this device. :D



The main problem is that the various functions are not totally straightforward computations. A couple of the modes are pretty easy. But most of them are not.

I don't want to have to revert to doing the whole thing in VB6....... but that might actually be the easiest route. Problem is that I have NO knowledge of Phidgets access out of VB at this point. So it'd be a "learning curve" as they say.

Maybe a future "module" within FS2Phidget might be a "condition generator" that allows the programming of complex math and logic functions in order to activate a Phidget function? Just a thought.


best,

.................john

[alandyer]

John,

Support of complex functions has being tossed around to support control feel and centering.

Bear in mid, FS2Phidgets is essentially a hardware-to-application interface.
Is not intended to perform systems emulation or flight modelling.

Doesn't Dreamfleet have GPWS support ?
Seem to recall it does.

Regards,
Alan.

[alandyer]

John,

Couldn't you program this using pmSystems ?

Regards,
Alan.

[JBaymore]

Alan,

Project Magenta may be some fantastic stuff... but it is WAY out of my budget!!!!!!!! I am a "budget" simpit builder.

For those doing replicas of exact aircraft.... say an A 320 or something....... the cost of the panels and replica hardware from places like FDS adds up really fast. So the percent of the total cost of the project that the PM software adds is a small percentage of the total costs. (Anyone undertaking such a project has more money available to it than I do.)

But if the rest of the pit is being done "on the cheap" PM stuff is a HUGE relative expense. If it weren't for some of the free stuff (such as yours) and the less expensive stuff like Phidgets and FSUIPC/ WideFS... I would not be undertaking this project at all.

I don;t know Dreamfleet but there are aircraft panels that have this GPWS stuff already... my BAe 146-200 has it. But getting to the "hooks" in the programming to interface it to the hardware is not easily possible.... at least that I can see. Does Dreamfleet supply the methods to hook into their panel instrruments via some sort of "offsets" or something?

best,

...............john

[vinz_A320]

Hi !!

PMSound make it possible.... for free... try this !!! and you can configur it quite easily

Vinz

[JBaymore]

Vinz,

I have PMSounds. As far as I can tell ....... it cannot duplicate all the modes for the GPWS... it takes a lot of math and logic to get that working. The logic is not all simple "If A then B" things.

Also PMSOunds will not output for activating lights.

If you know something I don't know........PLEASE explain :) .


best,

....................john

[Steve Daly]

John, there is a freeware GPWS guage available at Flightsim.com under the filename of rcbgp-33.zip. You might be able to check it out and see if it would help at all.