Advances in Science and Technology Research Journal Volume 7, Issue 17, March 2013, pp. 51–55 Review Article DOI: 10.5604/20804075.1036998 FLIGHT SIMULATORS – FROM ELECTROMECHANICAL ANALOGUE COMPUTERS TO MODERN LABORATORY OF FLYING Adam Zazula1, Dariusz Myszor2, Oleg Antemijczuk3, Krzysztof A. Cyran4 1 Silesian University of Technology, Institute of Information Technologies, e-mail: [email protected] 2 Silesian University of Technology, Institute of Information Technologies, e-mail: [email protected] 3 Silesian University of Technology, Institute of Information Technologies, e-mail: [email protected] 4 Silesian University of Technology, Institute of Information Technologies, e-mail: [email protected] Received: 2012.12.28 ABSTRACT Accepted: 2013.01.21 This article presents discussion about flight simulators starting from training simula- Published: 2013.03.15 tors, applied in military and civil training tasks, up to the domestic simulators. Article describes history of development of flight simulation equipment. At the end of this paper new unit of Silesian University of Technology – Virtual Flight Laboratory – is presented. Keywords: flight simulator, history of flight simulators, virtual flight laboratory. INTRODUCTION the development of such devices was the intro- duction of steering drives and mechanisms setting The development of modern technology is the position of the cabin. The first such construc- closely dependent on computers and digital tech- tion was built in 1917 in France. niques. The use of proper tools allows for con- In 1929, along with the first commercial structing new appliances and enables efficient flight simulator called “Link Trainer” (and also trainings. Effective skill development is possible “the Blue Box”, due to its colour) made by Link with different types of simulators [2]; they are Company, the branch of planes started its sudden incredibly significant in different branches of in- development. This was caused by the interest of dustry, as the only safe and effective method of military commanders in the simulators. It was no- training in many cases. Also in case of aviation ticed that simulators allowed for trainee’s adapta- industry the need for ground training was recog- tion to flight instruments, acquisition of habits and nised very early. The history of flight simulators skills necessary during the flight but also allowed reaches the beginning of 20th c. and starts soon training for dangerous flights e.g. in a situation of after the Wright brothers’ first flight in a motor limited visibility (what is particularly important aeroplane [6]. One of the first available simula- in military situations) in safe circumstances. tors reproduced the rudder elements of Antoinette After a series of primitive flight simulators in 7 plane. It was made of two half-barrels piled in 1941 Wing Commander Iles constructed a fully such a way that they were in a state of unsteady automated pneumatic simulator Silloth trainer. balance. Sitting in the cockpit, the pilot attempted One of the first devices of this series reflected a to set the crosswise gauge in balance with the C100 DF plane and was used to train cabin crews horizon with the use of rudder. The instructor in navigation. Later versions simulated two- or observed the rudder, and on the basis of his own three-engined bombers. The flying fortresses experience, decided about the position of the con- of that time required a cabin crew of a number struction. The first milestone in the early years of of people, therefore, it was essential to train the 51 Advances in Science and Technology – Research Journal vol. 7 (17) 2013 whole crews in communication techniques and SEL 32/77. This gave the foundations to build their preparation to react appropriately in crisis fully digital simulators, also the amateur. The first situations. simulator for domestic use was designed at the The first drafts of electronic simulators were turn of 1979. The project was started by Bruce made as early as in 1929 in Germany. However, Artwick, making the versions available for Apple no simulator was build according to this proj- and TRS-80 computers. The version from 1980 ect. In Great Britain, at more or less that time, screened the world made of 36 squares sized c.a. a project by G.M. Hellings based on electrome- 1 km making a grid 6x6. There was also a hangar chanical analogue computer was designed. The with an airport and mountains. project assumed simulating the characteristics In 1982 Microsoft started cooperation with of different types of planes. Mechanical version Bruce Artwick and a company called Sublogic, of this project was made by General Aircraft what resulted in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Limited and functioned in Empire Central Fly- simulator had Cessna plane panel and the im- ing School. In 1943 Bell Telephone Laboratories ages of 5 cities (Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles produced a simulator of PBM-3 plane. It was and New York/Boston). The simulator required built on the basis of the plane cockpit with rud- an IBM PC class of computer with a processor der instruments operated with a primitive com- clocked 4.77 MHz and 64K of RAM memory. In puter calculating the flight parameters. In the 1983 another version for Apple computers was same year, Curtiss-Wright Corporation, headed released. It had the base of 80 airports, buildings by doctor Dehmelem, built an advanced simula- and bridges. In 1984 the versions for Commodore tor Z-1 of AT-6 plane, which was steered by a and Atari computers were better developed and primitive analogue computer allowing flights on used 8 colours. Two years later the versions for the basis of instruments. Amiga and Atari ST, due to their better graphical Until 1949 Curtis-Wright sold thousands of processing units, worked in 320×240 dpi reso- their own simulators, with improved analogue lution and used 16 colours. In subsequent years computers to simulate different stages of flights graphics and the texturing were developed. Ad- and types of airframes. Up to then, all the avail- ditional supplements were also released which al- able simulators were used for military purposes. lowed diversification of tasks during flights [4]. The first civil simulator used by the airlines was a In 2006 a version of Microsoft Flight Simulator simulator designed in 1948, reflecting Boeing 377. marked with X symbol was released (FSX). It In 1950’s and 1960’s at University of Penn- showed the whole globe and all the communi- sylvania, simulator UDOFT (Universal Digital cation airports in the world., e.g. all flying club Operational Flight Trainer) was built. It offered airfields in Poland, what proves the coverage and elaborated possibilities to make calculations detailed approach in the virtual world. It is con- concerning the flight. More importantly, the cal- sidered to be one of the best simulators available culations were made in real time. Unfortunately, for both professional and domestic use. After this a large problem in 1950’s was high failure fre- release, Microsoft withdrew from simulator mar- quency of computers, therefore, the work with ket, however the product was developed by Lock- such simulators was interrupted by long service head Martin under the name Prepar 3D. breaks. Apart from the development of simulators the first visual simulators commonly used in and simulating software, there has been a lot of civil simulators were based on physical model of research aimed at improving the effectiveness the terrain and a TV camera that moved in above of trainings [3] and lowering their costs [1, 7] as the terrain to generate views in the cockpit. The well as decreasing the tiresomeness of long-last- camera was initially black and white (1950’s) and ing trainings in such type of device [5]. then colour (1960’s). The first attempts to gener- ate the image fully controlled by computer were made by General Electric. In 1971 McDommel- DISCRIPTION OF SIMULATOR’S WORK Douglas Electronics Corporation built a simula- tor Vital II, which simulated landing at night and In order to describe the operations of simula- screened the images in a fully vectored manner. tors Microsoft Flight Simulator X will be used. In 1980’s a lot of flight simulators were de- The programme is well developed, uses a lot of signed on such computer models as VAX and modern solutions and is the most popular flight 52 Advances in Science and Technology – Research Journal vol. 7 (17) 2013 simulator in the world market. The popularity is precise reproduction of such objects. For this rea- caused by the fact that the simulator can be used son, extensions improving the view of the Earth for both professional and domestic uses. and adding characteristic objects in the area of flights are advisable. Communication in the simulator Another important addition is airports. The simulator was developed in 2006 and since then there is a number of methods of communica- large number of airports were modified or rebuilt. tions in FSX – the producer focused on the most In the original version there are, unfortunately, realistic approach to the problem of communica- no airport buildings and some mistakes happen, tion. Due to lack of possibility to understand hu- what generate a lot of problems during flights man speech by computers, the communication is with VASTIM network. A pilot, who does not made by selecting the text from the list proposed have updated view of the airport can find himself by the computer. Setting the radio frequency is in a situation of landing in the place with no run- done in the same way as in reality – by setting way in VATSIM network. That is why it is so im- the right frequency on a radio panel it is possible portant to have an updated data.