Please note that I'm not a software developer. The programs that I wrote
probably look extremely crude in the eyes of the more experienced
software writer. But they seem to get the job done, and that was my only
goal.
The software examples in the various chapters are loose bits and pieces. I
did not (yet) write a full program that combines all these different cues,
but with some cut and paste, renaming some variables etc, it could be done
without too much effort.
 | To get FS data from main FS computer to motion software computer, there are two great utilities available: CHComm and Portdrv. Details about these utilities and extracting data from them is described in Data Extraction. A special page is added for the Portdrvr Utility |
| My first experiments were based on taking the derivative of roll and pitch. Interesting, but not really successful, see Roll & Pitch Derivative |
| Slow platform roll motion can create the aircraft banking effect. Washout (back to center) can be applied when there is no more change in bank angle. See Roll and Washout |
| On the runway, the wheels going over the runway grooves can be added by inducing small bumps in platform pitch. Bump frequency and amplitude can be made dependent on aircraft speed and braking, see Runway Effects |
| During take-off, the buffeting during rotation can be added by adding high frequency vibration to the platform roll drive, see Take-off Effects |
| How to get the touchdown "bump" is described in Landing effects |
| Turbulence effects can be added by adding random vibrations to both pitch and roll axis, see Random Vibrations |
From the above, it can be seen that various parameters from Flight Simulator are needed to trigger certain motion cues.
For experimenting with suitable waveforms I used Excel sheets: see motion.xls
Below is a list of parameters and their motion effect possibilities:
| Aircraft pitch: 0~255 (1 byte) to be used for tilting the platform during climb and descend. Also used to determine rotation during take-off |
| Aircraft roll: 0~255 (1 byte) to be used for detecting aircraft banking |
| Airspeed: 0~255 (1 byte) to be used for detecting forward acceleration / deceleration |
| Gvalue: 0~255 (1 byte) to be used for detecting pulling G's, especially during turns |
| Engine RPM 0~255 (1 byte) to be used for differentiating between
landing and take-off Status bits: |
| Wheels on Ground (main gear and front wheel) (1 or 2 bits) to trigger runway groove, take-off buffering, landing bumps |
| Flaps (1 or 2 bits) for triggering flaps vibrations |
| Airbrakes (1 or 2 bits) for triggering airbrakes vibrations |
| Gear up/down (1 or 2 bits) for triggering gear transition and gear down vibrations |
| Overspeed (1bit) for triggering overspeed vibrations |
| Stall (1bit) for triggering stall vibrations |
| Brakes (1 bit) for triggering extra deceleration, extra runway grooves
bumps |
Optional (nice to have): Slip Indicator (1 byte), Yaw (heading, 1 byte)