| Article: 20268
From: [email protected] (Stephen R. Munday)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: PILOT faq
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 11:40:36 -0600
Organization: NASA-JSC-EG2
The following is a FAQ on the PILOT project, as originally posted in other
groups (e.g., rec.av.simulators and sci.aeronautics) by Bill Overton and
Jim Squires.
------------------------------------ cut here
--------------------------------
:
: Here is a list of some of the various questions I have received and their
: answers in no particular order. If it doesn't answer your specific
: questions, feel free to drop me an email.
:
: William T. Overton
: [email protected]
: (713) 333-7705
:
: ==================================
: *Some Frequently Asked Questions:*
: ==================================
:
: *What is PILOT?
: Put simply, the Portable In-flight Landing Operations Trainer (PILOT) is a
: portable computer with a very high fidelity shuttle flight model, high
: resolution graphics, and it's own Rotational Hand Controller (RHC) used on
: orbit by the shuttle Commander (CDR) and pilot (PLT) to maintain landing
: skills during shuttle flights. Put more technically, PILOT is a
: self-contained tool consisting of a portable SPARC II compatible computer
: with a 15" High-Resolution color flat panel, interfaced with a dedicated
: Rotational Hand Controller (RHC) and running the following software: A
: modified SunO/S 4.1.1 UNIX, a rehosted version of NASA's Shuttle
: Engineering Simulator (SES), and graphics with pilot selectable
: out-the-window with Heads Up Display (HUD) or a partial instrument panel
: (Graphics based on a Kinetic Visuals product called VisionForm).
:
: *What is PILOT's purpose?
: PILOT is a Detailed Test Objective (DTO #667), and will be tested on
: shuttle flights STS-58, 61, 62, 63, 65, and 67. After those flights, PILOT
: will probably become a standard item on future shuttle flights. PILOT's
: written objectives are the following: The purpose of this DTO is to verify
: that the PILOT simulator will assist the CDR and PLT in maintaining the
: highest possible level of proficiency for the end of mission approach and
: landing task on extended duration orbiter flights through the use of an
: on-orbit trainer/simulator which strongly reinforces visual cues over the
: temporal, proprioceptive, and otolithic cues. This on-orbit
: trainer/simulator will also give the CDR and PLT a tool to combat the
: degradation of motor skills in the landing task while demonstrating the
: ability of current technology to provide a useful, portable in-flight
: landing simulator.
:
: *Are the actual computer displays used?:
: The orbiter CRT's are not used, but a partial SPEC 50 is provided on
: PILOT's instrument panel along with a simulated Attitude Directional
: Indicator (ADI), and a Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI).
:
: *What if the CDR crashes during the sim?:
: I guess he would be embarrassed, but it won't have any impact on anything
: (except perhaps the confidence of his/her fellow crew members :)
:
: *Are any graphics used to simulate the window views?:
: Yes. The out-the-window with HUD view duplicates the same field of view
: offered to the CDR's design eye. During use, the PILOT computer is placed
: directly in front of the PLT side HUD, and the PILOT RHC strapped to the
: orbiter RHC. This allows users to sit in the PLT's chair and fly PILOT
: very much the same way the CDR or PLT would fly the orbiter (in terms of
: view and control placement) This, of course, doesn't apply to using
: PILOT's simulated instrument panel.
:
: *Is it based on a NASA certified space shuttle simulator?:
: Yes. It is a nearly unmodified version of the SES. The SES, located at
: the Johnson Space Center in Houston, is the primary shuttle simulation used
: to evaluate engineering issues, especially related to the flight control
: system. The only changes made for PILOT were changes necessary due to
: moving the SES code from it's Cyber 962 main frame host, to a UNIX
: workstation, and for additional capabilities specifically needed for PILOT.
: PILOT and the SES are still intimately coupled, and therefore, PILOT will
: benefit from all future SES upgrades with little or no additional effort
:
: *Who wrote the simulation?:
: The SES has many authors. It was originally developed from an Apollo sim!
: But...I assume you mean for PILOT. Well, I did the vast majority of the
: simulation support (rehosting etc.) but was assisted by Bob Reitz and Huyen
: Diep. We all work for Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company and
: support NASA EG2. Our job is SES support (PILOT was a welcome bonus! :)
: Jim Squires and Cleon Jones of Kinetic Visuals ported their off-the-shelf
: product VisionForm to our machine for graphics support, and supplied the
: first versions of the Edwards AFB landing scenes. Al Strahan of NASA wrote
: the crew interface, including some excellent data displays that mimic the
: Shuttle Training Aircraft data displays (thus the astronauts are familiar
: with the format). Several other people had contributions including
: Mcfarlane's ADI and Swaim's HSI, both rehosted from other applications.
: The RHC guys, Johnson, Brock, Chen, and Fwu. And we never could have done
: it with out Dave Jossi taking care of all that political stuff that
: engineers tend to forget. Charlie Justiz and Major General Joe Engle are
: the co-principle investigators and tell the rest of us what to do. :) Joe
: is largely responsible for getting this whole thing pushed through from
: concept to commitment. Bob Hinson served as Chief, keepping it all going!
:
: THAT will teach you to ask who. To anyone I over looked, I am genuinely
: sorry. One thing that we are most proud of is that this all went from
: concept to on-board ready to launch in well under a year! It was used
: on-orbit 10 months after someone asked me "What if...?"
:
: *What do the astronauts think of it?:
: As far as I know, they love it. Many astronauts were consulted during the
: entire development of PILOT and we took their comments very seriously and
: tried to tailor it (interfaces, capabilities, etc.) to their requirements.
:
: *Can it simulate micro bursts?:
: It doesn't, but it easily could. Currently we give the user several
: pre-defined wind profiles to chose from or, they can define their own wind
: via the menus. Some of the user options include: Mass Properties (x,y,z
: cg and Mass), initialization location (Mach=.95, 30 degrees prior to final,
: 10k, 3.5k), left or right HAC, winds mentioned above and more. We tried to
: give enough capability to be flexible, but not so much it became too
: cumbersome to operate. Just as a side note, the flight rules prevent
: shuttle landings in micro burst conditions.
:
: *What phases of the landing does it cover?:
: For PILOT we chose to start the simulation at Mach = 0.95 or below. The
: only reason being because that's where the CDR typically takes over. PILOT
: can be easily adapted to fly from as early as Major Mode 304 (in fact I
: flew from Entry Interface to wheel stop one day).
:
: *How often is it run during a mission?:
: Depends. Currently it varies. One of the objectives of the DTO is to
: determine what usage patterns will be best. Should they fly every day, or
: just the last day, or something in between? When it flew on STS-58
: (PILOT's first flight) it was flown by the CDR and PLT on flight days 5 and
: 12(?). On STS-61, the CDR and PLT only had time to fly on flight day
: 11(?). As busy as 61 was, we were lucky to get manifested.
:
: So far, the crew seems to have decided that the best way to use PILOT is as
: a team. On STS-58, the CDR, PLT, and MS2 all worked together during the
: simulated landing. With the CDR flying, the PLT and MS2 made their calls
: just as they would during the landing.
:
: *Does PILOT take into account differences in specific orbiters?
: No. But it easily could. It is true that there are small differences in
: the aerodynamic characteristics between the different shuttle vehicles.
: These differences are primarily used for engineering analysis, and are
: therefore available in PILOT (since PILOT comes from the SES). The reason
: they aren't used normally is because the orbiter's sophisticated flight
: control system makes them pretty much unnoticeable. i.e.., if the stick is
: centered, a zero rate command is sent to the flight control. It then moves
: the surfaces to the correct positions to achieve this command. Thus, the
: only "real" difference when using the vehicle specific aero is different
: aerodynamic trim surface positions.
:
: *Does PILOT use a targeted weight and CG?
: Yes. Before each mission, a default weight/CG is defined. These are best
: guesses of what the day of landing conditions will be. In addition to
: this, we have also faxed conditions to the crew concerning weight/cg and
: current or projected wind conditions that they can then load and use in
: PILOT. This might eventually be done via an electronic transfer, but for
: now it is strictly manual.
:
: *Does PILOT display landing performance numbers after wheels stop?
: Yes and no. (my catch phrase :) Yes we display *many* performance
: parameters, but no we don't run to wheels stop. It easily could, but since
: PILOT doesn't have rudder pedals (just the RHC), we decided to stop the
: simulation at nose gear touch down. As far as the data goes... Upon nose
: gear touch down, the PILOT's pilot is shown 5 plots displaying altitude and
: altitude rate, RHC inputs, and lateral runway placement. After the plots,
: we display about 27 specific parameters such as altitude over the
: threshold, touch down velocity and position, glide slope deviations, descent
: rates etc.etc.etc. These parameters are displayed in the same format for
: PILOT that they are for the Shuttle Training Aircraft so that the pilot can
: find the information more easily.
:
: *Is PILOT available to the public?
: The short answer is, no. Why? Well...the first and most obvious reason is
: because PILOT is specifically tailored to run on our high power UNIX
: workstation (40mhz SPARC II compatible, 32M RAM, 20M disk space for PILOT)
: that doesn't happen to be available for general sale here in the states.
: Another is because NASA doesn't own the rights to the proprietary graphics
: software. My understanding is that individuals can request the NASA owned
: code for whatever by going through some process (don't ask me). I suppose
: then that the user could provide his own graphics, or buy/lease the
: existing from Kinetic Visuals (KV). The KV software is Silicon Graphics
: (SG) based, and therefore a port of PILOT to an SG would be the easiest.
|
| From: US4RMC::"[email protected]" "John Magliacane" 31-JUL-1994
To: [email protected]
CC:
Subj: * SpaceNews 01-Aug-94 *
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0801
* SpaceNews 01-Aug-94 *
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