I will post pictures here as I get them.  This is a year long project so...  It might be a long time between pictures

Portable Virtual Helicopter Simulator (PVHS)

            This paper will help describe the function and basic layout of the PVHS.  This document is subject to change, lots of them, and should be reviewed regularly to keep up to date.  There is also a hand written journal that may contain more up to date information and test results.

            The PVHS is a self contained Helicopter flight simulator based on Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X ,  DoDo Flight Simulation’s Bell 206, WidevieW network software, and FXEarth with Google Earth for external mapping.  This simulator will consist of 13 high end computers 15 monitors contained in a 6’ by 6’ by 8’ enclosure.  There will be internal seating for two people with a full set of Bell 206 flight controls for one.  There will be one external 22” monitor with FSEarth and Google Earth presentation for observers.  The entire unit will be fully transportable with a standard single axel trailer with a 2” ball hitch.  Estimated weight when complete is 1,300 lbs with only 600lbs tongue weight.   Estimated power consumption at full power is 3000 watts.  The unit will have its own roof mounted air conditioner and external power connection.  A 3500watt portable generator may be used where power connections are not available.

            The PVHS will have two access doors, one on each side, and one main avionics bay access on the front of the simulator.  Construction material will consist of basic pine or fir for the frame, rigid foam insulation, ¼” and 1/8” plywood for the skin.  There will be two single person seats in a side by side configuration with a communication console in the middle.  The main scenery display will consist of two rows of 5 19” wide screen monitors.  Each monitor will be responsible for displaying a 30 degree by 20 degree area of the sky.   This gives a total sky representation of 150 degrees horizontal by 40 degrees vertical.  The main gauges will be displayed on a 19” and 15” display.  The Google Earth presentation will be cloned on one 15” internal monitor and one 22” external monitor.

            The avionic bay will contain all of the major electronics systems.  The 10 scenery computers will be mounted in a 5 across by 2 down configuration replicating the actual position of the monitor in the scenery display.  Below them will be the main WidevieW server, Google Earth server and communication server.  To the right and left of these will be two 1500 watt APC UPS units for power conditioning and protection.  The Avionic bay will have cooling and air motion fans on the bottom, top, and side.  The air will flow from the cockpit, which is air conditioned and out the top of the PVHS.  Compartment, and computer temperature sensors will alert the operator in the event of an over temperature condition.  Avionics bay temperature will not exceed 85 degrees.  This area must be well insulated and vented.

                The construction of the PVHS will begin in earnest in April of 2009.  The expected completion date is April of 2010.  There is currently several proof of concept and software testing/configuration trials going on.  The construction of the enclosure will begin with a build out of the 6’ by 8’ floor base.  This will consist of a 2x4 ladder type frame covered with ½ high quality plywood sheathing and painted with exterior grade flat black acrylic paint.  Next will be the avionic bay main enclosure.  This will be framed in 2x2 pine with ½” plywood for the computer mounting wall.  The exterior of the avionic bay will extend the entire length of the PVHS.  The front of the avionic bay will contain a 36” wide by 48” opening door that must open even when attached to the tow vehicle.   The inside dimension of the avionics bay are approximately 6’ by 6’ by 2’ which leaves the cockpit dimension of 6’ by 6’ by 6’.  With an eye distance to the main displays of 32” this leaves >40” for passenger/pilot seat space.  The interior color of the avionic bay will be bright white while the cockpit will be flat black.  Cockpit lighting will consist of two/three small led spot lights and the LCD display panels.

                Controls for the PVHS will consist of the standard helicopter controls, cyclic, collective, and pedals.  All three controls will be custom made and the mechanical input connected through a potentiometer to an axis input of the BU0836X  USB convertor.  The 4 axis and all button contacts will go through this convertor to the main simulator server system.  The overhead panel will be a replica of the Bell 206 so the actual startup procedures can be followed.  The panel will be based on what the DoDosim projects uses. 

                The cockpit instrument panel will be a single 19” standard display centered in front of the right side seat.  A GPS or Google Earth moving map will be displayed just to the left of this on a 15” display.  The few switches that would be on the real 206 instrument panel will be on a small switch box just to the right of the instrument panel.

                Several software packages are used for the PVHS they include but are not limited to:

o   Microsoft Windows XP Professional W/SP3

o   Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe

o   Microsoft Flight Simulator Acceleration Pack

o   Luciano Napolitano’s WidevieW for FSX

o   Luciano Napolitano’s WideTraffic for FSX

o   Luciano Napolitano’s FSEarth for FSX

o   Google Earth

o   Flight One Software  FS Global 2008 Scenery X

o   DoDoSim’s Bell 206 Real Flight Helicopter

Physical dimensions and basic drawings

            The basic structure of the PVHS will be wood covered with mason board outside, insulated with rigid foam, and covered inside with ¼ plywood.  This will provide for strength and durability as well as keeping the cooling air inside and hot air out.   The outside dimensions will be 6’ wide by 6’ high by 8’ long.  This provides for the cockpit of 6’ by 6’ by 6’ and avionics bay dimensions of 6’ high by 6’ wide by 2’ deep.  The base of the PVHS will be built first and consist of 2” by 2” structural supports covered top and bottom with ½ plywood.  The top (which will be the floor of the PVHS will be high quality plywood.  The entire base will be painted with exterior grade flat black latex paint.   The upper part of the PVHS will consist of two separate compartments, the avionics bay and the cockpit.  The cockpit will contain the 10 scenery monitors,  two gauge monitors, FSEarth/Google earth monitor, pilot and passenger seats, flight controls, server controls and ambient lighting.  The avionics bay will contain the 10 scenery computers, PVHS Server, FSEarth/Google Earth computer, communication computer, UPS power protection, shared KVM, and cooling fans.

Computer and software setup

            Now let’s look at the computer setup.  As mentioned there are 10 scenery computers each suppling video to one 19” wide screen monitor.   The ten monitors are arranged as two rows of 5 with a zoom factor of 1.45 for all 10 monitors.  The top row covers from -8 degrees to -28 degrees, the bottom row covers from -8 degrees to +16 degrees.  The horizontal coverage of 150 degrees is divided up as such; the front monitors cover from +/-15, the front/right=front/left monitors covers from +/-15 to +/- 45, the left/right monitors cover from +45 to +75.  Again this is providing coverage of 150 degrees horizontal and 40 degrees vertical.  The monitors are placed 32” from the center eye point and are physically angled from each other to match the angle of coverage.  The front monitors are flat and all other are angled 15 degrees from the monitor adjacent to it.  All monitors are set to 1440x900 with a 60 Hz refresh rate.  Not all computers are identical put are at least a multi-core system with 2GB RAM and a 200GB Hard Disk drive.  Network communication is via a 176.16.4.xxx IP network with a 255.555.555.0 subnet mask.  The host IP address start at 100 for the server and left to right increment from there .101 left top, .102 left bottom and so on. IP address .111 is the FSEarth/Google Earth PC and .120 is the communication server providing Internet and external network access.  Each scenery workstation will have the exact same FSX files and settings.  All reality setting will be off or at the lowest setting.  Scenery, aircraft, weather, and traffic MUST ALL be identical and as high as a 30fps rate will sustain.   All sound option will be off.  The fsx.cfg file must configured for wide screen monitors and no red text banners.  There will be no Welcome screen on any computer and the default flight will be called DoDo Bell 206 and start immediately.   The server should be started and fully up and running before the scenery computers are brought online.  I will run a copy of Folder Clone to replicate the FSX directory data after each change.

            After testing the FSEarth/Google Earth interface I will be setting this up with a Spot Plane view on the external monitor.  This may grow to be a 32” flat panel.  Several bugs still exist but nothing that’s too big to overcome.  I am going to look at lower resolutions for the scenery monitor but still maintain a 16/9 aspect ratio.  The current 1440x900 setting seems to be to big of a GPU load.  I get sluggish response and choppy display.  The 19”WS monitors are a 16x10 aspect monitor but I’m hoping that a 16x9 aspect (1280x700) will be acceptable.  I am also looking at upgrading the server to a dual or quad core system.  I want two or three monitors on it for gauges and need the AI traffic updates to occur faster.

04-04-09  I installed a new server (Zeon 3.2ghx W/4GB Ram)  AI traffic updates are fast and smooth.  I have no stuttering and the best performance to date.  I can maintain 24fps with scenery set to ultra high on all scenery computers.  I am currently using a custom 2D panel (see pictures).  I am going to put a 7x1 surround sound system in the server.  With this sound system all ATC traffic only comes out the center speaker which is what my headset is connected to.  I will be installing the far right and far left scenery computers this week.  They are quad and dual core systems.  This will complete the 5 scenery test setup.  Then all that left is the remaining five bottom scenery computers and of course all the building to hold all this stuff.  I am currently drawing 1750 watts with all 7 computers and accessories running full speed.   I think I put 5 hours of setup and 3 hours of flying into it today.  Tomorrow I'll work on making some of the controls.

4-25-09  Time for an update.  I have settled on just 6 scenery monitors.  I tried to get WidevieW to give be a good down display but the trapezoid effect was much to great so...   I have 4 19ws for the main scenery and two 19ws for the upper level scenery.  All the scenery monitors are set to a zoom of 1.42 and a res or 1152x864.  There are only three scenery computers with each one handling two monitors stretched out to 2308x864.  I get a great FPS of 25 and very little to no stuttering.  They are each at +-30 degrees.  The top two are centered at 0 degrees.  The bottom ones are set to a pitch of -5 and the top ones are set to a pitch of -31.  This ensures that I don't end up with the horizon always in the middle of the monitors.  Since a helicopter runs most often with a little nose down attitude it works out great.   I am going to use this setup for the final build.  The monitors are just resting on the desk and held together with electrical tape for the test setup.   I'll keep the internal spot and FSEarth monitors located almost right where they are.  I have set an eye distance of 27 inches from the center and this works great.  I have added some MegaScenery data to the setup and it sure is nice to fly in.  As soon as the DoDo is out that will most likely be the only bird I fly on this.  Still have all the controls and seat and..... to build though.