Better aerodynamic models

Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:31 pm
avatar  jurrien
#1
ju

First, I really like your simulator and I will probably buy it soon. The main reason for buying the sim is the oculus rift support, thank you for adding this, I love it!!!

Like with all simulators, I think the aerodynamic flight behaviour is not perfect compared to when you fly a real rc heli.

To improve your models you would need some real world test data. This test data could come from accelerator / GPS / … sensors found in every smartphone or flybarless module.
While flying the real rc helicopter this data could be logged and imported into your simulator to improve the aerodynamic flight behaviour models.

You could have 2 situations

If you work together with a Vbar vendor like Mikado everybody could make log files.
The user could do a calibration flight where he has to perform certain predefined flight patterns with his real rc heli.
eg
1 take off pitch up - pitch down 10 times -> would give you calibration data for lift versus pitch stick position.
2 make 10 piroeuttes -> would give you calibration data for piro rate
3 make 5 stationary rolls -> roll rate in relation to stick positions
4 make 5 stationary tumbles -> tumble rate in relation to stick positions
4 make 5 hurricanes
5 make 5 funnels
6 make 5 piro flips
etc

with all this data you could calibrate your models so that the users real rc heli flies almost exactly like in the sim.

You could also work together with some top pilots and heli manufacturers where you could put some really good sensors in the heli.
Let the top pilots fly complex manoeuvres and see if your aerodynamic model is correct or not for this type of heli.

In my opinion most simulators are not realistic with certain types of manoevers like
tick tocs
funnels
hurricanes
...


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Wed Nov 02, 2016 6:47 pm
#2
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Hi Jurrien,

of course, we have done this. But when you take for example 10 real Align T-Rex 700X helicopters which were built by 10 different pilots, then you have 10 different flying behaviors. For sure.

A pilot selects one of our 4 presets and adjusts the parameters to match his own setup. For beginners, we have defined 4 setups: Soft, Medium, Hard, Extra (is mostly a setup made by a factory pilot).

All the best,
Klaus

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin 700 Competition CE, MR25, Katana S 33%

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Wed Nov 02, 2016 7:19 pm (Last edited: Wed Nov 02, 2016 7:20 pm)
avatar  jurrien
#3
ju

Ok that's good news, but have you really done the mapping for e.g. backwards inverted hurricane or a big funnel?
I meet of lot of RC heli pilots and many let me fly and setup their helicopter (I mainly setup & fly Mikado or Align with Vbar). I agree not all fly the same but I still have not seen any Sim that is close to those real rc helicopters.

Most sims have problems with:
High speed fast direction changes
hard tick tocs
fast backwards inverted hurricanes
funnels

Things that work really well in most sims including yours
piro flips
pitch up pitch down
rainbows


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Thu Nov 03, 2016 12:32 pm
#4
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Hi Jurrien,

and what exactly is the problem in neXt?

I'm asking because my real helicopters also have problems during high speed fast direction changes. Also when I fly very hard. Then I notice that my FBL gets immobilized for a very short moment. A few months ago, I have tested a V-Bar and saw the same problems.

All the best,
Klaus

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin 700 Competition CE, MR25, Katana S 33%

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Thu Nov 10, 2016 10:43 am
avatar  jurrien
#5
ju

Well this is the kind of discussion I was trying to avoid ;-)
It is difficult to say with words what the problem exactly is. And I really like your sim, don't get me wrong, I just bought it this week.

In general I would say;
my real Vbar helicopters fly better, like on rails, in funnels, hurricanes, piro funnels, than with neXt.
my real Vbar helicopters fly worse, more unpredictable in hard manoeuvres like hard tick tock, high speed direction changes than with neXt.

Another problem is autorotations with neXt.

It would be a nice feature if I could go to the field with my Vbar helicopter, do a couple of autorotations, take the log file (GPS, stick position, RPM, orientation,...) and upload it into neXt to calibrate the autorotation module in neXt.

I could do the same with a helicopter of a friend who wants to learn autorotations, so his helicopter behaves the same in autorotations than in the neXt simulator. This would be a big help for students.

I would pay extra for such a feature.


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Thu Nov 10, 2016 11:19 am
#6
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Hi Jurrien,

I think it's no problem to add two sliders. One for increasing the stabilisation during moves with are causing low vibrations and one for destabilise the system in moves with a high level of vibrations. At the moment I'm working on some other features. So, I'll add this when I have time.

All the best,
Klaus

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin 700 Competition CE, MR25, Katana S 33%

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