CAP Mission Simulator

[Robborsari]

I guess an operational pause is a good time to bring this up.  We are going to run a tabletop instead of a sarex this weekend.
I have a couple of systems set up to run FSX and the Abacus Civil Air Patrol Search and Rescue package

I am going to try having a projector for the front view, a monitor for the observer to run the becker and MFD and a monitor
for the scanner set to the left rear view. 

I also have a  4 place intercom so everyone could wear headsets.
I am also using franson GPSgate so I can capture the GPS position, display the flight in google earth and use it to geo tag photos.

Has anyone done anything like this?  Any suggestions?

[Eclipse]

We've discussed doing something similar, but the risk is that the whole day becomes about
the simulator setup and mucking around with that and no mission work is actually done.

You should be able to come up with inputs for the tabletop without complicated technology.
Beyond the spinup paperwork and team composition, tabletops are generally about mission
staff information processing, not field work.

[davidsinn]

monitor
for the scanner set to the left rear view. 

Any suggestions?

Speaking as a scanner this particular part is a waste of time. It's not useful to stare at simulated ground. For the pilot and MO there is training value. Recording the GPS track is a great idea because the base staff can practice processing it.

[a2capt]

Actually.. yes, almost. I did setup something similar, with cadets in mind, back in 2006 when the Abacus package came out and it worked reasonably well for whats involved. After discussing it with some people it was "Thats too much work", "thats just a lame game" and lack of enthusiasm basically let it dwindle.

As I even have an actual AST Hawk simulator in the house now, though the simulator is not nearly functional as it's not complete. It was gutted for desk ornaments, I have managed to utilize portions of it in conjunction with X-Plane.

That someone else is interested .. makes me kinda want to do it again Heaven knows I have enough PC's in tablet form, netbook, et al, to make something reasonably similar checklist and action wise, instead of just sitting and talking about it.

But yes, complete with intercom and radio chatter as I have a Ramsey Electronics aviation receiver that essentially listens to the entire ATC spectrum, being near a VOR that is a fix for two nearby airports, and otherwise being in one of the most busiest pieces of air space, outside of the NYC/Hudson tourist and heliport mecca, it can be a semi-realistic experience with all of that kind of stuff setup right.


The almost was, at the time, morale was pretty much shot for ES training due to many factors and it didn't get used much when interest waned after the reactions I got from people. ... time to try it again

[Robborsari]

Radio chatter is a good idea.  I can hook up my handheld receiver to the intercom and listen to approach.  I am not sure about the lack of utility for scanners.  With the ground cover cranked up the trees are pretty realistic and the crash site is pretty small.  It will not really teach anything about recognizing crash sites but there is certainly opportunity to practice your scan pattern. You also can direct the pilot to maintain position in the turns and position the airplane for photographs. 

[a2capt]

While I was posting, and got distracted, and came back, the other replies were posted too-  I did come to the conclusion that "setting this up" was the better part of a couple hours,  and seemingly not worth it for the outcome unless the participants were going to be serious about it. Though our unit does have a large enclosure that is outfitted with a projector screen and 'chute' for a projector light throw,  and mounted Flight Yoke and instruments. With the addition of a computer outside it's a non-moving flight simulator enclosure. If we have electricity, we could even bring it to air shows, street fairs, etc- and it's got an air conditioning unit that attaches to it. 

My goal was to set that up as an ES training device, but at the time the amount of hardware that would have to be left installed was not really financially feasible, as I was not in a position to fork over my own stuff.

OTOH, with x86 hardware being fairly plentiful .. and newly sparked interest in ES, perhaps .. it may be worth it. Meanwhile, perhaps I can work with setting up a similar thing using the AST simulator too, and leave it setup since it's got a place to stay .. 





Sans most of the instruments, and the radio stack, this is what I have. As I said, it's been gutted to become desk ornaments, but I have the complete mechanicals and flight control computer for it, and have utilized some of it with X-Plane, and FSX where I use an FSX multi-monitor setup and have one for just the panel, using an EPIC card and a few PICs setup to do analog to USB conversion,to utilize the controls and switches that the AST Hawk has. OTOH, if I were to find another AST simulator at a surplus sale, I could make a complete unit with both of them.


As well, I have a couple of these SimHawk Pro (Control Vision) table top panels gotten with the intention of re-purposing them to be made into USB devices for making a portable version of the setup.

Perhaps this is the time to mess with this some more.. So next year when the budget mess repeats itself.. ;-)

[Robborsari]

Those are very cool.

[JeffDG]

We've discussed doing something similar, but the risk is that the whole day becomes about
the simulator setup and mucking around with that and no mission work is actually done.

You should be able to come up with inputs for the tabletop without complicated technology.
Beyond the spinup paperwork and team composition, tabletops are generally about mission
staff information processing, not field work.

Well, we are going to run the ICP separate physically from the "Staging Area" where the aircrews will be operating, so we'll still be doing staff work while the pilots are messing with the sim!

[JeffDG]

Radio chatter is a good idea.  I can hook up my handheld receiver to the intercom and listen to approach.  I am not sure about the lack of utility for scanners.  With the ground cover cranked up the trees are pretty realistic and the crash site is pretty small.  It will not really teach anything about recognizing crash sites but there is certainly opportunity to practice your scan pattern. You also can direct the pilot to maintain position in the turns and position the airplane for photographs.

I wonder if we could use another channel on the CAP radios...we have some ATC guys around, perhaps we could sim ATC...

[Spaceman3750]

a2capt -

Could you abandon the instruments and use a couple of LCD monitors to fashion a G1000 setup?

[a2capt]

I've thought about that, remaking the instrument areas on both sides with a monitor inserted, and the existing bezel to simulate instruments, and possible G1000 with a bezel swap. The less inviting thing about a G1000 setup is a lot of what you do with the G1000 is pressing those side buttons, and I've not found a touch screen that fits in that area yet, with a native sized monitor for it. Though the same with the OBS/selector knobs if doing round dial but that can easily be done with a USB converter, or EPIC card input from a surface mount pot sitting right where the knob would be.

But I keep holding out that I'll find enough unwanted instruments that I can make them work using stepper motors and telemetry output from X-Plane via D to A using PICs, BASIC Stamps, etc. Or, of course, another gutted simulator. I mean, a working one would even be better, but .. I'm figuring it's much more realistic wish for at least parts

[starshippe]

   sounds really neat. i wish i was close enuf to come see it.

   might u set up the rmi to some obscure user waypoint, and use it to simulate real (simulator) time becker df bearing info?

   if ur using recorded video from a simulator, why not have the scanner looking for something thats actually on the recording?

   let us know how it works out, pls.

bill

[Robborsari]

The simulator was a big success at the tabletop.  The crews who used it said they really got into the mission.  We had a photo route to follow and along the route they picked up an ELT.   The Pilot and Observer used one 37" monitor for the forward view and the scanner had a seperate 28" monitor running on another machine for the side view.  We used shared cockpit mode in FSX to share the airplane between the two computers.  The scanner took photos of what was on the monitor at the target points and of the crashed airplane. 

I also used Franson GPSgate and FSUIPC to record the nmea track and process the photos with robogeo.  You need to be careful of the time if you are going to do that.  We constantly had problems with the clock on the simulator being off.

It was very instructive to go back and forth between the cockpit and the staff and see how effectively the crew was communicating what they saw and what they were doing to the staff.