True 'Seat Of The Pants' Flight Simulation

You know the feeling... that 'seat of the pants' sensation that cues into the true nature of the flight that you're undertaking... its an innate part of the true world of flight... and possibly the most difficult aspect of aviation to simulate.

But... imagine if some company put as much effort into the recreating the 'seat of the pants' sensations as the sights and more overt motions associated with flying? Well, imagine no more. There seems to be a pretty impressive offering available and ANN got a look at it for the first me at the 2008 I/ITSEC convention late last year. The ACME Dynamic Motion Seat enhances simulation training for any type of land, sea, or air vehicle by providing high-fidelity realistic motion cues to the crewmember -- through an extremely well-engineered seat.

It's a truly inspired device -- with a phenomenal bag of tricks...

ACME claims that their DMS is a cost effective method of providing motion cues to a pilot or other vehicle operator. The seat accurately simulates the inertial cues experienced in the operational equipment whether it be an aircraft or other platform. ACME notes that, "Motion cues are important because they add the realism necessary for the operator to respond more realistically. The pilot first receives cues through the tactile and proprioceptive sensors which precede the information received from the visual scene. In very stable platforms, the need for motion maybe minimal. However, in dynamic platforms, prompt attention is necessary for the operator to maintain control and motion becomes more contributory to the training. Researchers have drawn a distinction between disturbance cues (system failures or external environmental effects) and maneuver cues (controlling the aircraft or other platform). When there is discontinuity between the visual scene and what the operator is feeling on his/her body, the overall effects can be disturbing."

The Dynamic motion Seat offers force cueing with four degrees-of-freedom using electric servos. These cues provide realistic kinesthetic (sense of movement) and somatic (skin pressure) conditions using control algorithms designed to duplicate the training vehicle environment.

Cues are provided via four independent axis of control using three axis of movement -- vertical, longitudinal, and lateral. Independent motions are applied to both the seat bucket as well as the seat pan. Additionally, the seat back has independent motions in the surge and sway directions. The surge motion provides the motion cues for longitudinal acceleration while the sway motion applies pressure to the trainee's side for lateral acceleration motion cues. Combined seat motion is used to replicate roll and pitch acceleration motion cues. A tactile sound transducer placed in the seat pan to provide high-frequency vibrations.

Even the seat's belts and harnesses are modified to operate with a drive linkage that can loosen or tighten, as needed, to emulate positive or negative G-cueing.

Aero-TV Gets Some Seat Of the Pants Simulation Insights Via The ACME Dynamic Motion Seat

FMI: www.dynamic-seat.com, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews