A mathematical model of force on control column of a low-cost flight simulator

Abstract

The personal computer based aviation training device (PCATD) is a type of low cost flight simulator which is widely used in the general aviation industry in procedural flight training. Apart from visual effects, a PCATD does not provide trainee pilots with the same physical experience as the physical feeling they receive in actual flights. To improve the fidelity in flight control of PCATD for our Diamond DA-40 trainer aircraft, a force feed-back system is proposed for one of the flight control systems, the control column in the cockpit. The core element of this proposed system is the mathematical model to simulate the resultant forces on the control column when a manoeuvre is performed. This mathematical model considers the general aerodynamic forces exerted on the control surfaces, and the specific aerodynamic forces caused by the configuration of the aircraft, the static forces and dynamic forces along the control transmission systems. This model is two dimensional only, pitching and rolling, which are performed by the control column. A special regime of detecting the movement of the control column with visual analysis is developed due to the dimensional and regulatory restrictions in a cockpit. The force feed-back on the control column following the movement of the control is calculated by the model. The results of the calculations explain the features of the components of the total force on control, which will assist the planning and implementation of applying this force model in the simulator. References Edward Lewis Houghton and Peter William Carpenter. Aerodynamics for engineering students. Elsevier, 2003. AC Revised Kermode, edited by RH Barnard, and DR Philpott. Mechanics of flight, 1996. Savern L Reweti, Andrew Gilbey, and Lynn Jeffrey. Efficacy of low-cost PC-based aviation training devices. Journal of Information Technology Education-Research, 16:127–142, 2017. Yoonsu Nam. Qft force loop design for the aerodynamic load simulator. IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, 37(4):1384–1392, 2001, doi:10.1109/7.976973 . Garrett Weinberg and Bret Harsham. Developing a low-cost driving simulator for the evaluation of in-vehicle technologies. In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications, pages 51–54. ACM, 2009, doi:10.1145/1620509.1620519 .