Simulator Family

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 August 2010 15:44 Written by Wayne Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:13

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H Scientific's simulators are designed to provide a synthetic environment for testing control systems.

The simulator family comprises:

  • Ship Sim 3 - ship simulator - supports IEC 62065, ISO 16329 and ISO 11674 standards for autopilot accreditation,
  • AUV Sim - generic underwater vehicle simulation,
  • Airship Sim - generic airborne vehicle simulator, developed specifically for airship simulation,
  • Ship Sim 2 - 3D ship simulator.

All of these simulators provide extensive infrastructure:

  • Environment modelling including the effects of turbulence, sea bed, surface waves and atmospheric pressure, temperature and density variation with altitude.
  • Suites of sensors including multiple GPS, gyrocompasses, inertial sensors, pitot/static sensors, fluxgate and Doppler velocity sensors and many more.
  • Each sensor is capable of transmitting data via serial ports, using the appropriate protocols (NMEA, AIS, PD6, TCM2) for connection to chart plotters and other displays, as well as an external control system.
  • Where appropriate (e.g. pitot/static and rate gyro devices), direct analogue outputs are available via H Scientific's GENIE® analogue interface modules.
  • AIS interface (ShipSim 3 only), Radar interface (ShipSim 3 only) and NMEA 2000 interface.
  • A data logging facility which outputs data to industry standard MAT format.
  • A fully user-configurable console with displays including compass tape, dials, digital and LED-style readouts, and control sliders.
  • External input support via serial messages or by direct analogue connection.
  • Joystick support via H Scientific's proprietary Genie® joystick interface module.
  • A suite of autopilots algorithms have been developed and tested on a range of vehicles. These are self-tuning algorithms which 'learn' the vehicle dynamics by performing a short sequence of manoeuvres; thereafter the optimal controller parameters are applied. The available controller algorithms include the following:
    • Heading control,
    • Speed control,
    • Track (waypoint) following,
    • Vehicle following,
    • Hovering / Dynamic Positioning,
    • Attitude and depth control.
  • Sea trials datalogging: the same system may be used for logging real data from sea trials,
  • External view option available for all simulators.

Ship Sim 3 can interface with third party physics models, using DLL interface source code, with function calls which are filled in by the user and compiled under Microsoft .NET® framework. Similar interfaces may be provided for AUV Sim and Airship Sim if required.

In AUV Sim and Airship Sim, the vehicle is assembled from a menu of components such as ducted fan thrusters, control surfaces and main body elements. A powerful machinery allocation system allows each thruster to be attached to a control channel which may be connected to a slider and to the control system. Each actuator is user-programmed with servo rates and limits.

Ship Sim 2 offers a full 3D external view and is suited for training applications.

© H-Scientific 2010