Project JBT B1200 Aircraft Tug

[tl8]

I have completed the first steps of the new tug code. This will be an OO design and needed a bit of modding to the current code.

I have fixed a few bugs as well since last time so I might put out another alpha but don't expect anything

I have no idea how long it will be before the next release, but there might be a new mesh in the works

 

[tl8]

Progress Update:
I have restarted the coding.

Currently the new simulation isn't working yet, but there has been progress. I have started implementing the push algorithm but it will require extensive tuning. Currently I am am expecting major issues with transitions and the initial start up of Orbiter. I am hoping that my estimations will be enough.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

I have a few month of hands-on experience around B400 and B600 tugs, which I can assume will scale up to the B1200.
Couple of noteworthy quirks and features:
-There is ZERO suspension on a pushback tug. Therefor, even the slightest bump can forcibly eject a passenger. (nearly happened to me once)
-There is a noticable trail of rubber embedded into the pavement in the wake of the tires.
-The tug MUST back up about an inch before the pin holding the towbar in place can be removed. This is due to several TONS of shear force acting on the typically 4-inch pin.
-Tugs with sealed cabs for inclement weather have a cable drum on the main body on the driver's side. This is the headset extension. The driver/headset operator (usually, but not always, the same person) plugs their headset into a socket on the center console.
-There is ALWAYS a rotating amber beacon on the cab of the tug, or on a post if there is not a cab.
-I never saw a tug WITHOUT at least two 12 inch long chocks on board. Usually only one is needed, but certain aircraft required two. The Canadair CRJ-200 is a prime example.
-Usually, there is some sort of basket, box, or bucket on board for wands, bypass pins, etc. Where I worked, we used milk crates.

Can't recall anything else of note at the moment. Looking good, though!

 

[tl8]

I have a few month of hands-on experience around B400 and B600 tugs, which I can assume will scale up to the B1200.
Couple of noteworthy quirks and features:
-There is ZERO suspension on a pushback tug. Therefor, even the slightest bump can forcibly eject a passenger. (nearly happened to me once)
-There is a noticable trail of rubber embedded into the pavement in the wake of the tires.
-The tug MUST back up about an inch before the pin holding the towbar in place can be removed. This is due to several TONS of shear force acting on the typically 4-inch pin.
-Tugs with sealed cabs for inclement weather have a cable drum on the main body on the driver's side. This is the headset extension. The driver/headset operator (usually, but not always, the same person) plugs their headset into a socket on the center console.
-There is ALWAYS a rotating amber beacon on the cab of the tug, or on a post if there is not a cab.
-I never saw a tug WITHOUT at least two 12 inch long chocks on board. Usually only one is needed, but certain aircraft required two. The Canadair CRJ-200 is a prime example.
-Usually, there is some sort of basket, box, or bucket on board for wands, bypass pins, etc. Where I worked, we used milk crates.

Can't recall anything else of note at the moment. Looking good, though!

This is interesting, though not that helpful due to the fact that the limitations of Orbiter mean that none of this can be implemented in this century

I have implemented the flashing light though, Loru is redoing the mesh. If you get a chance to take some photos (Even of the smaller ones) it will help with sizes and textures.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

:uhh: I don't work there any more, sadly. And I doubt I can get my sisters to take some pictures for me when they travel after the holidays.

 

[tl8]

Quick Progress update:

I have completed the (initial) code for both forward and reverse (Which has only one iteration). I now have to debug it and add a few more features (Saving and loading mainly). I don't know how long this will take, but I would expect a few more months at least. Hopefully I can get it working and then release a beta.

 

[Mythos]

I very like the idea of this. Any news? I can't find a release in OH. Only got the alpha 0.05 from this thread.

I can start the test scenario with the tug and a XR5 at Wideawake. I can drive forward and backward, attach a towbar front or back. But what then? I must have missed some important information. The readme says sth. about key A or D but A obviously is standard hold alt key, so nothing else happens. Any combination with left shift is always meant as a key for left MFD, so this couldn't be useful either. So what is the key to attach a vessel?

Could this key confusion be avoided if it was a car and not a vessel? There is no need to use any MFD in it.

 

[tl8]

I very like the idea of this. Any news? I can't find a release in OH. Only got the alpha 0.05 from this thread.

Alpha 0.05 is the latest release, when I get more motivation, I will try and finished this current theory and release a beta on O-H.

I can start the test scenario with the tug and a XR5 at Wideawake.

This is a good start.

I can drive forward and backward, attach a towbar front or back.

Again, this is good

But what then? I must have missed some important information. The readme says sth. about key A or D but A obviously is standard hold alt key, so nothing else happens. Any combination with left shift is always meant as a key for left MFD, so this couldn't be useful either. So what is the key to attach a vessel?

You need to be within 0.5 m of the attach point that has the type T (Check the XR5Vangard Test config). This is located at the nose wheel. When the end of the rear towbar is within 0.5m, press A and the vessel should attach.

Could this key confusion be avoided if it was a car and not a vessel? There is no need to use any MFD in it.

Do you mean a UCGO Car? While that would have been nice, there is no way to expand the functionality of a UCGO car.

I would advise changing views to the one without the MFDs (F8), that was included because of a crash.

 

[Mythos]

Thank you for your quick response.

Do you mean a UCGO Car? While that would have been nice, there is no way to expand the functionality of a UCGO car.

Ok, that is is a good reason.

You need to be within 0.5 m of the attach point that has the type T (Check the XR5Vangard Test config). This is located at the nose wheel. When the end of the rear towbar is within 0.5m, press A and the vessel should attach.

I'm using your scenario file where it is a vessel of class XR5VanguardTest, so it has your attachment point defined. I checked it within sim, it is a vessel of that class. I also checked the attachment point is there (attachment point revealer addon) and the one from the towbar matched quite good. But when I press "A" it only switches the hold alt navmode, because its the key for this. This happens wether generic VC is on or not (F8). AFAIK no two actions can be defined for a single key. So when "A" does switch navmode it can't attach anything to the towbar... It may be vice versa in other situations :shrug:

 

[tl8]

Hi All

After a bit of prodding from DaveS, I have a quick update with the tug.

I forget what was in Alpha 0.05 but there is:

• UMMU support
• Complex Flight mode support (You will need to get out to hook up a vessel)
• New Engine Sounds (Thanks DaveS)
• New Mesh (Thanks Loru)
• Save State

The towing is still a fixed bar. I have no idea if this will change.

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6213"]http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6213[/ame]

Readme:

3 Gears Forward, Netural, Reverse
Test.scn starts in N
"W" & "S" increase and decrease the Gear
A attaches and L-Shift A unattaches at the rear buckle
D attaches and L-Shift D unattaches at the front buckle
B attaches and L-Shift B unattaches at the rear towbar (Will create vessel if not created)
V attaches and L-Shift B unattaches at the front towbar
L-Shift H controls the headlights
L-Shift F controls the Warning Lights
L-Shift P controls the Park Brake
E EVA's the selected Crew Member
1 and 2 Selects the Crew Member to EVA
3 Displays UMMU information and the Complex Flight Mode
4 Adds a Crew Member

[COLOR="Red"]L-Control O swaps the complex flight mode option[/COLOR]

Throttle controls the Speed
Max Speed is Accurate
Rudder controls Steering
Turning Circle is also accurate
Sounds are more realistic, but not quite done.
2 UMMU Seats
When In Complex Flight mode, a UMMU must be present in the tug for operation.
Airlock is the Crew cabin projected to the left and right
UMMU Action Areas are located at the front and rear vessel attachment points. When In Complex Flight mode, a UMMU must attach the target vessel.


For child vessels
Attachment point should have a Dir in Direction of travel, Rot should point Up to the sky,  Attachment point must be a child of ID "T"

This Addon is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The sounds in this addon were adapted from the Shuttle Endeavour Moves from VAB to OPF-2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoanDCiXyyg&feature=g-u-u&context=G27b52f8FUAAAAAAADAA
The video was produced by NASA and is in the Public Domain.
Thanks to DaveS for extracting and editing the sound files.

---------- Post added at 09:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 PM ----------

If you are getting the msvcp110.dll missing error, see here.

 

[DaveS]

I am sorry to report that the pitch bug is still present. Not only is pitch motions induced but also roll motions. This of course leads to sudden speed increases.

 

[tl8]

I am planning to do another release these weekend.

This will include a proper manual, some mesh tweaks, addition of more scenarios, a few additions to complex flight mode (I am adding the attached vessel weight so look out) and I hope to reduce the pitch up and roll issues. If anyone has some experience with fixing this, I would like to hear from you.

 

[DaveS]

I am planning to do another release these weekend.

This will include a proper manual, some mesh tweaks, addition of more scenarios, a few additions to complex flight mode (I am adding the attached vessel weight so look out) and I hope to reduce the pitch up and roll issues. If anyone has some experience with fixing this, I would like to hear from you.

Maybe you could take look at the SSU Crawler. It's a surface vehicle and has no problems staying on the ground: https://sourceforge.net/p/shuttleultra/code/1482/tree/trunk/Orbitersdk/Space Shuttle Ultra/Crawler/

 

[tl8]

It seems the crawler teleports rather than moving. On the plus side, the code is readable and I should be able to use some of it.

 

[tl8]

New alpha up on OH.

Currently thinking what my next step is. I think it is going to be movement. Bit of a rewrite again, but it might reduce some complexity else where.

I am sort of thinking about making it electric with a variety of power sources (Including the diesel engine). This would allow me to make an electrical system. Only issue is making a 2D/3D panel for the darn thing. I can design the panel but I would need someone to draw it up and sort out the state of the buttons.

 

[tl8]

For those using the D3D9 client, this DLL should show the missing information on the HUD.

I am going to try and develop a VC that will remove this problem entirely.

 

[Urwumpe]

New alpha up on OH.

Currently thinking what my next step is. I think it is going to be movement. Bit of a rewrite again, but it might reduce some complexity else where.

I am sort of thinking about making it electric with a variety of power sources (Including the diesel engine). This would allow me to make an electrical system. Only issue is making a 2D/3D panel for the darn thing. I can design the panel but I would need someone to draw it up and sort out the state of the buttons.

What about supporting surface base maps and automatic routing? It isn't that hard once you solved the problem of how to describe the data. Since you need no sensors and have perfect knowledge of the situation, task planning and trajectory planning is not that hard.

 

[tl8]

Updated to 0.09 which adds Lua Scripting.
I haven't tested it, so might be good for someone to do that.

I have found some papers that deal with virtual towing. I hope I can use the functions to mimic real life.

 

[tl8]

Now moved to Beta with working towing action.

 

[Interceptor]

Works,and looks fantastic,only found 2 bugs,1.the white strip on the left hand side that shows force fuel ect,ect,shows up in all vehicles,not when just using the tug,2.Tug is still flashing on,and off,I think it could be the same problem as here http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=26347&highlight=niven,.Thanks