Synthetic ILS instrument- For every Runway at every Airport

Hi.

You need / must tap the square to the left of the nimbers, not the numbers.

Amazing work

Thank you sincerely for all your efforts!

Yes, I have tried that and it does not toggle rwy

navirn79

 

It does work , I presume you have read the included PDF notes .

 

The following are the steps ,

1. click the lower " NRST " button , Page 1 will appear .

 

2. Page 1 , you MUST select or enter an airport ,

Page 1 shows a list of the 16 Nearest airports , click on one of those lines , the selected airport

will show up at the bottom of that page .

OR

click on the top Right " ICAO " button , then type on your keyboard any 4 character ICAO

using only small case alphabet letters , it will then automatically progress to Page 2 .

 

3. Page 2 shows a list of all Runways that exist for your previously selected airport ,

you MUST make a runway selection by clicking on a line , the selected runway MUST appear

in orange coloured text , proceed to Page 3 .

 

4. Page 3 , the display will be for one of the Runway ends , the other end can be toggled simply

by clicking the top Right " RWY " button .

This display will provide all relevant data and graphics about the , Airport , Runway , where your

aircraft is relative to the Runway , and Approach guidance .

 

To get it to work you Must as stated above select , firstly the Airport , then a Runway .

 

Please carefully try the above , it will work .

 

Cheers

Karol

Edited September 19, 2018 by COBS

Yes, I have followed all of the instructions very closely. When I hover over the rwy tab it appears to be giving me the option to select, but when I click it does not change the rwy. I am using in FS2004. Has anyone else been successful with fs2004? I am likely doing something stupid, but I cannot get the rwy to change.

 

navirn79

 

You are doing everything correctly .

 

In FSX I entered KORD Chicago O'Hare , then selected Runway 09R-27L ,

just as in your shot , I toggled the "RWY" button and it worked fine .

 

BUT what I noticed was that the top line of the display differed ,

In your shot ;

- next to "RWY" button you have 095-275 , and to the right Rwy Hdg 95.0

 

In my display ;

- next to "RWY" button I have 090-270 , and to the right Rwy Hdg 89.9

 

That difference has me baffled ? ? .... very odd .

 

Could you please try at some other Airports to see if it works at them , and please report your findings here .

 

Important ;

Could any others who have tried this instrument in FS2004 please advise if it is working for them ,

any response would be appreciated .

 

Cheers

Karol

PS;

At reply #17 it was stated that it works in FS2004 .

Edited September 19, 2018 by COBS

Karol - I have tried many airports in USA and none have worked.

 

Still a very cool feature. I enjoy toggling between airports enroute to destination. I am still trying/practicing to figure out how all the features work. Thanks

Here's a screenie of an attempt to integrate Karol's AILA gauge into a current WIP. First, I have a 1920x1280 screen and the default size of the gauge is a bit too small for my less than perfect eyesight. To get the size shown in the pic I have edited the panel.cfg entry for window05 as follows:

 

[Window05]

Background_color=0,0,0

size_mm=120,155

pixel_size=297,270

position=2

visible=0

ident=2017

zorder=25

gauge00=ILS_MFD!zzDAT37, 0,0,120,155

 

The change concerns the one line beginning with 'pixel_size'. If I am not mistaken, 'pixel_size' is an absolute setting, so the size will be identical across all screen aspect ratios.

 

On a side note, as you can see, I have tried to create an interface between AILA and the 'Monitor' gauge that I am using in some of my projects (C-47, B-50, and the WIP Beverley in the pic). On finals to rwy 24 of EDDK the AP has picked up various values from AILA, such as airport elevation as well as bearing and distance to the rwy. If needed it can also pick up bearing to and altitude of the intercept point, or fly a parallel runway heading. Note that rwy 24 has an actual ILS (IKOW) as shown by the visual flight path rectangles, but that's merely for cross-checking. At this point the pilot mainly adjusts speed, flaps, and vspeed. It's more difficult than using the default approach function of the AP, but then AILA can take you to strips that do not have any navaids at all.

 

http://imghst.co/99/oCNFrlSe!J.jpg

In FSX, so far airports in the States show up fine here. FS9 I cannot check.

 

Perhaps make sure Battery and Avionics are ON; also try starting the engines?

 

Karol, I have the gauge checking parameter set in my FSX.cfg and the system identifies some errors (mainly the use of ';' but a couple others as well) -- do you want a list?

Edited September 19, 2018 by mjahn

Hi everyone.

I can confirm that it will not work properly in FS9 ver.9.1. I get the same results as Nav....

I tried having the ILS_MFD folder in both the Gauges and Panel folder

Karol, I have the gauge checking parameter set in my FSX.cfg and the system identifies some errors (mainly the use of ';' but a couple others as well) -- do you want a list?

 

Hi mjahn

 

Yes please , I would like to have that list , thank you for the offer .

 

*******************

Hi navinr79 and flytv1

 

Thank you for the responses .

I was wrong , this instrument does not work in FS2004 .

 

That puzzles me , it will take some considerable time to investigate why it is not working ,

hopefully in future I can get it to work in FS2004 .

My apologies to FS2004 users .

 

Cheers

Karol

Hi mjahn

 

Regards your reply # 33 .

 

1. Thanks for the tip about pixel size , ( pixel_size=297,270 ) .

That's interesting will try it .

 

2. Regards what you are doing as detailed in your shot , it's so cool , I love it .

Several years ago I contemplated an ' Autoland ' idea which was basically along the lines

what is now in Page 4 of this instrument with added features .

The idea being to tag a landing location , capture it's , Lat/Long , synthetic runway heading , and

Elevation , generate a glideslope leading back to a Intercept spot , then generate several spots that would prescribe a curved path from the intercept to the aircraft's current location .

All these spots ( Lat/Longs ) generated by a flexible GEOCALC .

The spots would be entered as a series of waypoints in a flight plan terminating at the touchdown spot on the synthetic runway , and could be flown on autopilot to an autoland .

A complex project but it could be done .

 

At that time I was creating my ' Mission Adaptive Flight Plan ' editor which ended up being

8 pages in the other MFD , so I was side tracked and went no further with the autoland .

Latter on , purely by coincidence I tried to replicate the AILA that existed in the real world

F-111 , that became what is now Page 4 of this instrument , and naturally that led to the

creation of what is now Page 3 .

 

The actual F-111 aircraft had "AILA" - ( Airborne Instrument Landing Approach) system .

The logic in the real F-111 was that in a war after it returned from it's mission it's airbase of departure would no longer exist due to battle damage.

The AILA system enabled it to generate a runway anywhere ie; road or other flat and firm surface and then conduct an ILS style landing.

The aircraft had high floatation landing gear that could tolerate a less than perfect landing surface , it also had high lift wings that enabled it to land slow on short runways , it can land on most short GA runways , that's rather good for a M2.5 aircraft.

 

So your project sparks a lot of interest in potential and possibilities .

Awesome stuff .

 

Cheers

Karol

Karol, here is the list, extracted from the ContentError log file produced by P3D v3. Error messages in FSX are identical. Note that the clues given may not be obvious, one has to check the actual context to see what (if anything) is wrong, I guess there are some false positives or non-fatal errors.

 

Error: Invalid script (no command is more than 4 characters): "F-111"

 

Error: Invalid script (command not found - perhaps a space is missing or there's an extra space?): ";" in: ;

(L:APT_Nrst_searchNav, number) 3 == ;

(L:Character4, number) 0 == ;

 

[+ all further instances of ';' flagged as errors.]

 

Error: Invalid variable (missing : - did you forget a macro?): @g:enteringInput

 

Error: Undefined Simulation Variable: "Altitude".

 

Error: Invalid variable name: "Altitude"

 

Error: Invalid script (command not found - perhaps a space is missing or there's an extra space?): "True" in: True

 

[error.163]

error=Macro redefinition 'Button18'

[error.164]

error=Macro redefinition 'Button1'

[error.165]

error=Macro redefinition 'Button2'

[error.166]

error=Macro redefinition 'Button3'

[error.167]

error=Macro redefinition 'Button4'

Karol, indeed I followed your Mark Position project when you introduced it at FSDevelopers but didn’t see the ILS potential then. Now given the variables that AILA so conveniently produces, I am wondering if one can set up an AP linkage that makes the a/c follow the proper approach path, or even simulate a pre-ILS period Ground Control Approach with the controller saying stuff such as (soundbites linked in of course!) --

 

Do not acknowledge further instructions. Standby to lose altitude. Begin your descent now to maintain a three degree glidepath. Your heading is good. You are slightly left of the centreline; fly left heading Two five eight. On centreline now. On centreline, on glidepath. Four miles from touchdown. Turn left Two six five. You are coming back to the glidepath; adjust your rate of descent. Obstacle clearance limit is 750 feet. Check your critical height. You are cleared to land. Three miles from touchdown.

Would not that be a scream?

Hi mjahn

 

1. Thank you for the error log , it makes sense , and it provides another avenue to investigate .

 

2. Regards ;

....... Now given the variables that AILA so conveniently produces, I am wondering if one can set up an AP linkage that makes the a/c follow the proper approach path, ...

 

Yes , I think so .

In my last post I mentioned " .... then generate several spots that would prescribe a curved path from the intercept to the aircraft's current location . .... "

That series of spots (Wpts) represents a custom made STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) which is usually the Transition phase that takes the aircraft from the En route segment progressively around to the Approach Axis .

What you suggest could be done in two ways , either (1) using AP Heading Hold , or (2) generate a short flight plan and use AP NAV Hold .

 

Following is for a straight in Approach to a selected runway with eventual 3.00 degree glideslope ,

 

1. automatically set Intercept at 7.8 nm that will give you a Target S-Ht of 2,500' , then

Target S-Ht plus Runway elevation = Approach cruise altitude , set this to AP Altitude Hold .

From Runway Heading subtract the Bearing to obtain a correction value to keep the aircraft

laterally on the Runway Heading Axis , feed this to AP Heading Hold .

This will maintain the aircraft on track in level flight up to the Intercept point .

 

2. At the intercept position the aircraft reaches the 3.00 degree glideslope line .

At the moment glideslope 3.00 is detected ,it resets AP Altitude Hold to the Value of the Runway

elevation .

It calculates a Target VSI to maintain the 3.00 degree glideslope pathway ,

it sets the calculated Target VSI to the AP VSI .

 

That's it in simple terms .

 

Regards the Controller instructions , I presume you would create a Visibility type boundaries based on

distance range and Circuit Width range , then within that Visibility use specific Variable parameter values to trigger each sound statement , sounds simple , but probably isn't .

 

I hope that some of the above makes a little sense .

 

Cheers

Karol

PS ; if you are after code to subtract Bearing/Heading to get left and right corrections

that is covered at reply #17 to # 21 at this link ,

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/k-variable-in-element-section-single-switching.441580/

although that is for the BNS (Bomb Nav System) it applies equally to the above situation .

Edited September 20, 2018 by COBS

Okay, thanks, ... will follow that up.

 

"It calculates a Target VSI to maintain the 3.00 degree glideslope pathway" - any idea how to do that?

 

Would the rule of thumb formula Ground Speed * 5 = vspeed enter into this?

Hi mjahn

 

Unfortunately the Autopilot that comes with the Flt Sim is sluggish in it's response rate .

In an attempt to speed up it's turns I have the Max Bank in the aircraft cfg set at

60 degrees , it does speed it up but it's still sluggish .

 

In the following shot there is an example .

The Radar Zoom is 1 nm ( Dist from A/C wings to horizontal tick under Hdg 038 ) .

The aircraft was on autopilot , you can see it's displacement from the bright green Flt PLn line.

This was moment of bomb release in the BNS below you can see the Diff 14.30 degree Track Error,

as can be seen that resulted in the bomb impacting 854' left of Target (index 03) .

This is the sort of problem that you are dealing with when precise steering is required such as flying an ILS .

 

Cheers

Karol

Okay, thanks, ... will follow that up.

 

"It calculates a Target VSI to maintain the 3.00 degree glideslope pathway" - any idea how to do that?

 

Would the rule of thumb formula Ground Speed * 5 = vspeed enter into this?

 

The following is from Page 4 , if you click at the center several times you get an Overlay

that has a " Target VSI " , it's code is ,

%Tgt VSI %((A:GROUND VELOCITY, knots) 6076 * 60 / (L:Set_GSangle, radians) atg * )%!5d!% fpm%

 

If you are flying , select Page 4 , click top left "MK" button , you will have tagged that location .

Fly a distance away from it and climb to a higher altitude , perhaps 30,000' , then turn back towards the tagged location , the orange bearing arrow will point to top .

 

Click centrally below ILS box till you get an overlay with Tgt VSI xxxx fpm , OK , now pitch

nose over until the ACTUAL VSI value ( the upper one ) exactly matches the Tgt VSI value ,

Maintain the aircraft VSI exactly the same as Tgt VSI , and you will eventually impact the ground at the exact location that you originally tagged with the "MK" button .

( ie; A constant GS value to impact )

 

Cheers

Karol

Edited September 20, 2018 by COBS

Unfortunately the Autopilot that comes with the Flt Sim is sluggish in it's response rate .

In an attempt to speed up it's turns I have the Max Bank in the aircraft cfg set at

60 degrees , it does speed it up but it's still sluggish .

That sluggishness is a result of the settings of the Autopilot's PID controller. I think the default values of the settings is an attempt by the sim's designers to make an average AP that is applicable to a wide variety of aircraft. Anything from commercial airliners to a C172.

 

IF, and it's not easy to learn, for me at least, you understand PID controllers, you can tweak the settings in the aircraft.cfg file for a particular aircraft's responses to the control surfaces.

Then there's R1199 in the .air file. Some of those settings apply, some don't any longer. Some alter the PID controller's responses, some have no effect. Some aren't even applicable to APs. Airfile Manager has the most information I've found on that record so far, but even that's incomplete.

 

You get the best results though, tweaking the settings in the [Autopilot] section of the aircraft.cfg. Just be careful, a small change can have a huge effect down the road.

 

If all this is already known, I apologize for wasting everyone's time. I just wanted to throw it out there...

Pat☺

Hi Pat

 

You are spot on , as far as I am aware the only way to get accurate and smooth control response is with a PID style controller .

 

Changes to the FDE ( .air file ) or aircraft cfg will have some effect but not enough .

 

There are several discussion threads on PID type controller code in xml at FSDeveloper ,

in my opinion it's complex stuff basically it's a complex algorithm that has several levels of

effect depending on the amount of correction needed .

If done right it will deliver nice smooth control and corrections .

 

That sort of project is way above my level .

 

Cheers

Karol

Changes to the FDE ( .air file ) or aircraft cfg will have some effect but not enough .

The AP PID settings are mostly contained in the aircraft.cfg file. Naturally, some custom, 3rd party xml AP's have their own controller settings built in, but the default AP for FSX is, to the best of my knowledge, using the settings in the aircraft.cfg file.

Thus, it's just a matter of fine tuning the settings in the [Autopilot] section of the aircraft.cfg for a particular aircraft. Of course, fine tuning the settings of any PID controller can be a bit of an adventure, no question.

 

There are several discussion threads on PID type controller code in xml at FSDeveloper ,

Yes, I found the one by Heretic the Wiki on Gauge and Panel specifies, and it's super good. Well written, and lots of references. Definately a great article.

 

Really, the concept of the PID controller is pretty simple, but the actual implementation can get somewhat complicated. The actual function of each setting in P I D (which actually names the three controller settings) are very interdependent, and sometimes one or another isn't necessary, so you have to worry about two controller settings. Still complicated to set, but much less so.

 

Anyway, I just thought I'd throw this out there, in case it might be of help for someone. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread posts :D

Pat☺

Further on tips on how to use AILA for an AP guided approach (posts 42 and 43 above), the pic below shows a calibrator aircraft 8 miles out from rwy 024 of EDDK, on an oblique course towards the glide path. At this point we will switch on an AILA guided auto approach and watch where we are going, doing nothing but adjusting airspeed and setting flaps. In addition to the AILA display observe the ‘Vspeed’ and the ‘Offctr’ readouts in panel Test, the AP panel, and the Flight panel. Once the AP is switched on and instructed to act on AILA-derived commands, the a/c will turn left until it intercepts the rwy heading and then attempt to stay on the centerline as best it can. At the same time the Vspeed dynamically calculated by AILA is passed on to the default AP. Note, no intermediate positions had to be marked beforehand, so in principle any runway, ILS-equipped or not, is accessible as a target.

 

http://imghst.co/75/mJ33mnZh2A.jpg

 

These additional clippings show the data from the same approach, 2.7 and 0.6 miles out, respectively.

 

http://imghst.co/100/G=DgqHJO!0.jpg

 

Proof of puddingwise it seems a fairly accurate approach is feasible, but naturally it hasn’t been tested in adverse conditions, or on different a/c types, so it’s still all very much WIP. Lots of fun to tinker with, however, big thanks to Karol for making it possible.

 

--Manfred

Hi Manfred

 

What a wonderful project .

 

That's very impressive , actually it's awesome , well done .

It may be a WIP , but the accuracy that you appear to have there is better that I would have expected , I'm really impressed with what you have achieved .

 

Manfred , should you wish to use the Synthetic ILS instrument in a project or release please feel free to do so , either in it's current state or as you might wish to modify it for your own purposes .

 

Cheers

Karol

Thank you Karol, that's very generous. Yes if I may and if it pans out I'll include it in my current development of the Beverley, a slow and ugly transport plane that was able to drop cargo and land in all sorts of makeshift strips. AILA is just the ticket for that. I'll leave the gauge as and include the documentation etc so that it can be used on its own. Will also test if it works in P3D v4 and hopefully v5.

Hi Manfred

 

Yes use it .

I think your Beverly looks great , it's certainly built for a purpose .

Good luck with your project .

 

Cheers

Karol