Today the first new SimStack Low Current Motor Driver boards rolled off the production line, ready for our latest simulator project.
The SimStack Low Current Motor Driver board has been created to allow control of up to 8 small DC motors. This is a very flexible board that can find many different and innovative uses in any simulator.
Each motor can be controlled in both speed and direction as well as being commanded to freewheel and brake, depending on the requirements.
Some examples of how this new SimStack board can be used are listed below:
Operate small motors attached to gauges such as an altimeter or trim gauge
Control Air core motors (Sin & Cos), such as those found on car instrument clusters
Single direction resistive gauges, such as a temperature or pressure gauge
Bi-directional resistive gauges such as a turn or slip indicator
In September Simulator Solutions commissioned their latest 747-400 simulator built with genuine, unmodified panels and parts.
The delivery flight with Rod from Simulator Solutions (right).
This simulator has been constructed over the past 18 months from former Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-400 B-HUF and has 32 SimStack interfaces that are used to connect:
OEM synchros and resolvers in throttles, controls and gauges
OEM Korry switches and annunciators
OEM ARINC 429 devices including RCPs, MCP and Transponder
Throttle motor drive and interlocks
OEM solenoids and stickshakers
Retrofitted OEM CDUs
Various other OEM controls, lamps, sensors and circuit breakers
The 6 display units featured on the flightdeck are a new product produced by Concord Aerospace who also sourced many of the OEM panels and instruments to complete the cockpit. Visuals are provided by Lockheed Martin Prepar3d v4 connected to three Optoma HD projectors, and the whole simulator is connected with over 5.5 kilometres of wire in 100 looms drawing approximately 70 amps of current at peak load across multiple DC and AC supply circuits.
The aircraft avionics and flight simulation is of course provided by Aerowinx Precision Simulator 10 (PSX), and additional free community tools are used to interface with Prepar3d and provide other addon services.
Originally retired in 2014 having accumulated 102,639 flight hours and an estimated 90,000,000 kilometres of travel, the flightdeck of B-HUF has now been restored to operational status to educate and entertain for many years ahead.
The Starting Point
When we first arrived in Belgium we were presented with a bare shell.
Looms Installed
The looms had been assembled in Sydney and shipped prior to our arrival.
First Power Up
The first major milestone - the cockpit comes alive for the first time since it arrived in Belgium.
Side View of SimStacks Layout
A look down the side of the simulator during installation of SimStacks connected to the center pedestal
Front View of Simulator
The installation of SimStacks operating the MIP. The modularity of SimStack provides the option to distribute the interface boards in the most logical way with the most convenient wiring runs.
11 SimStacks Hanging on a Wall
These SimStack boards boards control the Overhead Panels inside the fuselage.
Installation Completed
All components installed and system testing underway.
First Flight
Lined up at the end of the runway and ready for the first flight.
Delivery Flight
She flies beautifully!
Visual System
A view of the screen, projectors and fuselage as provided by Motion for Simulators.
Happy Customer
Rod from Simulator Solutions with the Happy customer.
Simulator Solutions have developed the SimStack Distribution board to replace the highly successful SimStack Ground Board.
The SimStack Distribution board was developed as a result of feedback from customers who found they needed to aggregate more than just ground connections. This new board has four independent voltage busses, allowing greater flexibility when building wiring looms.
This new board is available with the traditional spring connectors or optionally with the Wago 733 series connectors.
Please visit the SimStack Distribution board page for more information about the board and pricing.
SimStack boards can now be ordered from Simulator Solutions with optional pluggable connectors.
The Wago 733 series pluggable connectors provide the following benefits:
Spring loaded for ease of wiring
Keyed fittings to make each connector unique
Included with strain relief brackets
Allows looms to be fully constructed before installation
Provides easier field servicing of SimStack boards
SimStack boards can be ordered with standard spring connectors, Wago 733 series connectors or a mixture of both. The Wago connectors add approximately US$25 to the cost of each board.
Over the last two weeks, Simulator Solutions have worked to bring a former Cathay Pacific 747-400 cockpit back to life as a simulator using SimStack and Genuine 747-400 parts.
Simulator Solutions created new wiring looms connected to SimStacks to support the genuine 747-400 parts. Once onsite we installed the wiring looms and mounted the SimStacks around the cockpit. We then installed the Overhead Panels, Main Instrument Panels and Centre Pedestal panels. In addition we installed a new DC Auto Throttle motor and connected the original Aircraft Control Synchros and Throttle Resolvers to SimStack cards.
In total, we installed 26 SimStacks, 4,000 metres of wire and used 1,200 new pins in 106 cannon connectors! There are 329 Digital Inputs, 31 Analog Inputs, 272 Outputs and 416 Ground connections in this project so far.
Below are some pictures taken during the installation project in Belgium.
The Starting PointWiring Looms InstalledOverhead Panel SimStacks
If you are in Orlando, FL drop by our Simulator Solutions stand to see SimStack in operation.
This is also the official launch of our new Synchro and Power Monitoring boards that provide SimStack with even more capabilities.
We also have a demonstration of SimControl, a web based control and management interface that can bring together simulator data and diagnostic information in one display that can be access from a PC, tablet or even mobile phone.
You can find us at Booth 419 in the main exhibition hall.
Simulator Solutions are delighted to announce that their SimStack hardware is now compatible with Bihrle Applied Research Inc’s DSix flight model development and host software. The launch customer for this new interface is Off Planet Simulation and their new Dauphin AS365 N3 multi-crew helicopter simulator.
The ability to link the SimStack hardware interface provides a new level of flexibility for Simulator Builders, especially those who want to harness the use of genuine cockpit parts. SimStack can interface directly with OEM aircraft hardware without the need for time consuming and expensive modifications. Being able to use the genuine aircraft hardware greatly improves the realism of the simulator and also reduces build time.
SimStack hardware communicates with DSix over Ethernet utilising Simulator Solutions SimStack Switch software that translates hardware movement into the specific variables that DSix requires. The use of Ethernet communications removes distance limitations found with traditional hardware and results in a single Ethernet cable being used to connect hardware to software.
For more information about the SimStack to DSix connection, please contact us.
Simulator Solutions are delighted to announce another new product has joined the SimStack family – the SimStack Power Monitoring board.
The SimStack Power Monitoring board is a core part of Simulator Solutions comprehensive simulator monitoring suite.
The SimStack Power Monitoring board can simultaneously measure the current and voltage of up to 4 DC power busses. Up to 4 SimStack Power Monitoring boards can be added to any stack allowing the monitoring of up to 16 independent power busses.
The information from the SimStack Power Monitoring board is displayed on our customised HTML5 based web interface. The Simulator Monitoring suite can monitor environmental, the position of maintenance hatches, doors, access gantries, etc. Other temperature, pressure, position and status sensors are supported by the SimStack Monitoring Suite providing total simulator monitoring on your customised interface.
Simulator Solutions are delighted to announce the launch of SimStack Synchro.
SimStack Synchro is a unique product that provides a direct digital interface to both Synchros and Resolvers. SimStack Synchro mounts to a SimStack Foundation Board and can provide up to 4 Rx channels and 2 Tx channels with a rotational accuracy of 0.1 degrees. A SimStack Synchro Daughter board provides the ability to drive the Tx and Rx channels at different voltages and frequencies to suit a wide variety of hardware.
SimStack Synchro will be displayed on the Simulator Solutions stand at the 2018 IITSEC conference in Orlando, FL starting November 26.
Simulator Solutions are excited to be exhibiting at I/ITSEC 2017 in Orlando, Florida!
I/ITSEC (Interservice / Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference) is the world’s largest modeling, simulation, and training conference and runs from Monday November 27th until Thursday November 30th.
Our stand features demonstrations of SimStack in action and a special sneak peak of our latest Synchro Control Board.
We will be on hand to answer questions at Stand 2729 in the main Exhibition Hall, adjacent to Concord Aerospace. The Concord Aerospace stand features a number of genuine aircraft components controlled directly by SimStack.
