An Integrated, Modular Simulation System for Education ... - Cal Poly

PhEagle I SoftwareThe software originally written for the simulation system has gone throughseveral generations of development. The equations of motion, heads up display andhandling qualities tasks were originally written in c and Fortran for use on a SiliconGraphics workstation. The software was originally encompassed by a project calledPANGLOSS named after the ever optimistic character Dr. Pangloss in Voltaire sCandide [Ref. 26]. The PANGLOSS project has the lofty goals to create a completepackage of software that takes a design from a blank sheet of paper to a flying simulationutilizing a complete set of stability derivatives. The project combines computer aideddrafting (CAD), computer aided Engineering (CAE), computational fluid dynamics andsimulation. As the project matured and PC s become more powerful, the simulation codewas ported to a PC and converted to c++. TCP/IP network socket and A/D D/A driverswere written for the PC s and Graphics were created to work with the Quantum 3D cards.Development of PhEagle IUsing c++ to develop the original software for the PhEagle has allowed rapid andstructured creation of the basic capabilities of the system. The system is run andmaintained by student technicians and researchers. To change the force set up on the stickor verify the flight model requires an expert programmer familiar with the modelingsoftware and hardware drivers. The programmer must have a thorough knowledge of c++programming, the source code, and the hardware as well as control theory. The c++ codeis powerful and flexible and allows the system unlimited expansion. It does require asubstantial investment to learn how the various parts of program code and hardwareinteract.21