Swedish Flight Simulator Adds G Forces

jonerik writes "According to this article in Aviation Week and Space Technology, Sweden's Dynamic Flight Simulator (DFS) is believed to be the first flight simulator which actually allows fighter pilots to experience G forces under simulated conditions. Designed and built by California-based Wyle Laboratories, the DFS is essentially a flight simulator capsule (in this case for Sweden's JAS 39 Gripen fighter) located at the end of a 30-foot centrifuge arm. 'We wanted to give pilots the ability to "fly" and interact with the environment rather than just be a passive [centrifuge] rider,' said Will Roberts, program manager for Wyle Laboratories' DFS programs. 'We've come a long way in being able to translate the six degrees-of-freedom you get in an aircraft into the three degrees-of-freedom that we can control in a centrifuge. It's not perfect, but we think it's pretty good. There's room for more research to make it even better.'"

Comments

1,900-kw Motor

[Taboo]

...the use of a smaller drive motor. Wyle chose a 1,900-kw. Westinghouse DC motor originally designed for steel mill applications, connected directly to the centrifuge-arm drive system. It delivers about 7 megawatts of peak power in approximately 100 millisec

If that's smaller, what was the bigger one??

Re:1,900-kw Motor

[sharkey]

about 7 megawatts of peak power...If that's smaller, what was the bigger one??

1.21 jiggawatts at precisely 88mph.

Enlighten me...

[ghettoboy22]

What is it exactly that the Swedish use these fighters for? Don't get me wrong... I think every country should be entitled to a proper defence force, but are these planes simply sitting on the ground, or are they getting some use? It's some pretty impressive technology the Sweeds have, so one would hope they're actually putting it to use. I'm just thinking that I can't recall hearing in recent memory of a Swedish border conflict, or a Swedish peace-keeping force. Is there anyone out there more familiar with Swedish military history that could enlighten us /.'ers?

Re:Enlighten me...

[Wyatt Earp]

Sweden was a big power back in the 15th-17th centuries, then the rise of Russia stole thier thunder.

In the Second World War they got really spooked by the Russian invasion of Finland and ramped up thier aviation industry by licensing German designs, then British designs and tossing that in with home-grown technology while making a profit from selling raw materials and arms to both sides.

In the Cold War Sweden took a slightly pro-western approach but was openly neutral, and thats when thier aerospace industry really took off.

They had a series of 3 great fighters from the 50s to the 80s with the J35A Draken, J32B Lansen and JA37 Viggen.

During the Post-War/Cold-War era the Swedes also bought American and British aircraft, araments and technology.

The current fighter the Swedes are building is the Gripen, there have been foriegn sales - Switzerland and South Africa IIRC and Saab Aerospace has been bought by British Aerospace recently.

The Gripen is less "home-grown" that previous Swedish fighters

Flight control system, product series 1, Lear Astronics, USA
Flight control system, product series 2, Martin Marietta, USA
Basic engine F404, General Electric, USA
Air conditioning control, Hymatic Engineering,UK
Landing gear, AP Precision Hydraulics,UK
APU and engine start aggregator, Microturbo, France
Emergency power and transfer, Lucas Aerospace, UK
Inertia navigation, Honeywell, USA
Cannon, Mauser-Werke, Germany
Ejection seat, Martin Baker, UK
Main generator, Sundstrand, USA
Hydraulic system and transfer, Dowty, UK
Brakes, Aircraft Breaking Systems, USA
Fuel system, Intertechnique, France
Sidewinder AIM-9 AAM, USA
AMRAAM AIM-120 AAM, USA

http://www.sci.fi/~fta/sweden4.htm

ASDD

[SparkMan]

I used to work for Wyle in San Antonio where they had a forerunner to the DFS called the ASDD (Advanced Spatial Disorientation Demonstrator). It was basically a cockpit the could rotate like a gryoscope and was mounted on a large, rotating motion base arm.

You can see the cockpit here:

http://safety.kirtland.af.mil/magazine/htdocs/ma rm ag97/mar15.htm

Look behind the visible screens (which make up the simulated flight control tower). The fun part is inside the round cockpit behind the glass. That part spins around to produce up to about 3 G's. You can't see in this picture but the cockpit rotates around like a 30 foot circle once it gets going, plus it spins around it's own center.

See also:

http://safety.kirtland.af.mil/magazine/htdocs/ma rm ag97/mar1005.htm

Older technology, but still cool. In that lab we used to study how different kinds of motion would fool the inner ear. Such as, a pilot who is taking off and who looks over his shoulder at the ground will experience a balance illusion that will throw off his perception of "down". If he is not trained to compensate, and is distracted by other circumstances, this illusion can easy cause him to bank the plane into a crash.

Re:Sweedish suburbs?

[October_30th]

That's not a mistake.

Both Finns and Swedes (don't know about the Norwegians) design national highways so that parts of them can be used as runways - improves the dispersion of the planes.

That was actually one of the quoted reasons why Finland opted for the Navy version of F-18s: it won't break down if you bring it down hard on a short, bumpy runway.