2T09 Installation: September 2008

Day 28 - September 29th

I got a chance to fly the sim a little more today, but not on motion. I'm so busy going through the Test Guide results (QTG) that I really don't have any time for just 'playing.'

Later in the afternoon I took a quick clip of the sim being flown by the CAE test pilot with the motion turned on. Not too exciting, but you can see our sims 3 and 4 going like crazy in the background. I'll try to catch a better clip when the sim is dancing a little more than this.

Day 27 - September 28th

Over the weekend testing continued. CAE has a test pilot here who is running some of the QTG manually, which generally requires some pilot skill to accomplish.

I interrupted Henry, who is working on the visual alignment, for a few minutes and took a quick flight around the patch. The visual seems nice and the textures are quite impressive compared to what I'm used to. With the new, much more powerful IG computers the capacity to generate higher detail and support a more 3D environment is so much better. More buildings can be modeled around the airport scene, 3d trees and other components are available and terrain is much more detailed. Have a look . . .

The view from behind tha Captains seat

The view out the F/Os front window

The view from the F/Os side window

A look at LAX from the take-off position

Day 25 - September 26th

While having a look around the sim today I noticed that the shutters had been installed on the projectors. They have been incorporated by CAE to reduce the amount of light permitted through the projection lens during dusk and night scenes. When the instructor switches out of a daytime scene, or the simulated time of day is late enough, these shutters activate and close off most of the light coming from the projector. The picture is not affected, just the total amount of light available. This is done to help maintain clean blend zones. Blend zones are the areas where the picture from each projector overlap its neighbors.

Close-up of shutters installed on a projector

Day 24 - September 25th

Unfortunately, I was home sick today with a pretty bad case of food poisoning . . . or something. There's no photos today, but I'm told that Henry finished the visual geometry alignment and sent the resulting data to CAE so engineers there could evaluate it. Apparently, they can determine if there will be any significant distortion in the visual display based on the data Henry sent them.

We also managed to get the simulator a temporary connection to the internet so that CAE can open a VPN (Virtual Private Network) tunnel from their plant in Montreal. This connection allows the engineers back in Montreal to troubleshoot software and update the simulator remotely, rather than have to fly specialists out here to work on the sim to fix problems. Hooray for technology! Now, if only I could figure out how to do my job while sitting by my pool at home . . .

Day 23 - September 24th

Visual geometry alignments continued and we got a look at the PC-based alignment tool. The alignment seems to be quite involved, but this is just initial setup and it should be much easier after replacing just one projector or for minor touch-ups. We'll have to wait until we work with it a bit to see if that's really how it going to be!

Henry, the visual specialist, doing the initial geometry alignment

A view of the alignment grid with all colors turned on

Alignment grid showing the cursor and only one color turned on per channel

Day 22 - September 23nd

Not much obvious happened today and I wasn't hovering over the crew since I'm deep into approving the QTG right now. I know that visual configuration is still in work and the QTG testing is almost constant. I did notice that the cabinet doors have been mounted on the IG and HOST complexes in the computer room.

Cabinets all closed up except the front door of the Image Generator complex

Day 21 - September 22nd

Setup of the visual system continued most of the day. The cockpit remained powered up and there was a visual presentation. Some more components were added to the visual mirror area.

Jean-Phillipe from CAE and John Sutherland, one of our Engineers, went through the motion Acceptance Test Manual (ATM). This is pretty exciting since we get to see the extreme extension limits of the motion system. Thanks to John Sutherland again for getting the motion pics. Check it out . . .

Visual projectors showing an image, but configuration is not done yet

Cockpit instruments powered up

Maximum forward motion deflection

Clearance between sim and front wall at max forward deflection

Maximum aft motion deflection

Clearance to raised accessway at max aft deflection

Max starboard/aft deflection

Day 19 - September 20th

Today SimX completed the cabling to the projectors and the CAE Visual Specialist mounted the projection lenses and worked on the projector setup. The visual mirror setup appears to be complete and the mirror is stretched smooth with the vacuum pump running.

The non-skid flooring was installed, but the carpet installation was delayed due to a shortage of a special sound-deadening underlayment.

Itegration and QTG testing continues.

Non-skid flooring aaplied to the catwalk area

It's hard to tell from the reflections, but the mirror is nice and smooth

Projection lenses mounted in front of each projector

Day 18 - September 19th

Those brackets for the motion maintenance jack that I introduced yesterday got tested today. A couple of the motion jacks have a small leak at the top so SimX and CAE needed to swap them. included in today's post you'll see photo's of the first jack being changed out. Seems simple, but these jacks weigh in at about 1400 lbs. As always, safety precautions must be adhered to when dealing with this kind of project or someone could end up seriously injured. I ended up chasing a part for CAE so I missed taking pictures of the reassembly, but it's just the reverse of taking it apart.

Also today the visual mirror vacuum pump was started and the mirror was being stretched and adjusted. Visual projector power was applied and the projector setup got underway.

SimX packed their tools and are getting ready to leave since all the heavy rigging and installation jobs are nearly complete.

Jean-Pilippe removes the electrical connections on a leaky jack that will be replaced

The newer-style maintenance jack has a massive bearing on top

Inserting the base of the maintenance jack into the lower bracket

The upper bushing is rotated allowing the jack to be extended into the upper bracket and take the weight of the simulator off of the motion jack

A strap is installed at the motion jack center-of-gravity so the jack will balance when lifted

After finding the "sweet spot" where the minimum amount of force is acting on the upper pin, the pin can be removed freeing the upper end of the motion jack

Oops! Ran outta gas after removing the motion jack

Adjustments being made to accessway ramp 'down' switches

One power cable to a visual projector was found to have a broken wire and had to be replaced

CAE visual specialist, Henry Ng, arrived today

Day 17 - September 18th

Today the QTG testing continued, we ran a cable from the host to an upstairs briefing room for the new Brief/Debrief station and the motion was driven to it's excursion limits. Some more hardware was installed on the motion base and work continued in and around the flight deck.

The visual projectors have been mounted on their pedestals

These two pictures show the brackets where a brace can be installed to support the sim while a motion jack is removed for maintenance.

Sim carpet laid out to flatten before installation

Seems like every time I turn around there's another Engineer on site

Today SimX removed the protective paper from the cockpit windows. The wrinkles you see are the unstretched visual mirror beyond.

The third instructor's seat was removed at the request of the A320 Fleet Manager to make more room in the cockpit. In most cases there will only be one instructor in the sim at a time, so the 3rd seat was extraneous and would most likely just be in the way.

Day 16 - September 17th

The visual projectors have been unpacked and attached to their mounting plates. EMM setup continued and the motion was erected for the first time today. Some of the QTG (tests to ensure fidelity of the simulation to the aircraft) are being run. Our deadline for submitting the initial QTG to the FAA is early in October and there's a lot of tests to run.

Projectors ready for installation

Linkage area on the side of the simulator

On older sims these cabinets would have been jammed full of input/output card racks and power supplies. Now, with all the high density components and high speed data transfers, the linkage takes up far less space.

Electric load cell
'Load cells' provide force feedback and position information for the cockpit controls. The new electric load cells have replaced the hydraulically operated units found on older simulators. The electric units are about 60% cheaper to operate than hydraulic, take up far less space and there's no fluid to drip all over and make a big mess. (YAY!)

Motion system erected to the 'neutral' position during a quick test

Day 15 - September 16th

There seemed to be a lot of work going on today, I'm just not sure what all of it was! The smoke/fire detection system got tested, the setup and testing of the Visual Image Generator continued and the installation of the pedestals for the visual projectors got underway.

I was busy restoring a disk on another simulator, so I missed out on some of today activities. I saw that there's a terminal connected to the Motion Cabinet, so I suppose the EMM was getting set up. The accessway gate got installed and adjusted and I think some testing was being done on what we call the linkage, which controls input/output communication between the equipment and the computers.

A little bit of power distribution, a little linkage and and the sound equipment

New accessway safety flasher that activates when the ramp is in transition

Accessway gate installed

Intructor's station running

It's hard to see, but these are the pedestals for the visual projectors getting installed

Day 14 - September 15th

Today the electrician came back to change the taps in the transformer for the Motion Cabinet (EMM), some more connections were made for the vacuum on the visual mirror and the last big piece of trim was installed.

Setup of the Visual Image Generator continued, the motion Jack connections were finalized, the breathing air for the crew oxygen masks was plumbed and many more minor components were installed or worked on.