Motion Drive 3.0 - User Guide

Automatic Operation

Hvaing completed the process of setting up and configuring your platform, you are ready and probably looking forward to starting to use it in full operational mode. With all the settings and other pages closed, you will be returned to the main page of Motion Drive, which is from where you start and run your platform.

There are a number of controls and options available to you and these are explained below.

Select Simulation

Motion Drive can run with a number of flight simulation packages - currently the Microsoft family of FS and CFS simulations - but more will be added over time as users want them. You will have set up possibly several simulations in your time spent configuring the platform. In this part of the main page you select which simulation you wish to run with.

Selecting a simulation
Simply scroll down the list of simulations and highlight the one you want. Then click on Select. the settings for that simulation will be loaded for the next operational run. The programme defaults to the test simulation and so selection is necessary. Your choice will be confirmed in the message displayed. Once selected that selection remains for all runs, until changed.

Connect and Disconnect
This is to test the connection to the simulation package your have chosen. You need to start the simulation programme first (but you don't need to have flight running). Then click on Connect and if all is well, then message titled "Connection to Simulation" will change to "Connection OK". If all is not well, the you will get a message saying "Connection Error".

Upon clicking on Disconnect, you will get a message saying "Disconnected". If you are changing from Auto Operation to Manual Operation, is it best to make sure that you are not connected to a simulation by clicking on this command button.

Select Aircraft

Upon selection of a simulation package, the list of five available aircraft for that package will be displayed in the box. As with simulation selection, Motion Drive defaults to the first package and the first aircraft in each package once selected. So, making a selection is necessary.

Selecting an Aircraft
As with choosing the simulation, all you need to do is scroll down the list of aircraft, highlight your choice and click on Select. Your choice is confirmed by the message displayed. Once selected that selection remains for all runs, until changed.

Auto Operation

Having made your choices, you are now ready to run. There are four commands for you to use - hopefully self-explanatory, but it is worth going through them here just the same.

Run
Clicking this button starts the run. In order for the run to succeed, you must have your simulation package running also. Upon clicking the Run button a number of things happen:-
- Motion Drive loads the settings for the run and checks they have been loaded OK
- Motion Drive opens communications with the flight simulation
- Motion Drive starts running the platform
- Messages are displayed on screen showing the status of connections to the simulation package and the USB modules and that the platform is running.

During the run, there is continual checking that communications are still OK with the simulation package, with the USB modules and with your sensors. If a fault is detected, then the run is terminated and the platform will stop. At the same time an error log file is generated so you can look up why the run stopped or failed.

Stop
As it suggests, clicking on this button will terminate the run.

Pause
As it suggests, this command pauses the motion platform (but not the flight simulation) but the Motion Drive programme is still running - it is merely suspended from active driving.

Resume
Following a Pause command, this command will unsuspend active driving and Motion Drive will revert to normal running.

A Word about Flight Start-Ups

When discussing the establishment of the Axes CutOff settings, mention was made of the possibility of rogue signals occurring. One of the times that this is most likely to happen is the time when a simulation flight is being initiated by the simulation package. Whilst the CutOffs will filter such rogue signals out, if set properly, there is another protection for the user inculded in Motion Drive. The platform will not send active signals unless the aircraft is actually moving. So, when you set Motion Drive running, then minimise the Motion Drive dialog window and set your flight running, there will be a slight pause between the flight starting and the motion platform beginning to run. If the aircraft is on the ground and stationary, then platform driving will begin once the plane beings to move.

Other Features

Quit and Cancel

These buttons both close the Motion Drive programme. Alternatively you can close Motion Drive from the Options menu.

Messages and Run Record

Messages
There are three status messages displayed continuously while Motion Drive is open.

The top message, entitled Connection to Platform, concerns the connection between Motion Drive and the USB modules. Upon starting Motion Drive, the programme will immediately attempt to connect with and configure the USB modules so that they are ready for any operations. If this goes well then a message saying "Connected OK" will be displayed. If not the the message saying "Not Connected" will remain displayed, a "Connection Error" message will appear as the System Status message. Also on opening Motion Drive a system set-up log file is generated, called MDSetup.txt. The success or errors encountered during the opening of Motion Drive are noted there.

The second message, entitled Connection to Simulation, concerns the status of communication with the chosen flight simulation package. It is not tested on opening Motion Drive - only when either Connect or Run commands are selected. If connection fails when the Connect button is clicked, then a message saying "Unable to Connect" is displayed. No error log is generated. As explained above, this message is also live when the platform is running in Auto Operation, displaying appropriate messages.

The third message, entitled System Status, merely gives futher details on errors in communications with either platform or simulation, and informs whether the programme is running etc.

Make Run Record
During the configuration phase, and if things seem not to be going as they should, it can be helpful to have some kind of record of a run for later analysis. If you check the box marked Make Run Record before starting your run, then Motion Drive will create a file of various parameters during that run. Details of the parameters recorded are shown in the box on this page called RunRecord.

The default situation is that a run record is not made, as the files can get to be very large very quickly. A run of only a minute or two will create a file of about 200Kb. So if you are using Run Record for setting up or diagnosis, make your runs short and sharp and carry out maybe only one or two manouevres then stop. The file is closed upon clicking Stop and can then be viewed.

Logs and Files
As has been mentioned, there are a number of files created and error logs generated. These files are all .txt files and are located in the same directory/folder as Motion Drive 3.0. More details are given to the left side of this page in the box called Files & Logs.

© Active Simulation Limited 2007

Motion Drive 3.0 User Guide version 1.1