A Novel Nonlinear Scaling Method for Optimal Motion Cueing Algorithm in Flight Simulator

Motion cueing algorithm plays a key role in simulator motion reproduction and improves the realism of movement sensation by combining with the human vestibular system.It is well established that scaling&limiting should be used to decrease the amplitude of the acceleration and angular velocity signals for making full use of limited workspace of motion platform.A novel nonlinear scaling method based on a third-order polynomial and back propagation(BP)neural networks for the motion cueing algorithm is proposed in this paper.The third-order polynomial method is applied to the low amplitude segment of the input signal to minimize the trigger delay of the sensation acceleration;in the high amplitude segment,the BP neural network is used to adaptively adjust the scaling factor of the input signal,to avoid washout displacement and angular displacement beyond the boundary of the workspace.The simulation experiment is verified in the longitudinal/pitch direction for flight simulator,and the result implies that the proposed method not only can overcome the problem of constant scaling parameter and improve motion platform workspace utilization,but also reduce the false cues during the motion simulation process.

A Design of Nonlinear Scaling and Nonlinear Optimal Motion Cueing Algorithm for Pilot’s Station

Motion cueing algorithms(MCA)are often applied in the motion simulators.In this paper,a nonlinear optimal MCA,taking into account translational and rotational motions of a simulator within its physical limitation,is designed for the motion platform aiming to minimize human’s perception error in order to provide a high degree of fidelity.Indeed,the movement sensation center of most MCA is placed at the center of the upper platform,which may cause a certain error.Pilot’s station should be paid full attention to in the MCA.Apart from this,the scaling and limiting module plays an important role in optimizing the motion platform workspace and reducing false cues during motion reproduction.It should be used along within the washout filter to decrease the amplitude of the translational and rotational motion signals uniformly across all frequencies through the MCA.A nonlinear scaling method is designed to accurately duplicate motions with high realistic behavior and use the platform more efficiently without violating its physical limitations.The simulation experiment is verified in the longitudinal/pitch direction for motion simulator.The result implies that the proposed method can not only overcome the problem of the workspace limitations in the simulator motion reproduction and improve the realism of movement sensation,but also reduce the false cues to improve dynamic fidelity during the motion simulation process.