A REAL-TIME BLADE ELEMENT ROTORCRAFT SIMULATION DEVELOPMENT

THE COMPUTATIONALLY INTENSE NATURE OF BLADE ELEMENT ROTORCRAFT MATH MODELS HAS LIMITED THEIR USE IN REAL-TIME SIMULATIONS TO LARGE MAINFRAME COMPUTERS OR SPECIAL PURPOSE COMPUTER SYSTEMS. BLADE ELEMENT MODELS ARE, HOWEVER, NECESSARY TO ACCURATELY REPRODUCE THE ROTORCRAFT RESPONSE DURING COMPLEX MANUEVERS, SUCH AS THOSE REQUIRED FOR COMBAT. THE RECENTLY RELEASED DEC MICROVAX II COMPUTER HAS THE CAPABILITY TO SUPPORT MULTIPLE CPU'S, MAKING IT A VERY COST EFFECTIVE CANDIDATE FOR REAL-TIME IMPLEMENTATION OF A ROTORCRAFT BLADE ELEMENT SIMULATION. ADVANCED ROTORCRAFT TECHNOLOGY, INC. (ART) PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A REAL-TIME BLADE ELEMENT ROTORCRAFT SIMULATION BASED ON A PARALLEL PROCESSING MICROVAX II COMPUTER SYSTEM. THE SIMULATION WILL UTILIZE AN EXISTING BLADE ELEMENT MATH MODEL OF THE UH-60 BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER. THIS PRODUCT MAY BE INTERFACED TO EXISTING SIMULATION CREW STATION, VISUAL SYSTEMS, AND MOTION BASE DRIVES, OR BE DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO THE DISPLAYS AND CONTROLS OF AN ACTUAL ROTORCRAFT WITH DIGITAL INTERFACE CAPABILITY. KEY FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED PRODUCT INCLUDE: A NEW APPROACH TO PARALLEL DISTRIBUTION OF THE MAIN ROTOR COMPUTATION THAT MINIMIZES THE NUMBER OF PARALLEL CPU'S REQUIRED FOR REAL-TIME OPERATION; A LOW COST, GENERAL PURPOSE VAX COMPUTER SYSTEM THAT COULD ALSO BE USED TO SUPPORT OTHER APPLICATIONS; AND THE USE OF EXISTING BLADE ELEMENT ROTORCRAFT SIMULATION SOFTWARE WITH A MINIMUM OF MODIFICATION.