ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT OF ON-LINE DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM FOR SIMULTOR PERFORMANCE MONITORING

THE PERFORMANCE TRANSFER FROM A TRAINING SIMULATOR TO THE OPERATIONAL EQUIPMENT IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE FIDELITY OF THE SIMULATOR. SUBTLE CHANGES IN THE RELATIVE DYNAMIC, MOTION AND/OR VISUAL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE CAN BE DETECTED BY THE TRAINEE RESULTING IN ADVERSE PHYSICAL REACTIONS (OFTEN REFERRED TO AS "SIMULATOR SICKNESS"), AND CORRESPONDING DEGRADATION IN THE TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS. THE ADVENT OF CURRENT STATE-OF-THE-ART MICROPROCESSORS PROVIDES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GENERIC ON-LINE DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM FOR SIMULATOR PERFORMANCE MONITORING. THIS TYPE OF SYSTEM, USING HISTORICAL DATA AND RULES OF OPERATION, CAN DETECT CHANGES IN SIMULATOR PERFORMANCE AND IDENTIFY RECOMMENDED PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE PRIOR TO THE LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION REACHING STUDENT DETECTABLE THRESHOLDS. THE POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS AND AVAILABILITY MAKES THIS TYPE OF MONITORING ATTRACTIVE FOR BOTH GOVERNMENT AND COMMERCIAL MOTION BASE SIMULATORS.