Brochures

Annual Reports

SimLabs Technical Papers

Real-Time Simulation Documentation

Sunjoo Advani
Presenter
Aircraft Development & Systems Engineering

Dean Giovannetti
NASA Ames Research Center

Michael Blum
Electrical & Control Systems Engineering

NASA at Ames Research Center operates the world’s largest motion-base flight simulator, the Vertical Motion Simulator. This simulation facility supports a wide variety of research by allowing flexibility in both hardware and software. As part of a VMS Modernization Plan, NASA Ames elected to consider major alterations to the motion-base configuration.
One of these was the incorporation of a hexapod on the lateral carriage of the vertical beam. This would replace both the longitudinal carriage (that provides ±4 feet of surge) as well as the rotational gimbal (that simultaneously provides ±18 degrees pitch, ±18 degrees roll, and ±24 degrees yaw). However, standard off-the-shelf hexapod geometries did not meet the requirement for this large simultaneous motion capability. New geometric designs were created based on optimization of the geometry to maximize workspace and flight metrics.

This paper describes the development and implementation of these optimization and evaluation metrics. Design solutions are explored from workspace and simulation fidelity perspectives. Kinematic design issues of the hexapod are presented, including the trade-offs necessary to
ensure high performance within a safe operational environment. Integration of the design with the VMS presented its own challenges, and the most relevant of these are also presented.

Download the full paper in PDF (1.4 Mb).

A hardcopy of this document is available by request from Kathleen Starmer.