Always thought it was called Track While Scan?
Nice collection of info there near_blind, Flying RIO in upcoming DCS Tomcat may be even more fun than manning the front seat… Was MP multicrew even announced for the module?
- ‘JESTER AI’ - A Proprietary AI System for fully voiced, dependable and smart RIO/WSO
…- Multiplayer Multicrew capability. Fly together as RIO and Pilot!
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It is. Call it a brain fart.
The dev working on the HUD made some posts pertaining to seemingly peculiar behavior with regards to the gun sight. I’d noticed it but wasn’t sure of what was happening. It’s fascinating. He’s referencing the video I posted above.
I’m working on the F-14 HUD (i.a.) for Heatblur DCS F-14A/B. I’ve watched and re-watched this video a bunch of times in the past (among many others of course). There is an interesting little detail going on in this video which I think is worth pointing out: if you look from 3m58 or so onwards, the target diamond seems to be off the target, and then at 4m07 he seems to get a sidewinder lock and the target diamond is suddenly on target. At first glance it looks weird, almost like the target diamond is inaccurate or something. The explanation is as follows: he has a radar STT lock while in guns mode, but he is in RTGS (real time gunsight) mode. In this mode the target diamond shows a 1000foot gun solution instead of the radar STT track… The movable reticle (big plus symbol) shows a solution at target range if below 4000 feet, or 4000 feet if target range is greater. Then at 4m07 he switches to sidewinder (with the weapon selector on the stick, not shown in the video here), and because he already has an STT lock, the sidewinder seeker immediately slaves to the STT direction and thus immediately has lock. In sidewinder mode, as in most other modes aside from RTGS guns, the target diamond shows the radar STT location, and therefore suddenly jumps to the target.
With regards to the HUD refresh rate.
Part of it is different sensor update and computation rates, but another part is this: the HUD is a vector (a.k.a. calligraphic) display, like 1980s Asteroids and Battlezone arcade games. These displays have a unique property that raster (pixel grid) displays do not have: the more elements that are shown (i.e. more vectors in the display buffer), the slower the overall refresh rate, since it cycles through all the vectors to draw them. Conversely, when showing fewer elements, the update is much more frequent and appears smoother. The upside of a vector display is that it in effect has much better resolution than a raster display (of the era). The VDI (loosely known as the “heads down display”) in the F-14 is also interesting in that it is a hybrid of vector and raster, some elements are displayed as vectors and others as (pretty low resolution) raster images. These days (well, for the past 25-30 years probably) raster display resolution is good enough that vector displays have gone completely out of fashion, I don’t think anything modern uses them anymore. Most people now don’t even know such a thing ever existed
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if my Jester AI doesnt tell me to Do some of that Pilot ■■■■…
Then it’s a failure.
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As we go down in flames…
“That was some of the best flying I’ve ever seen…right up to the part where you got us killed.”
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Or as you’re getting shot down:
“the Defense Department regrets to inform you that your children are dead because they were stupid.”
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Top Gun quotes are passe.
The true backseat BFM commentary
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Top Gun is widely known, as opposed to random YT video #19407425622310.
Ignorance is no protection from the back seater.
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thats so funny ! xD
From the facebook page:
Work continues on high level radar, weapon and navigation functionality! Here’s a couple of examples from the RIOs TID (Tactical Information Display). The TID displays information such as computer detected radar contacts, navigation steerpoints, datalinked targets and more.
As a RIO, you’ll spend plenty of time looking at and using the TID. While you’ll also need to be proficient at reading the DDD Radar Display, the TID will greatly aid you in establishing an overarching view of the tactical situation. Using your joystick, you’ll be able to select (hook) and prioritize targets with ease.
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That’s hawt.
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What we’re seeing here is the TID in one of the TWS modes, with multiple contacts. The number to the left of each contact is its altitude in thousands of feet, and the number to the right is the current priority in the shoot cue. (I.e. The target marked 1 gets the first AIM-54, the target marked 2 gets the second, etc., etc.). The AWG-9 has two TWS modes, Auto and Manual. The first allows the computer to determine which contacts are the highest priority, usually using a combination of contact speed, range, and aspect, while manual allows the RIO to manually select (hook) contacts in the order he or she sees fit. In the second image you might notice that the symbols have changed from all being staple looking icons, to a mixture of different ones. This is a form of HAFU symbology (Hostile, Ambiguous, Friendly, Unknown). The staple represents a contact that is of unknown allegiance, the chevron is contact that has been declared hostile, and the semi circle is a friendly. Fun Fact: both the F/A-18 and F-15 have similar functionality, though FC3 largely omits it, we’ll see what the Hornet’s future holds. Along the top, AS is the aircraft’s speed (I’ve seen this usually as Ground Speed, but I trust HB’s SMEs over what little I’ve found), MH is magnetic heading. The left side numbers are the radar upper and lower scan zone altitudes. I’d tell you what the numbers and symbols along the lower periphery mean, but I don’t really know.
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There’s a lot going on in these simple screenshots, and a lot more to come still. This is a Tactical Information Display (think of it as an early version of the A-10C TAD, sans any graphical maps), currently showing ownship at the bottom (circle with plus), with yardstick radar azimuth extent lines stretching out in front. In TWS auto, the radar automatically adjusts to the centroid of targets, so currently a bit left of ownship heading. At the top are the left and right readouts, they can show a variety of info about ownship or hooked targets, currently showing airspeed and magnetic heading. Some targets are shown with their vectors. The horizontal line in the center is just an artificial horizon line. On the left is the radar pattern vertical elevation and extents. Three different waypoint types are shown here (tie fighter, diamond with plus, asymmetric plus), 8 waypoints can be shown in total. The “IN” text indicates that INS navigation is being used (as opposed to a few degraded modes).
https://www.reddit.com/r/hoggit/comments/6wvdyu/heatblur_f14_radar_systems/dmbis4q/
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Very interesting.
If DDD needs to be interpreted by the RIO, how is the data passed on to the TID (which seems to me to be already some kind of interpretation of the current picture)?
A few posts up, @near_blind explained both RIO displays.
In short, the TID appears to be some sort of overview display with contacts from datalinks and such, while the DDD is purely a radar screen, if I understood correctly
In general terms, think of it like the Su-27. The specifics differ, but the work flow is superficially similar. You do the majority of your work identifying and prioritizing the target on the HUD, while the MFD provides a top down display that enhances your situational awareness. Both displays are being fed the same data by the Radar, they just display them differently.
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Hopefully Jester is better than Goose, because I dont want to be chasing an A-4 through the mountains only to have another come up on my 6 undetected.
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“Ok give me ‘flight model debates’ on standby”
“Give me the ‘everything is subject to change’ graphic” “Ok great but make it a little bit smaller”
“Great, and…action!”
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