Both in aerospace, defence, but also in the automotive and medical industries, simulators are increasingly used. For training under all kinds of different conditions that are imitated lifelike. So lifelike that the hours spent in a simulator can even count as flying hours for a pilot.
In Maastricht, we find the relatively young company Vectioneer, a no-nonsense club of people involved in Human Centered Engineering. Vectioneer has developed an operating system that greatly enhances the capabilities of simulators. CEO Philippe Piatkiewitz: "We started developing from scratch. Not hindered by what is, but starting from what you would like. 'Believe in yourself' is really a key concept for us," Piatkiewitz says. "We developed something completely new: Motorcortex; a controller with direct connection to a web browser. Based on Linux with an open interface, a simulator controller only needs one wire for communication and one for power. Then you can monitor and control from any location. You can deploy that for a simulator, but also for a robot, a machine, for cleanroom applications at ASML, the possibilities are enormous."
Simulators
Vectioneer is currently mainly active in the upgrade market of existing driving and flight simulators. "We have done projects for Lufthansa Flight Training, Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airlines, Turkmenistan Airlines and even the US government, among others. Our part is the moving platform on which the cockpit stands, called the motion system. The purpose of an aircraft simulator is, of course, to train the pilots or crew for different - including dangerous - situations in the air, but in a safe environment on the ground. It is important that pilots get all the information they would get in the air, also in the simulator - including the sense of flight. Of course, we cannot mimic the aircraft's movements one hundred per cent, as we have to stay within the walls of the simulator building while the plane supposedly flies from Amsterdam to New York. Therefore, we have to cleverly omit much of the information without the pilot - consciously or unconsciously - noticing the difference."
Human perception
Vectioneer has not only knowledge of simulator technology, but also knowledge of human perception, so we can fool the pilot's instincts with smart software and controls that ensure we can offer the relevant movement at the right times and even move unnoticed if necessary. Our systems engineers immerse themselves extensively in this subject matter, studying the latest scientific publications, because this branch of science is constantly evolving, so it is important to keep up with it as well." Piatkiewitz himself chose it as his graduation project at the time.
Motorcortex
"To perform those controls properly, we use Motorcortex, a super-fast and stable control system that allows us to do the complex calculations required. Moreover, with Motorcortex it is possible to process the aircraft data, data from the simulator and the pilot at lightning speed and publish it to a higher-level system, which can be used, for example, to check whether everything is working properly and can serve to qualify a simulator; this means that the hours flown in the simulator also count as real flying hours for the pilot. Not always one-to-one, but they are recognised as real flying hours for a certain percentage, depending on the level at which the simulator is certified." Simulators are tested and certified by an independent institute. "There are different levels of certification. We can provide up to the highest level of certification, level D. In doing so, the system must be virtually indistinguishable from the real thing."
"Motorcortex we now apply not only in flight simulation, but also for simulation systems in the automotive industry, in hospitals, in controls of industrial robots and machines in general. However, we specifically look for projects where man and machine work closely together and where we can combine knowledge of man and machine to make a system that is first and foremost safe and one where the interface with humans is optimal. We call this approach Human Centered Engineering."
Elderly
"We recently received an order to upgrade a simulator at a Toronto (CA) hospital, Toronto Rehabilitation Center, to Motorcortex. Here, a simulator is used to give researchers a picture of how older people fall down and how they behave in traffic, for example. This allows them to test and measure things that contribute to fall prevention and getting older people to participate safely in traffic. That testing and measuring, that is easy to do, but simulating the real situations, that is what they asked us for in particular. This is a special cross-application where we can use our knowledge in a completely different way and also build on it."
By: Janet Kooren
