A Description of the Cockpit Motion Facility and the Research Flight Deck Simulator

The NASA Langley Research Center’s (LaRC) Visual Motion Simulator (VMS) has provided six degree-offreedom motion cues for research programs since 1974. During that period the VMS has provided a generic cockpit with motion performance for a large number of critical research programs. The cockpit has been continually upgraded, however the age of the simulator, coupled with future requirements that the VMS cannot meet, has necessitated the development of the Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF). Some of these requirements include greatly improved motion characteristics (acceleration, maximum excursion, bandwidth), full-mission capable simulators operating in either fixed-base or motion-base modes, simulators with large cross-cockpit display systems, improved data and video networks, and easily reconfigurable cockpits. This paper describes the design concepts and the simulator architecture associated with the CMF and the simulators located in the facility. The Research Flight Deck, the first operational simulator in the CMF is discussed in detail. Cockpit Motion Facility