Simulation cockpit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Simulation cockpits or simpits are environments designed to replicate an aircraft cockpit for use with home flight simulators. The term simpit is also more generally applied to train and car simulators but the vast majority of those built are for aircraft.

1 Hardware
2 Software
3 Examples
4 External links

[edit] Hardware

There are three basic approaches to building a simpit:

Basic: essentially a normal PC setup, with some notion of being tailored specifically and semi-permanently for flight simulation.
Replica: a dedicated environment designed to replicate a real aircraft cockpit as closely as possible to give full immersion.
Compromise: somewhere in the middle of the other two options, for cost, flexibility, space or any of an infinite number of other reasons.

Many pitbuilders go through the process of building a basic or low-spec compromise pit first, just to give them a dedicated environment to practice their hobby. The lessons learned in this process can be put to good use if they later decide to build a high-spec compromise or replica pit, which requires a great deal of time, effort and passion to complete. Having said that, a simpit is rarely considered complete by the builder.

[edit] Software

The first software requirement for a simpit is a suitable flight simulator to provide the graphics, sound and instrument outputs for the pit. To date, the majority of civilian simpits are built around Microsoft Flight Simulator, and most military pits use Falcon 4 as a base.

The choice is expanding as more simulation developers include data-out facilities in their sims. Most recently, Lock On - Modern Air Combat has added data export through Lua, making it a serious contender for a modern jet simpit. There are also several sims in development that look promising: Fighter Ops and Combat Helo are both committed to providing support for a wide variety of simpit requirements.

Voice communication (VOIP) software is commonly integrated into a simpit, as this allows real-time communication with other virtual pilots. The most popular choices at the moment are Ventrilo and TeamSpeak.

Other software may be custom written to control hardware aspects of the pit; e.g. an interpreter for an MFD or a custom listener to implement an AoA Indexer. In many cases the need for custom software can be removed by using control hardware with a comprehensive SDK or API, but when you really need that unique instrument and nobody has an off-the-shelf solution for it, hacking code is the only way to get it.