CanberraBI8/CanberraBI8-readme.txt

English Electric canberra B(I)8 (YASim) readme.

This is not an authentic representation of an English Electric
Canberra B(I)8A-10 but it's based on the right numbers, where I could
find them and there is a lot of guesswork in the fdm.  It should also
be noted that this a/c is still very much under development, in
nearly every respect and there are several aspects which need
fixing/improving.

History
-------
The B(I)8 (Interdictor) version of the English Electric Canberra was
normally fitted with either a low-drag cannon pack occupying the rear
portion of the bomb-bay or a range of free-fall weapons.  The a/c 
modelled here is carrying a single free-fall nuclear fission device
(as far as I can ascertain, this device may have been a 'Red Beard'
tactical nuclear bomb, of up to 60kt yield) and would have been 
delivered using the LABS (Low Altitude Bombing System) technique: The
bomb sight is depressed to a particular angle (not known) and the a/c
approaches the target at 1000ft agl at a speed of 425 kt.  When the 
target aligns with the bomb sight a 3.5G pull-up is initiated and 
held.  The bomb should be released as the attitude gyro starts to 
tumble and the manuevour is completed with an Immelmann.

Model
-----
The model was originally constructed in Realsoft3D (linux beta V4.5),
exported as a .OBJ format file and imported into AC3D where it was
converted into .ac format and textured.

The accuracy of the model is heavily dependent on the data and
drawings available for it, and in most cases, the side, front and top
views in a typical 3-view drawing rarely align correctly or measure
consistently.  For example, when the model is scaled to the correct
length, the wing-span is likely to be a little out.

Thanks to Vivian Meazza for letting me use the helmet and visor model
from his Hawker Hunter aircraft.

Flight Data Model
-----------------
The Flight Data Model uses the FlightGear YASim fdm solver, which
uses a combination of aircraft geometry and performance data to
generate the flight model.

Apart from the basic length, span and height of the aircraft, most of
the measurements needed for YASim are not generally available so
after uniformly scaling the 3d model to one of the basic measurements
i.e. length, the geometry data was taken from the model.

While this may not give the most accurate numbers, with respect
to the original aircraft, it does mean that what you fly matches
pretty closely to what you see, at least as far as the geometry
is concerned.

The approach parameters have required even more guesswork.  They
are based upon a few photographs I was able to find showing the
aircraft in what appeared to be the final approach stages, and 
whatever info I was able to find.

Keyboard Mapping
----------------
Several new keyboard mappings are (temporarily) set-up when this a/c
is used.  These are:

  'C' (Shift-c)   toggle (open/close) the canopy
  'D' (Shift-d)   toggle (open/close) the bomb bay doors.
  'J' (shift-j)   release the Red Beard bomb.
  'K' (shift-k)   toggle trajectory markers
    
Both the canopy and bomb bay doors open when FG is started.  The a/c
also starts with the parking brake on and this should be released
before trying to fly.

Panels
------
Currently, there are two simple 2D panels for the model, neither
of which are in any way accurate - they are simply holders for
the instruments.  The 'vfr' panel includes the basic instruments
needed for 'vfr' and calls the 'standard' FlightGear instruments
from the FlightGear installation.  The 'mini' panel includes a
subset of the instruments on the 'vfr' panel, with a transparent
background.

In addition to the standard FG instruments, both panels also
incorporate a number of custom instruments.  These are mostly
informational but two of them can be used to control some of the
Autopilot functions - see below.

Custom Controller Instruments
-----------------------------
There are two custom instruments on both the 'vfr' and 'mini'
panels that can be used to control some of the autopilot
functions.  These are the speed controller and the altitude mode
controller.

AP Speed Controller
-------------------
The speed controller can be used to hold the aircraft speed by
throttle, either to a set KIAS, or to a set mach value.
Clicking with the mouse on the yellow 'K' will set the AP speed
controller into KIAS hold, while clicking on the blue 'M' will
set Mach hold.  The numeric value displayed in either yellow or
blue indicates the set speed, in either kias or mach,
relatively.  There is a small array of '+' and '-' characters to
the left of the instrument and these can be used to increment or
decrement the speed setting, in either 10kt or 1kt steps for
kias or 0.1 and 0.01 steps for mach.

AP Altitude Mode Controller
---------------------------
The altitude mode controller appears as a strip reading

    AP Mode: AH TF TO IL MC

The meaning of the different modes are:

	AH = Altitude Hold
	TF = Terrain Following
	TO = Automatic Take-Off
	IL = Automatic Instrument Landing
	MC = Mach Climb

AH Mode
-------
The AH (Altitude Hold) function is intended to hold the aircraft
at the altitude set in /autopilot/settings/target-altitude-ft.
When engaged, the set altitude can be changed by using the
standard FG keystrokes.

TF Mode
-------
The TF (Terrain Following) function is intended to hold the
aircraft at a constant distance above ground level (agl).  The
separation distance is set in /autopilot/settings/target-agl-ft.
It is not currently possible to change this setting from either
of the panels - it must be changed via the property browser.

It should also be noted that FG does not currently provide a
look-ahead function that could be used for a proper terrain
following system so the current terrain following function works
by simply checking the agl directly below the a/c.  This means
that the TF function can only react after the separation has
increased or decreased and will not stop you from flying into
steep sided ground elevations i.e. cliffs.

TO Mode
-------
The TO (automatic take-off mode) function is intended to be used
to automate the take-off process.  It should be noted that the
a/c has the parking-brake engaged when FG starts and this should
be released before trying to take-off.  When TO mode is engaged,
the following sequence of actions take occur:

  The current heading of the a/c on the runway is set for both
  the ground-roll and in-air heading.
  
  The flaps are extended to 0.64
  
  Hold speed-with-throttle is engaged (KIAS mode)
  
  The wing-leveller is engaged
  
  Rudder/nose wheel steering is engaged.

As soon as speed-with-throttle is engaged, the a/c will start
accelerating down the runway and once it has sufficient speed it
will rotate and lift off from the ground.  Note that during the
ground roll there is no specific means of keeping the a/c on the
runway centre-line so while the a/c will hold the heading, there
may be some drift across the runway in cross-winds.

Once the a/c has climbed above 50ft agl, a climb-out pitch-hold
controller is engaged, to hold the a/c at a constant pitch, the
under-carriage is retracted, the rudder control is reset and the
rudder re-centred.

As the aircraft continues accelerating, the flaps are progressively
retracted and once fully retracted the AP heading hold mode is
switched to true-heading-hold, the speed control is set to
mach-with-throttle and Mach-Climb mode (see below) is engaged.  The
final action is to disable the AP TO mode so that it cannot be
engaged in flight.

It is possible to set a number of way points before engaging the
TO function but it is then necessary to hit Ctrl-h a couple of
times to dis-engage true-heading-hold, which is set whenever a
way point is entered, and re-centre the ailerons before TO is
engaged.  What will happen in this case is that once the
take-off sequence has finished and true-heading-hold is engaged,
the a/c will turn to the appropriate heading and follow the way
points.  If no way points have been set the take-off heading
will be followed.

IL Mode
-------
The IL (automatic instrument landing) function is designed to
land the aircraft automatically, provided that the runway you
wish to land on has an instrument landing system.  It is assumed
that the radio nav equipment will have already been correctly
tuned for the intended landing runway.

When engaged, the IL function will set nav1-heading-hold, set a
pre-defined target speed and either climb or descend to get on to the
glide-slope.

Once a pre-defined vertical descent rate is exceeded the target speed
for the AP speed controller is reduced and the 'speed-brakes' are 
deployed (1.0).  As the speed drops the flaps are progressively 
deployed, the 'speed brakes' are progressively reduced and the 
undercarriage is extended.

Once the ias drops below a pre-defined speed an AoA-hold-by-throttle
controller is engaged and this will gradually reduce speed until
an approach AoA of 2 degrees is achieved.

Once the a/c drops below a pre-defined agl the AP controller switches
to touch-down mode and will try to set the a/c down at around
0.1 vfps (currently it's between 2-3 vfps).

MC Mode
-------
The MC (Mach Climb Mode) function is designed to command the
highest climb rate that can be sustained for a given mach
setting and is only enabled when mach-hold-by-throttle is
selected on the AP Speed Controller.  This function has some
limitations, one being that it works best when the aircraft is
travelling below the set mach number and is accelerating.  If
the aircraft is already travelling at the set mach number the
climb rate is likely to be very low and it may be necessary to
temporarily reduce speed, and then increase it again (using the
AP Speed Controller) or force a climb by pulling back on the
stick.



Lee Elliott.     2004/09/16