MQ-1 Predator Drone Sim Experience

[sagrada737]

Hi all,

I thought I would share a cool experience I had at Hollowman Air Force Base.  A friend in the Air Force gave us a tour of the Base yesterday.  He arranged for us to get a personal tour of an F-16 and the Drone Training facility.  The high-point of the tour was when we visited the MQ-1 Predator hangar facility where staff were working on Predators drones that had just returned from training missions.  It was amazing to see all the high-tech systems within the drone.  It was interesting to learn that the Predator is powered by a simple Rotax 4-cycle turbocharged engine.  The airframe is almost entirely carbon fiber.  It is so light that you can lift a wing up with one finger.  Of course, the heart of these drones are their optics, sensors, and communications systems - mainly located in the front pod area. 

Here is a video (public domain) that does a good job of showing off the MQ-1 Predator:
General Atomics RQ/MQ-1 Predator

Our friend is a Predator Pilot, and as part of our Base tour, he scheduled us for an hour of Predator Simulator time at the main training facility.  In this training complex, there are about 20 Predator simulators - all seats filled with crews and instructors practicing their missions and sharpening their drone skills.  During our hour in the Sim, we setup and flew a mission that identified enemy tanks parked near a building complex in the Kabol area of Afghanistan.  Once the tanks were targeted, the Predator flew in a circular targeting profile at 16,000 ft. altitude, at an airspeed of 75 mph.  Then the tank targets were confirmed, the Laser was locked on to the center of the first tank to be destroyed.  At that point, our two missiles were armed, fire order was received, and missile fire sequence was initiated by pressing two separate triggers on the joysticks.   Once the triggers were released, the missile was on its way to the target.   You could see the on-board cameras showing the missile flying away from the aircraft.   It took about 25 seconds for the AGM-114 Hellfire missile to impact the tank.  With its armor piercing capability, the tank was completely destroyed.  A few seconds later, the same process was repeated for the second tank.  It was amazing to see just how quickly a target could be identified in great detail - then so quickly be destroyed - all from thousand of miles away anywhere in the world.

The clarity and detail of the simulator video images was amazing.  Our Predator pilot stated that in the real Predator, the image quality is even better.  The accuracy in hitting target is on the order of a couple of feet, with choices of straight vertical, anglular, or horizontal missile approaches to the intended target.   The color imaging systems can resolve detail down to the color of a person's shirt.  You can tell if the bad guy has a RPG or an assault rifle.  With the IR systems, it can relay information about targets night or day.  The Predator's on-board satellite communications allows the Pilot to communicate with other Predator pilots and ground based facilities or combat troops on the ground - even actively in close proximity to the enemy.  The Predator can also "lase" targets for ground based weapons and troops to act on.  Or...  Just "spy in the sky".

In all this, the pilot flying the drone does not sense any of the aircraft flight dynamics - it's all static and all virtual- quite a "sterile cockpit" that is strictly business.  Although for the bad guys facing down a real Predator drone in a war zone, the reality and destructive capacity of the MQ-1 Predator is all too real.

Here is a photo of my turn at controlling the MQ-1 Predator Simulator:
http://imagingtheheavens.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/MQ-1-Drone-Sim.jpg

Anyway, it was an exciting tour of Holloman AFB, and quite the experience flying the MQ-1 Predator drone simulator.  Truthfully however, it is sad to me that this is the face of future warfare, not to mention that these same drones are now being deployed actively within the United States for so-called "monitoring".  I'm a bit concerned about the future prospects of this technology, which like all technology can be used for good or evil.  Such is the reality of the "sci-fi" world we live in today.

That said, I am still in love with my 737-800 Sim    I'm getting a bit further down the road with my testing of a 6dof full motion platform for my full-scale 737 Sim.  So far the software control is showing promise and is quite reliable.  This coming week, I will complete a 1/8th scale model of the motion platform/Sim operating within a scale model of my Sim Room.  In parallel with this testing, I will also test a segment of the full-scale real control hardware VFD/motor/gearbox to determine real-world acceleration and movement parameters that will be needed to function correctly with the 737 flight model I'm using.  It turns out that platform geometry,  physical cue movements and acceleration are difficult parameters to sort out.  Once I get my test hardware systems up and running, I will post some results and progress.  The prospects of having six degrees of freedom in a motion platform that will generate motion cues for pitch, roll, yaw, heave, sway, and surge - makes for an exciting addition to my Sim Project.  We'll see how it goes in this initial phase, before I commit to a full-scale version.

Mike