Design and Development of PLC or MCU based Full flight simulator cockpit for CESSNA Aircraft

Project Title

Design and Development of PLC or MCU based Full flight simulator cockpit for CESSNA Aircraft

Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject Summary

Flight simulator cockpit is basically a room which consists of all the displays and controls to mimic the actual environment of the aircraft. Displays involve external displays which shows the actual surrounding of the aircraft like weather, airport tower, ground, runway etc as well as internal displays and dials which tells us about physical parameters of the aircraft like engine speed and status, static and dynamic pressure, temperature, altitude, heading etc Different companies make flight simulators which are available in the market but are very expensive and have maintenance issues because of unavailability of devices or due to communication gap between foreign companies and our maintenance providers. That’s why we aim to design a cost effective solution for this. Our design involves complete modelling and simulation of the head up and head down displays of the aircraft by means of PC based simulations and electrical and electronic control system to model switches, pots and other physical inputs and controls. Other controls like rudder pedal, flight stick, flight yoke etc which requires dedicated modules or devices may be designed or will be arranged readymade depending upon the time scale and budget of the project. Working of the project will be as all commands are given to the software from the pilot through physical switches such as engine turn on or off, trimming, fuel mixing, flaps, spoiler etc and some sensor based parameters are communicated by flight simulation software (e.g. X-plane) and processed by controller (i.e. PLC, microcontroller) and then status of each IO will be displayed to the pilot via flight simulation software which is running on the computer. If talking about design work of this project, it involves planning, calculations, simulation and design of complete electrical & electronic circuitry for digital inputs (i.e. switches) and analog inputs (i.e. throttle, encoders, pots etc) as well as outputs with the help of microcontroller or plc. Secondly, programming of the controller and integration of software(s) and hardware and the data communication between them is also included in the design work. This project requires lot of research work, simulation, hardware testing along with integration and metal fabrication which requires enough budget and resources so we’re looking forward to get innovative support so that we can work with great motivation to achieve our goals with ease.

Project Objectives

Our objective for making this project is pretty much clear, we're as a country lag in aviation industry in terms of trainings and maintenance which is due to much expensive training equipment and aids. Flight simulator is one of those important aids which are essesntial for training of pilots and research work for avionics and aerospace engineers so our main goal is to provide a cost effective solution to this problem and to design a economic and equall beneficial flight simulator with 6 DOF motion platform. 

Project Implementation Method

Our project implementation is divided into 3 major tasks

1) Study of the dynamics of available flight simulator 

2) Planning, Estimation & goal setting

3) Simulation, interfacing of the HW, SW or firmware 

4) Purchasing of the equipment

5) Integration of all the peripherals or devices

Benefits of the Project

A better and economic solution to accomplish the need of pilot training institutions, flying schools, hobbyist flying clubs, academia and research organisation etc

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

As we've planned and doing hard to end with a flight simulator having operational 6 DOF motion platform with cockpit environment of CESSNA-172 trainer aircraft with operational fligth instruments, displays and controls. 

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry EducationOther Industries Others Core Technology Augmented & Virtual RealityOther Technologies OthersSustainable Development Goals Peace and Justice Strong InstitutionsRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	70000
PLC/MCU/FPGA	Equipment	2	15000	30000
LCD / Display unit	Equipment	3	5000	15000
Switches	Equipment	20	100	2000
LVDT	Equipment	2	4500	9000
Wiring	Equipment	1	4000	4000
Body fabrication	Equipment	1	10000	10000