CAT 2007 flight simulator census; notes on FlightSafety census entries
Civil Aviation Training magazine publishes an annual flight simulator census, including the fleets of big training companies like Alteon, FlightSafety, and CAE. You can find the original manufacturer, aircraft type, engine type, host computer, visual system, type of motion system, approval level, and date put into service.
The FlightSafety entries are inconsistent in the terminology used to describe host computers and motion systems; the date in service can help resolve anything ambiguous. The current platform -- a Gateway 975 server running Windows XP with Ardence (formerly VenturCom) Real-Time Extensions (RTX) -- is variously described in the "COMPUTER" column as PC, NT, Sim NT or Sim NT 975. Sim NT 8450 is the original PC-based platform -- a Gateway 8450 server running Windows 2000 and VenturCom RTX. (PC, Sim NT, or NT might also signify this earlier platform. The switch-over from the 8450 to the 975 happened around 2004 or 2005, I believe.)
But PC is sometimes used to refer to sims that were originally PDP-11-based but have been rehosted to a PC running a PDP-11 emulator. PDP/PC Conv and Phoenix 11 probably refer to the same type of host. (The Bell 212 at the Fort Worth learning center is listed as having a Phoenix 11 computer. It was a PDP 11 last time I was there in 2002/2003.) If a simulator was fielded prior to 2001 and is listed as having a PC host, it's likely a PDP-11 to PC conversion.
In the motion column, DRI and DMS both refer to the digital control loading and motion system that was first fielded in the mid '90s. If I recall correctly, DRI specifically referred to an improvement that used fiber optic cables to connect the motion computer to data acquisition systems on the simulator, but it has probably been genericized to refer to any digital motion system. In 2006, FlightSafety began commercially fielding their new electric control loading and motion system.
The FlightSafety entries are inconsistent in the terminology used to describe host computers and motion systems; the date in service can help resolve anything ambiguous. The current platform -- a Gateway 975 server running Windows XP with Ardence (formerly VenturCom) Real-Time Extensions (RTX) -- is variously described in the "COMPUTER" column as PC, NT, Sim NT or Sim NT 975. Sim NT 8450 is the original PC-based platform -- a Gateway 8450 server running Windows 2000 and VenturCom RTX. (PC, Sim NT, or NT might also signify this earlier platform. The switch-over from the 8450 to the 975 happened around 2004 or 2005, I believe.)
But PC is sometimes used to refer to sims that were originally PDP-11-based but have been rehosted to a PC running a PDP-11 emulator. PDP/PC Conv and Phoenix 11 probably refer to the same type of host. (The Bell 212 at the Fort Worth learning center is listed as having a Phoenix 11 computer. It was a PDP 11 last time I was there in 2002/2003.) If a simulator was fielded prior to 2001 and is listed as having a PC host, it's likely a PDP-11 to PC conversion.
In the motion column, DRI and DMS both refer to the digital control loading and motion system that was first fielded in the mid '90s. If I recall correctly, DRI specifically referred to an improvement that used fiber optic cables to connect the motion computer to data acquisition systems on the simulator, but it has probably been genericized to refer to any digital motion system. In 2006, FlightSafety began commercially fielding their new electric control loading and motion system.
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