Indian indigenous fighter development program moved on to another land mark today. Indian Light Combat Aircraft “Tejas” Real Time Simulator (RTS) has been inaugurated by deputy chief of air staff of Indian Air Force.

Its a giant leap from simple fixed base simulator developed during early nineties which was envisaged to provide design support during the initial phase of LCA development has been fully developed in to a dome based mission simulator which can be used for handling quality evaluation as well as for planning and practicing mission profiles.

The simulator is set up inside a 9 meter diameter dome. The visual cues are generated using 6 synchronized high performance Image Generators (COTS based) and projected on the inner surface of the dome with 6 – Channel projection system giving a seamless out-the-window view for the pilot with a FoV of 180° (Azimuth) x 80° (Elevation). The cockpit is close to the PV2 standard aircraft with actual pilot controls, synthetic instrument panels and various avionics displays like MFDs and SSDUs based on COTS components. The high fidelity flight model runs at 80 Hz frame rate on a dual processor machine under LINUX and RTLINUX Operating subsystem. The audio cues generated include the simulation of aircraft engine noise, tyre screech sound, landing gear thud, etc.

This simulator also provides facility for using a Digital Control Loading Unit (DCLU) for simulating the different force feel characteristics of the pilot control stick. An Instructor monitoring station is used for complete control of the simulator. A touch sensitive monitor located close to the cockpit allows for initiation, running of various configured versions of CLAW, Real Time plots, Insertion of faults etc.

The simulator has been developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore.