Es/FlightGear

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FlightGear
FlightGear logo
Wright Flyer in 0.9.9
Wright Flyer in 0.9.9
Developed by FlightGear Developers & Contributors
Initial release July 17, 1997
Written in C++
OS 32-bit Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Solaris or IRIX
Platform Cross-platform
Development status Active (1996-)
Type Flight simulator
License GNU General Public License
Website
NASA OV-10 in FlightGear 1.0

FlightGear Simulador de vuelo (a menudo acortado comooften shortened to FlightGear , FGFS o FG) creado por voluntarios es un marco de trabajo de simulación de vuelo, libre, sofisticado, de código completamente abierto.

El proyecto empezó tiempo atrás en 1996, con su primera publicación en 1997. La más última versión pública 1.9.1 es de Diciembre del 2008, con específicas arquitecturas para una variedad de sistemas operativos incluido Microsoft Windows (Win 32), Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, IRIX, and Solaris.

FlightGear es publicado bajo los términos de GNU General Public License. Flightgear esta principalmente escrito en C++ con algunos lenguajes de programación en C.

Historia

Comienzos (1996-1997)

El desarrollo formal comienza a finales de 1990 con una propuesta en linea y codigo escrito en 1996, pero usando código de gráficos 3D personalizado. El desarrollo de una versión basada enOpenGL fué encabezada por Curtis Olsen comenzando en 1997, trás la salida inicial en el 1996. Una extensa respuesta de la comunidad ha guiado muchas contribuciones para el proyecto desde su comienzo en los pasados '90s hasta el presente.

Lejos de empezar enteramente de la nada. Los desarrolladores de FlightGear hicieron uso del modelo de vuelo LaRCsim de la NASA, con OpenGL para el código de graficos 3D, y datos de elevación libremente disponibles. Los primeros trabajos binarios salieron en 1997, resultando progresivamente más estable y con programas más avanzados, con una intensa actualización de nuevas versiones durante años.

Versiones 0.7–0.9 (2001–2003)

En 2001, el equipo publicó regularmente nuevas versiones beta (0.7.x, 0.8.0, en los años 2001-2003) y con 0.9.xx (2003-2006). A finales de la década, el ritmo de las publicaciones finales públicas se ralentizó, pero con gran cantidad de contenido (0.9.10, 1.0.0 etc.). La madurez del software en 2005 comenzó a extender las críticas y a incrementarse la polularidad.

Version 0.9.0-0.9.11 (2002-2007)

El uso de los numeros de versión se ralentizó drásticamente a finales del 2002 después de la publicación de la versión 0.9.0. Versiones 0.9.9 (2005) y 0.9.10 (2006) contaron con ocho aircrafttotalmente nuevas o rehechas sumanddose a un total de 70-90 aeronaves. FlightGear 0.9.10 won Softpedia's "Pick" award (5 out of 5 stars) on June 3, 2006 as well as the "100% CLEAN" Softpedia award.

Behind the scenes there was a 0.9.11-pre1 released in 2007 that ended up being superseded by FlightGear 1.0. The pre-version had about 33 new or redone aircraft.

3D Cockpit panel for A-10 in version 1.0.0 in 2008

Version 1.0 (2008)

The version number marked a formal transition out of beta development since software's first release in 1997, ten years prior.

Version 1.9.0 (2008)

At the time version 1.9.0 was released FlightGear switched from PLIB to OSG, which caused the temporarily lost of some of the features like 3D clouds and shadows. On the contrary new features such as particles add another degree of realism to the simulation. Most aircraft developed for OSG do not work with older versions. The users is able to choose out of 230 aircraft provided with 1.9.0, altough only a few are included in the base package.

Release timeline

Final build code release dates by year.

Date Version
July 17, 1997 First major code release
September 23, 1997 0.12
December 9, 1997 0.15
December 17, 1997 0.18
December 30, 1997 0.19 (first binaries)
January 6, 1998 0.22
Mar 11 98 0.37
April 8, 1998 0.41
April 14, 1998 0.42
April 23, 1998 0.43
Apr 28, 1998 0.44
May 7, 1998 0.45
May 11, 1998 0.46
May 18, 1998 0.47
June 9, 1998 0.48
June 27, 1998 0.49
July 13, 1998 0.50
July 21, 1998 0.51
August 15, 1998 0.52
September 2, 1998 0.53
September 25, 1998 0.54
October 23, 1998 0.55
November 23, 1998 0.56
January 21, 1999 0.57
February 10, 1999 0.58
March 31, 1999 0.59
May 26, 1999 0.6.0
Date Version
June 21, 1999 0.6.1 (Stable)
September 11, 1999 0.7.0 (Development)
0.6.2 (Stable)
October 22, 1999 0.7.1 (Development)
February 17, 2000 0.7.2 (Development)
May 18, 2000 0.7.3 (Development)
July 20, 2000 0.7.4
September 18, 2000 0.7.5
Decemberember 19, 2000 0.7.6
June 20, 2001 0.7.7
July 13, 2001 0.7.8
February 16, 2002 0.7.9
April 20, 2002 0.7.10
September 7, 2002 0.8.0
December 3, 2002 0.9.0
December 5, 2002 0.9.1
June 4, 2003 0.9.2
October 24, 2003 0.9.3
March 26, 2004 0.9.4
July 29, 2004 0.9.5
October 12, 2004 0.9.6
January 18, 2005 0.9.8
November 17, 2005 0.9.9
April 5, 2006 0.9.10
May 2007 0.9.11-pre1
December 17, 2007 1.0.0
December 22, 2008 1.9.0 (latest final build)

Software

The simulation engine in FlightGear is called SimGear. It is used both as an end-user application and in academic and research environments, for the development and pursuit of flight simulation ideas.

This customizability of FlightGear is illustrated by the wide range of aircraft models that are available in FlightGear, from gliders to Helicopters, and from airliners to fighter jets. These aircraft models have been contributed by many different people.

The FlightGear aircraft use one of three main data models JSBSim, YAsim, or UIUC as of version 0.9.10. Currently only one terrain engine is used, TerraGear. Weather effects include 3D clouds, lighting effects, and time of day.

Flight Dynamics Models

Flight Dynamics Models (FDM) are how the flight for an aircraft is simulated in the program. FlightGear uses a variety of internally written and imported flight model projects. Any aircraft must be programmed to use one of these models. Currently FlightGear is the only flight graphical flight simulator all the FDM are used for, and UIUC and YASim were developed specifically for FlightGear.

Early version used a FDM based on LaRCsim by NASA, which was replaced with more flexible FDM.

  • JSBSim - the default flight dynamics model software since 2000.
  • YASim - another FDM using different calculation method. Introduced starting in 0.7.9 in 2002.
  • UIUC - another included FDM, developed by the UIUC Applied Aerodynamics Group at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also made use of LaRCsim.
  • Flight Gear can also be setup to render using inputs from an external FDM source, such as from Matlab.
  • Other custom FDM for a specific aircraft type have been written, such as for lighter than air aircraft.

FlightGear dependencies

Unlike commercial software titles, the main output of the project is simply the release of a collection of code. To turn it into a usable program it must be compiled for a given platform. The software libraries used to create FlightGear have varied over time. The main one is SimGear, which is the underlying sim engine for FlightGear. TerraGear is not a dependency, but simply a name for the default terrain data program in FlightGear. OpenAL is used for sound/audio software, including support for SDL (since 0.9.5). PLIB is used for hardware support routines, formerly used for sound support also which was taken over by OpenAL. OpenGL is used for its integrated 3D graphics routines, and other hardware acceleration (namely DirectX) is not supported. OpenSceneGraph is also integrated into FlightGear. Finally, Simple DirectMedia Layer is a software library which is used for compiling. Some of the dependencies vary depending on which platform the code is being compiled for. FlightGear users must either compile the code themselves, or find a third party to release a binary, if it is not among the ones available from the project.

Hardware

Hardware needed for FlightGear is narrow to machines that support OpenGL and 3D hardware acceleration, with NVIDIA hardware having better support. Early versions had support for 3dfx cards, though this dropped as hardware requirements increased.

Add-ons and customization

There are programs that are either integrated into FlightGear (dependencies) or perform a function with it. Some of these are included in the release of FlightGear for a specific platform but made by the project, while others are independently distributed but are hosted by the FlightGear project.

One major additional software is the actual interface for launching an executable of FlightGear. For most of its early life FlightGear was only run through command line interfaces. However, the FlightGear Launch Control has been included with the FG launcher front-end since 0.9.3 in 2003. KFreeFlight is a launcher/front-end for KDE. FGTools is an alternative windows launcher front-end. FGKicker is a GTK+ based front-end.

Other significant programs include editors and projects for Terrain Data. Atlas is a chart/map support for FlightGear; Kelpie Flight Planner is a Java based flight planner for FlightGear. FlightGear Scenery Designer is a FlightGear scenery editor for working with terrain data. The World Custom Scenery Project is a project coordinating custom scenery efforts. Finally, TaxiDraw is an editor for airport runways and taxiways.

Aircraft

1rightarrow.png Hay un artículo Table of models .

FlightGear started out with an aircraft included in NASA's LaRCsim, a Navion, which was replaced by a Cessna 172 by 2000. UIUC as well as JSBsim development brought several more aircraft with them, as did the development of YASim which have since become the main FDM used in FG. As of version 1.9.0 an amount of more than 230 aircraft is provided.

Boeing 733 docked in the EHAM scenery

Scenery

1rightarrow.png Hay un artículo Scenery .

FlightGears world scenery project contains elevation and landclass data of the enitre world. Objects -like terminals, windmills and bridges- are collected in the Scenery Database.

Networking and multi-display

Several networking options allow FlightGear to communicate with other instances of FlightGear. A multiplayer protocol is available for using FlightGear on a local network in a multi aircraft environment. This could be used for formation flight or control tower simulation. Multiplayer was soon expanded to allow playing over the internet. Other features include a Google maps based moving up that allows users to observe where other players are.

Several instances of FlightGear can be synchronized to allow for a multi-monitor environment. If all instances are running at the same frame rate consistently, it is possible to get good and tight synchronization between displays.

FlightGear code vs. binaries

Unlike most commercial software, the project release dates only apply to a release of code, not an executable program. To create a runnable program the code must be compiled, which requires several specific libraries, including some general ones and, in some cases some platform specific ones. However, since this too difficult for most mainstream users, other contributors will work to make binaries available for a specific platform and operating system. These packages vary in their stability, performance, dependencies, and how up to date they are with the code base. For example, some older binaries work on Mac OS 9 but newer releases require specific Mac OS X versions.

For example, by late 2007 the latest code release was 0.9.11-pre1 (pre-release) and 0.9.10 (final). However, the actual binaries available vary significantly. Examples of actual binaries available a year after the release of the 0.9.10 code release:

  • Win-32 has ~138 Mb package (v0.9.10) (For Windows 98, 2000, ME, 32-bit XP)
  • Linux- pre-built packages for specific Linux distributions
    • Slackware package (v0.9.10), Fedora Core 2,3,4 packages (v0.9.10), Pardus (v0.9.10), Debian (v0.9.9)
  • Solaris packages either for it running on either SPARC or x86 processors.
    • SPARC (v0.9.8), x86 (v0.9.9)
  • Silicon Graphics IRIX
    • SGI binaries for (v0.9.9)
  • Mac OS X
    • Mac OS 10.4 (v0.9.10)
    • Mac OS 10.3 (v0.9.9)
  • FreeBSD has a package for(v0.9.10)

FlightGear reviews

1rightarrow.png Hay un artículo FlightGear Reviews .

External links

Sources

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