VTOL/VSTOL Flight Control Computer *Icarus Aerospace*

[Dedalous]

The planned purpose for this mod is as a flight computer/automatic stabilizer for VTOL capable craft. Long have I played KSP, and been in love with VTOL craft, but been unable to fly them. Without computer guidance, most designs are inherently unstable, and difficult to fly. So, I'm working on this.

The plugin is in development at the moment, so this thread is currently for questions, advice, and help seeking, as I'm new to KSP modding, or modding in general, and have to learn a whole new way to think to implement 3D stability control. I'm also trying to feel out the community response to see if this is even worth the guaranteed headaches it's going to cause. Anyway, enough blathering, and on to features!

Planned features, in order of implementation(Subject to change as things are discovered/figured out):

- Roll/pitch/yaw stability control, with the ability to roll/pitch for forward and lateral movement, then return to center, and lateral skew for heading change

- Thrust balancing through the COM so shifting fuel mass/poor design won't cause crashes

- Altitude hold

- Dynamic lift control, so total lift stays the same no matter orientation, leveraging throttle, engine gimble, and wing lift.

- Manual/automatic switching between altitude hold/hover and flight modes

For now, that's all I'd like to accomplish, as those are all the features I can think would be needed for such a specialized system. If any of you with more experience in this field see something I need to add or modify to make this work, feel free to comment or PM me. As I said, I'm a modding n00b, so any help is appreciated.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Dedalous

[Dedalous]

*Edit* No longer abandoned. Lets see how long this lasts before I get frustrated and give up.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Dedalous

[Kerba Fett]

I find it disappointing that the project was abandoned since I've been looking for something that does this for a while. I use Diazo's vertical speed controller and it makes landers and VTOL's much easier to fly. This seemed like it would be a good companion.

I've had a number of mods that install the Firespitter.dll but I've never seen an interface for it.

Is there another firespitter plugin or does the one I've already got do something I wasn't aware of?

[Dedalous]

SNIP

You need to have a declared VTOL engine. For instance, in the patched B9 pack, the rotating VTOL engines, powered by firespitter, have context menu commands to control the VTOL. Also, after playing around with these engines, I've discovered that while it has all the features I wanted, the interface is clunky and cumbersome. I also can't run a COM Thrust balancer like TCA into the mix without introducing massive instability, so I'm going to resume developing this plugin. If for no other reason than I'm too lazy to build a balanced VTOL.

[BelgarionNL]

well I would love if you got some help from the community on this! right now I am also using TCA to manually land but its a massive pain in the ass. so yes I would love if you or someone else could make a plugin that can balance engine thrust and then lands smoothly

[How2FoldSoup]

I've actually been thinking of trying to make someting similar. I don't mind building balanced VTOLs but I wanted an intuitive way to switch from horizontal flight and vtol to mode for landing and this looks like it could be it. I'm glad you decided to go through with it.

Soup