Real Tech - Flight Computer - Multiple nodes - Can you?

[Mars Mullo]

Umm.. having some difficulty with Flight computer trying to organise multiple navigation nodes and getting them to fir/ complete.

I can set up and run one node to work but when trying to get two are having issues.

Predominantly having problem witht he signal delay being too much to handle the instructions. This occurs around Kerbin bu the node being instructed is about 2 hours away and I have signal connection the whole time.

Typically my method involves :

Using smart SAS to set the position on ADV direction relevant to the SUN and facing RIGHT or LEFT. This keeps the S pannels lit.

I then set up two nodes.. say an alighnment change and then a Apoapsis node.

I programme a change in direction to the node at a few minutes prior to reaching node 1

I programme a burn at tnext node with signal delay set at zero

I then add about 5 minutes to the proposed burn end time and programme a alignment change to get sun again.

BUT how do I get teh second node to work?

Any help please?

[Axelord FTW]

I re-read your steps three times and I still can't figure it out.

Also, you mean remote tech, right?

Node, wait for align, kill rot, EXEC (minus half the burn time in the delay* if doing a Hohmann transfer or such)

As for setting up the computer to perform a burn past your next scheduled burn, I have no idea.

The flight computer doesn't deal with signal delay. Your instructions TO it does.

*if burn is 60 seconds, I place [-30s] in the delay box.

[Mars Mullo]

OK... admittedly I probably did not tell it very well.

You see if I use MECHJEB I can place three or more maneuver nodes and get it to burn each one consecutively no problem at all.

But I like using the flight computer and MECHJEB.

I like using the advanced feature on MECHJEB to orientate the craft relevant to the sun so as to ensure I don't shade out the craft and run out of power.

Also you can make a probe with limited communication range undertake a burn between Kerbin and Minmus while out of communication range.

But I'm struggling to find out how to get it to handle more than one burn.

So perhaps burn to extend periapsis out and then next burn to change plane. All outside of comms range.

I think the confusing part is when you press EXEC it only tells he flight computer to burn at the parameters of the first maneuver node.

How do I make it look at eh parameters of the second maneuver node?

[*Aqua*]

At the moment Remote Tech 2 can't handle more than the next maneuver node. Fortunately executing more than one maneuver node is planned for the next release.

In the mean time you could plan the maneuver manually. You can use the maneuver node to figure out where the rocket has to fly and input that into the flight computer.

[Mars Mullo]

OK.. so I have been trying some stuff out on the flight computer... there is a downward arrow that is shown in each of your listed commands that you input into the the flight computer.

Below the cancel out cross "X" is a downward Vee symbol "V" and the description inthe help text is "Set the signal delay right after this - Current XXm XXs"

I can't quite figure out what that is supposed to do... ???

[Samapico]

OK.. so I have been trying some stuff out on the flight computer... there is a downward arrow that is shown in each of your listed commands that you input into the the flight computer.

Below the cancel out cross "X" is a downward Vee symbol "V" and the description inthe help text is "Set the signal delay right after this - Current XXm XXs"

I can't quite figure out what that is supposed to do... ???

I just almost did 2 maneuver nodes automatically with the flight computer. The only thing it won't do is clear the completed maneuver node so that it can aim at the next properly, but this doesn't require a remote connection, so it could still work to plan multiple nodes to be executed out of transmitter range.

First, hit ">>" to show the commands queue. For the first node, simply hit "NODE", then "EXEC".

For the next node, you have to know in how much time you will need to execute that node. Let's say that maneuver node is in 4 hours. You will first need to orient yourself towards that next maneuver, so you need to queue a "NODE" command before the burn, let's say in 3 hours 40 minutes. Type "3h40m" in the input box at the lower right corner, besides the ">" button, then click ">". The "Delay" should now display "3h40m", this means any command you input from now on will be executed in 3h40m from the time you input the action.

Now, hit "Node", and a command to orient towards the maneuver node should show up in the queue with a 3h40m delay.

Now, it would be nice if you could simply hit "Exec", and it would execute the next node, starting from 3h40m later, but that doesn't work, since the Exec command completely ignores the manual delay you just set.

Instead, you have to input a manual burn. Set the "Throttle" slider to 100% (or less, as you wish), write the delta-v of your burn below it (e.g. "204.5m/s"), and prepare to click "BURN" to queue the command. Before queuing the command, you need to adjust the manual delay so that the burn starts exactly when you want. Your burn is probably 3h55m from now, so write that in the delay input again, hit ">", then hit "BURN" to queue your burn command.

If you mess up, you can cancel a command from the queue and add it again with the proper delay. You can of course adjust the timing of your burns so they start a bit before the actual maneuver node.

Once the first burn is completed, you'll have to hit the checkbox to clear that maneuver, otherwise your following "NODE" command will still orient the ship towards the first node.

Repeat as necessary for more successive burns.

The "V" button beside each queued action seems to simply set the "manual delay" we just used to whatever time is remaining until that command. It can be useful if you want to insert a command after another.

Edit: Also, this page helped me understand: http://remotetechnologiesgroup.github.io/RemoteTech/guide/comp/

Edited February 10, 2015 by Samapico