Here are some impressions of my first maiden flight in my own Boeing 737-800 flight simulator. I’m currently running the whole Project Magenta software suite for the captain side consisting of the MCP, the PFD, the ND, the EICAS, and the FMC. As a computer hardware foundation I’m using 4 PCs dedicated to the following roles:

• PC #1: Run’s the flight simulator with FSUIPC
• PC #2: Run’s the Glass Cockpit consisting of PFD and ND, and the MCP software
• PC #3: Runs’ the lower and upper EICAS software
• PC #4: Run’s the FMC software

During the maiden flight with this flight configuration was situated around the area of Vienna – LOWW. I departured at RW 29 heading to the west of Vienna.

As you can see I’m the auto pilot has taken me to 9000ft, with a cruising speed of 300kt with the heading 295. (Yes, I know there’s the speed restriction of 250kt under 10.000ft, but I’m in a simuator ). Here you can see the programmed FMC for the SITN2X SID from RW 29 in LOWW (but only for demonstration purposes, because I didn’t activated the programmed route)

After crossing Tulln (LOXT), I was on course towards Langenlois (LOAG) where I returned back home on course 114 heading to RW 11 in LOWW.

As you can see the auto pilot (in a single channel approach) is establishing the plane on the glideslope and localizer of RW 11. We are 6,5 miles away from the touchdown point at around 2600ft at 210kt.

We are cleared to land

Last corrections are done by the auto pilot…

Everything is fine.

Stay tuned

-Klaus

After a long time of work, I finally finished today my presentations for the Solid Quality Summit which takes place next week here in Vienna. I’m presenting the following sessions:

• ADO.NET Enhancements
• Spatial Data support in SQL Server 2008
• Service Broker Scaleout scenarios
• T-SQL Enhancements in SQL Server 2008

On friday I’m doing a whole day workshop about the SQLCLR integration in SQL Server 2008. As you can see, I have a lot of work to do next week. I’m looking forward to next week, to see many good friends from Solid Quality

-Klaus

On May 23, we (Karin & I) had our wedding in Salzburg. Enclosed some impressions:

For our entertainment Tricky Niki joined us. Niki is a magician specialized in card tricks, pickpocketing and ventriloquism. The following picture shows Niki with Emil during his ventriloquism act

So if you have a party, wedding etc, and need some entertainment don’t hesitate to contact Niki - just trust me: you will have a lot of fun!!!

-Klaus & Karin

As announced in both of my sessions at the European PASS conference in Neuss/Germany last week, you can download the sample code here:

• T-SQL enhancements in SQL Server 2008
• Spatial data support in SQL Server 2008

I hope you have enjoyed my sessions

-Klaus

Wir nähern uns mit großen Schritten dem Solid Quality Summit vom 22. bis 26. Juni, dem SQL Server Event des Jahres in Wien. Nun ist auch der Session Schedule fixiert. Einige Mentoren wie Dejan Sarka, Davide Mauri oder Klaus Aschenbrenner schleifen auf der European PASS Conference in Neuss gerade Ihre Sessions zurecht, um für das anspruchsvolle Publikum in Wien optimal vorbereitet zu sein. Aber auch Itzik  Ben-Gan, dessen Buch „SQL Server 2008 Query Tuning“ soeben erschienen ist, Herbert Albert, Gianluca Hotz und die anderen Vortragenden scharen bereits in den Startlöchern, um Sie an ihren neuesten Erkenntnissen teilhaben zu lassen. Erleben Sie die einzigartige Kombination aus High-End Content und familiärer Atmosphäre beim Solid Quality Summit in Wien!

Alle Detailinformationen zum Summit finden Sie hier.

Anmeldeseite:.

Seminare:

Montag, 22.06.2009:
Itzik Ben-Gan: Inside T-SQL for SQL Server 2005 and 2008 (Room1)
Herbert Albert: Disaster Recovery (Room2)

Freitag, 30.06.2009:

Dejan Sarka: Data Modelling Essentials (Room1)
Klaus Aschenbrenner: Managed Code Development with SQL Server 2008 (Room2)

Session Schedule:

Day	Time	Speaker	Room1	Speaker	Room2
23.06.2009	09:00-10:15	Itzik Ben-Gan	Minimally Logged Inserts and other Data Modification Enhancements in SQL Server 2008	Dejan Sarka	Advances in Relational Databases
10:30-11:45	Aaron Johal	Help! My operational system is getting slower and slower!	Helmut Knappe	Implementing Many-to-many Relationships in SQL Server Analysis Services to Model Complex Business Solutions
13:30-14:45	Itzik Ben-Gan	Islands and Gaps Problems	Michael Sass	Meta Data Locks -  Analysis and Performance Problems
15:00-16:15	Aaron Johal	Using Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition to resolve the data perception	Helmut Knappe	Charts in Reporting Services 2008
16:30-17:45	Itzik Ben-Gan	Advanced T-SQL Tips & Tricks	Andreas Schindler	Best Practice ETL
24.06.2009	09:00-10:15	Klaus Aschenbrenner	Scaleout scenarios with SQL Server & Service Broker	Dejan Sarka	Understanding XQuery,
10:30-11:45	Itzik Ben-Gan	Using the HIERARCHYID Datatype in SQL Server 2008	Davide Mauri	Set Based solution: an approach for developers
13:30-14:45	Klaus Aschenbrenner	T-SQL Erweiterungen im SQL Server 2008	Gianluca Hotz & Herbert Albert	Implementing SQL Server 2008 Policy Based Management
15:00-16:15	Itzik Ben-Gan	Aggregating Data in SQL Server 2008 Using Grouping Sets	Gianluca Hotz & Herbert Albert	SQL Server 2008 Policy Based Management and multi-server administration
16:30-17:45	Klaus Aschenbrenner	ADO.NET Enhancements für SQL Server 2005/2008	Davide Mauri	Instrumenting, Monitoring and Auditing of SSIS ETL Solutions
25.06.2009	09:00-10:15	Dejan Sarka	Design Myths	Andreas Schindler	Solving Business Problems with MDX
10:30-11:45	Helmut Knappe	Business Intelligence Myths	Aaron Johal	Why must I shoehorn my data into tables? I need total flexibility to develop in an agile way!
13:30-14:45	Dejan Sarka	Temporal Data in SQL Server 2008	Andreas Schindler	Change Management für Analysis Services Cubes
15:00-16:15	Gianluca Hotz	Oracle to SQL Server migration for Developers I	Helmut Knappe	Using Windows PowerShell in BI
16:30-17:45	Gianluca Hotz	Oracle to SQL Server migration for Developers II	Klaus Aschenbrenner	SQL Server 2008 und der GEOGRAPHY Datentyp

Preise:

Full Summit 5 Tage inkl. 1Day Classes(regulär): 1.990,00 Euro (exkl. Ust.)

Full Summit 5 Tage inkl. 1Day Classes(Early Bird): 1.790,00 Euro (exkl. Ust.)

Early Bird bis 11.05.2009

1Day Class only 590,00 Euro (exkl. Ust.)

Slim Conference 3 Tage 1.490,00 Euro (exkl. Ust.)

Anmeldung:

Für Gruppen ab 3 Teilnehmern gibt es spezielle Ermäßigungen. Näheres dazu erfahren Sie per Mail unter flechnitz@solidq.com bzw. am Telefon unter +43 (676) 5397927

Bitte beachten Sie bei der Anmeldung für 1Day Classes, dass Full Conference Teilnehmer bevorzugt behandelt werden, sollten die vorhandenen Plätze knapp werden.

Ort:

it-versity

Schottenfeldgasse 69

1070 Wien

Wir freuen uns darauf, Sie im Juni beim Solid Quality Summit 2009 in Wien, dem SQL Server-Event des Jahres begrüßen zu dürfen.

You can’t build the entire home cockpit from scratch without any partners in the hardware and software industry. Let’s have a first look on the hardware partners I’m working with.

• OpenCockpits
• Conrad Electronics
• Simparts.de

OpenCockpits
You can find them at http://www.opencockpits.com. What they are offering you is just amazing: they have build hardware cards, which interact with external hardware switches. Their hardware cards are connected through a USB connection to the computer, where the software is running which is interacting with the hardware and the flight simulator software. Further more they also sell panels on which you can mount the hardware switches. The panels are as real as possible and very cheap and a very, very good starting point for building home cockpits. I have currently running the following hardware cards from Open Cockpits:

• Master Card
• USB Expansion Card
• USB Keys Card
• USB Servo Motor Card

Conrad Electronics
Just go to http://www.conrad.at and you will find a lot of switches, LEDs etc. that you will need for building your home cockpit. As you will see in the next weblog posts, you can build around 80% of your home cockpit with hardware switches from Conrad Electronics. But don’t tell them what you are doing with the bought hardware, they look a little bit crazy, when you tell them that you are building a Boeing 737-800 flight simulator with their hardware *gggg*

Simparts.de
I very interesting supplier I found in the last weeks. If you need hardware that you can’t find at Conrad Electronics, just try http://www.simparts.de. They have for example a dual encoder with a push button, which you need for the EFIS (EFIS: Electrical Flight Information System).

Here are the software partners I’m working with:

• Project Magenta
• Microsoft

Project Magenta
They (http://www.projectmagenta.com) are providing you the whole system logic for your home cockpit in the needed deep. The “problem” with Microsoft Flight Simulator X is, that you can access the internal functionality very easily from the outside world, but some functionalities are not completed 100%. And this is the point where Project Magenta starts. They provide you every hardware circuit and hardware logic which is available on an real airliner in software. So you can attach your hardware switches to their system logic and their system logic is working against Flight Simulator X. When you for example are pressing a button on the overhead panel, Flight Simulator X just changes the state of the associated variable inside it’s own software. But with Project Magenta they are also checking other variables and other environmental requirements regarding the official Boeing operation manuals. Furthermore Project Magenta provides you external software visualizations for the whole glass cockpit of the Boeing and Airbus fleet – very amazing.

Microsoft
I’m using the Microsoft Flight Simulator X currently on Windows Vista as the flight simulation system. Furthermore I use the .NET framework to program my hardware switches against the Project Magenta software. This means the following: I’m changing a real hardware switch => my programmed software obtains this hardware event => my programmed software changes a variable inside Project Magenta => Project Magenta provides it’s own simulation logic and finally changes the correct variable inside Flight Simulator X. In the next weblog post we will have a more detailed look on this architecture I have chosen.

-Klaus

Building a Boeing 737-800 is one of the most challenging activities I’ve done in my whole life. If you want to be successful, you need to know a lot in the following areas (or do several months of internet research as in my case):

• Construction engineering
• Electricals
• Software programming (that’s my main area)
• Flight experience on a Boeing 737-800 – the most complicated point

Let’s have a look on each of these topics.

Construction engineering
When we speak about building a full scale flight simulator, we are talking about building the whole (!) cockpit shell in REAL dimensions. In my case I have a dedicated room in the basement of my house (which we build in the year 2007…), which has enough room for a whole cockpit shell. The main structure of my MIP (main instrument panel) currently consits of MDF panels (MDF is the english word for “Spannholzplatten” in german ). Now you would ask: and from where I get the real dimensions of the cockpit shell? Answer: internet research!

The big problem here is, that you can’t search to site xyz, and read everything about building cockpit shells. You need to visit several different sites, and combine their concepts to your final solution, which works best for you. There is no complete solution which fits for everyone – unfortunately. But that’s the great aspect of doing such things: reseraching, making prototypes, checking them against requirements and refine them, until you have found the ultimate solution.

Electricals
Another very important thing about building flight simulation cockpits is hardware engineering. You are working directly with the bits & bytes of your hardware switches instead of using great APIs (application programming interfaces) around these “input types”. In my case it took me several weeks, until I was able to use a hardware switch (bought at the electrical shop Conrad) to move up and down the gear – but it’s amazing when you have done it the correct way. In subsequent weblog posts I’ll look at the different hardware switches you will need at least to build a fully functional cockpit. You also need to know something about the inner workings of electronics and your used hardware switches, because when you have problems, you can’t just attach a debugger and debug the problem. Here you are working with wires and voltage!

Software programming
As soon as you have build your hardware interface, you have to program the whole thing to interact with the real flight simulation software – in my case with Microsoft Flight Simulator X. I have a long history with Microsoft technologies and especially with the .NET framework, therefore I’ve build a managed interface wrapper assembly around my hardware switches, with which I can interact with the switches and output controls (like LEDs) in an event driven approach. If you do not know something about software programming, don’t try to build a home cockpit.

Flight experience on a Boeing 737-800
That’s the most complicated part to achieve in real world, and after 9/11 it’s very hard (or let’s say: impossible!) to get in any cockpit during the flight :-(. You have only 2 options here:

• Research through the internet: there are great Boeing operation manuals available for download, but they are just describing each switch in the cockpit. They don’t tell you the interdependencies between the switches and how one switch will affect another one in the cockpit.
• Try to find a friend (or a person who will be your new friend) who is flying a Boeing 737-800. I’m currently going for this way, and talking to any pilot I can see when I’m on my business trips. Unfortunately our local airline (Austrian Airlines) only flies A-319 & A-320 within Europe (short haul distances) and B-767 & B-777 to US, Australia, China (long haul distances) etc. So currently I have no access to a person who flies the 737-800.

In the next weblog post I’ll describe the several hardware and software partners I’m working togehter to build this amazing project.

-Klaus

As you already might know, I’ve found a new hobby in the last few years – I’m currently building a fully functional fixed-based Boeing 737-800 flight simulator. I’ve started this project around January 2006 with a very, very long research phase (around 18 months). During the christmas holidays of 2008 I decided to put this amazing project into reality and started building the main structure of my flight simulator and several hardware interfaces that are working together with Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Here you will see some impressions of the current status. In the next ongoing weblog posts I will dive into the technical details of my flight simulator, and I will show you how things are done and implemented.

Figure 1: The MIP (main instrument panel) of the Boeing 737-800 flight simulator in >>>REAL<<< dimensions.

Figure 2: The pilot’s side of the MIP. The left window frame is the PFD (primary flight display), where the window right window frame next to the PFD is the ND (navigational display).

Figure 3: The auto-break/flaps panel.

Figure 4: The upper part of the landing gear.

Figure 5: The lower part of the landing gear.

Figure 6: The inner workings of the MCP (Mode Control Panel), aka Auto-Pilot. It took me around 3 months to build and program it.

Figure 7: Parts of the MCP from the front.

Stay tuned for further more detailed and technical information

-Klaus

As announced in my session at the SQLBits conference in Manchester, you can download the sample code here. I hope you enjoyed my session and my attractive back

-Klaus