Air Rendezvous Simulation Tool
The Air Rendezvous Simulation Tool is an Aviator plugin that enables you to model two aircraft flying against each other simultaneously using STK's Aviator capability. For more information or to obtain the necessary licenses for this plugin, please contact AGI Support at support@agi.com or 1-800-924-7244.
Opening the Air Rendezvous Simulation Tool
The Air Rendezvous Simulation Tool is an Aviator plugin and can be found in the Aircraft Plugins menu. To open the Air Rendezvous Simulation Tool,
- Right-click on an Aviator aircraft in the Object Browser.
- Expand the Aircraft Plugins menu.
- Select Air Rendezvous Simulation from the drop-down menu.
You can also click the 
button in the Aviator UI Plugins toolbar. You may need to display the toolbar.
Chase and Target Configuration
The simulation involves two Aviator aircraft
- the chase
- the target
In the Start Chase Mission and Start Target Mission fields, select the aircraft that you want to simulate for each role. The final state of the currently defined missions of the aircraft are used to define their initial states for the simulation.
Once you have selected the aircraft, click the Setup Chase Procedure and Setup Target Procedure buttons to define a basic maneuver strategy for each of them. These strategies model the flight of each aircraft during the simulation. You can use any basic maneuver strategy, but at least one of the two aircraft must be using a programmatic dynamic strategy.
Programmatic Dynamic Basic Maneuver Strategies
Graphics
Select Animate Graphics if you want the simulation tool to draw the aircraft routes in the 3D Graphics windows as it calculates them. Click Chase Animation Color... and Target Animation Color... to customize the route colors of the aircraft during the simulation. Click Clear Animation Graphics to immediately remove all simulation route graphics. If you don't clear the Animation Graphics, the simulation route graphics will be removed when you close the tool.
Simulation Time
The Simulation Time properties affect the duration of the simulation and the frequency of sampling. The below table describes the available properties.
| Property | Description | Value Range |
|---|---|---|
| Sim Time Step | The frequency with which the tool evaluates the stopping conditions. | 0.1 to 3 seconds |
| Min Sim Time | The minimum duration of the simulation. If a stopping condition is satisfied before this duration has passed, then both aircraft will be propagated for the remainder of this duration before the simulation is stopped. | 0.1 to 60 seconds |
| Max Sim Time | The maximum duration of the simulation. If none of the selected stopping conditions are satisfied, then the simulation will end as soon as this duration has passed. | <=3,600 seconds |
Stopping Conditions
A stopping condition defines a goal or circumstance which, if achieved, ends the simulation. You can define more than one stopping condition if you want, and the simulation stops if any one of them is met.
Air Rendezvous Simulation Stopping Conditions
| Stopping Condition | Description |
|---|---|
| Min Load Factor | The simulation will stop once the load factor of either aircraft exceeds and then relaxes back down to this value. |
| Min Altitude | The simulation will stop once either aircraft drops below this altitude. |
| Min Range | The simulation will stop once the two aircraft are within this distance of each other. If the simulation starts within the minimum range, then both aircraft will propagate for the specified minimum time. |
| Angle Off Nose Less Than | The simulation will stop when the angle from the body x-axis and a vector to the other aircraft is less than this value. |
| Angle Off Tail Less Than | The simulation will stop when the angle from the body negative x-axis and a vector to the other aircraft is less than this value. |
| Angle Off Nose + Tail Less Than | The simulation will stop once one of the aircraft is behind the other and both angles are less than the specified value. |
Run Simulation
Once you have configured the chase and target and set any additional properties, click Run Simulation to calculate the results. A progress window is displayed while the simulation is calculated. When the simulation completes, the progress window automatically disappears and the Post Simulation Results window appears.
Post Simulation Results
When the simulation has completed, you can decide what to do with the resulting aircraft missions from the Post Simulation Results window. There are three general options to choose from - Starting Missions, Other Existing Missions, and Flightpkg Files - described in the following table.
| Results Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Starting Missions | The simulation results will be appended to the chase and target aircraft missions at the point that they began the simulation. |
| Other Existing Missions | The entire missions of the aircraft that you select from the drop-down menus will be replaced with the chase and target simulation results |
| Flightpkg Files | The simulation results will be exported to .flightpkg files. |
Click OK to apply the simulation results as you have selected, or click Cancel to exit the window without saving the simulation results.