STK's Aviator capability provides a catalog structure for the loading and saving of aircraft, airports, navaids, runways, VTOL points, and waypoints. Each of these elements of a mission has an associated catalog in STK. You can add, modify, and delete items from the catalogs to make it easier to use the same elements for multiple missions and procedures. In addition, you can import catalogs of compatible data, such as DAFIF and ARINC424 data, and access them for use in defining these elements.
There are two catalog interfaces associated with Aviator - the Aviator Catalog Interface (which is integrated into the Aviator user interface), and the Aviator Catalog Manager.
In either interface, items are often depicted with an icon that describes its status. An item with a red dot is a read-only item and cannot be modified. An item bounded by a purple box is in use by the current scenario and can be modified, but does not yet have any conflicts between the catalog and scenario versions of the item. An item with a yellow exclamation mark has a conflict between the catalog and scenario versions of the item. If an item has a conflict between its catalog and scenario versions, you will need to consider if the version in your scenario should be reloaded from the catalog, preserved and saved as the new catalog version of the item, or saved as a different item with a new name.
You cannot make changes to any of the STK default catalog items; all of the properties fields for these items will be grayed out, and they cannot be deleted or renamed.
Aviator Catalog Interface
Within Aviator, catalogs are integrated into the relevant sections of the user interface. The aircraft catalogs open in a separate window - the Select Aircraft window - while the airport, navaid, runway, waypoint, and VTOL points catalogs open within the Site Properties window. Regardless of the specific catalog or catalogs being used, the interface for working with them remains the same.
The catalog interface is comprised of a hierarchy tree of all of the folders and the objects that they contain and a toolbar along the top. At the top of the catalog hierarchy are the available data sources, and within each data source you will find one or more folders of the appropriate data type. To select an item, expand the lists of folders until you see what you are looking for, and then click on the item that you want. Click OK to complete the selection, or Cancel to close the window without selecting anything.
The Catalog toolbar provides buttons for several frequently used commands.
You can search for specific items by entering search terms (which can be a string or sub-string in the item name) in the Filter field and pressing Enter. To clear any search terms, delete them from the field and then press Enter again. The field is not case sensitive.
You can search for sites using the ATA or ICAO code of the airport where the site is located, in addition to the normal name string terms.
A right-click context menu provides access to the same commands as the Catalog toolbar and some additional commands.
The Aviator Catalog Manager
If you are looking for specific Aviator restricted performance models, ensure your sponsor has the Flight Performance Models installed correctly. You also need to have Aviator restricted installed. Contact AGI for more information.
The Aviator Catalog Manager is a utility that allows you to view the contents of catalogs, create new items, copy or edit existing items, and search for specific items. You can open the Aviator Catalog Manager from the Utilities menu whenever you have a scenario open, regardless of whether there are any Aviator objects in it.
There are two distinct areas in the Aviator Catalog Manager window. The control buttons and hierarchy tree of catalogs and items appear on the left, and the properties of the currently selected catalog item - if one is selected - appear on the right.
At the top of the catalog tree are the available data sources, and within each data source you will find any views that have been defined for it and one or more catalogs of the appropriate data type. To select an item, expand the lists of catalogs and select one by clicking on it, and then select an item listed in that catalog by clicking on it.
The properties fields are dependent on the type of item. You can edit the properties of any user-defined catalog items by working directly with the fields displayed in the Aviator Catalog Manager. Click Save to save any properties changes. The Help button that appears alongside the Save button will provide you with help related to the currently selected item type.
The Aviator Catalog Manager toolbar provides buttons for several frequently used commands.
Table - Catalog Manager Toolbar
You can search for specific items by entering search terms (which can be a string or sub-string in the item name) in the Filter field and pressing Enter. To clear any search terms, delete them from the field and then press Enter again. The field is not case sensitive.
You can search for sites using the ATA or ICAO code of the airport where the site is located, in addition to the normal name string terms.
A right-click context menu provides access to the same commands as the Catalog toolbar and some additional commands.
Catalog Views
You can create catalog views to bundle together links to items that you frequently use in the same context. By default, each catalog begins with a Favorites view, which you can use to define a generic collection of items that you frequently use. You can create additional views by right-clicking on the data source in the tree hierarchy and selecting Create View. For example, if you use a specific group of aircraft models for a type of mission that you often model, you can create a view named for that mission type and then link to the appropriate aircraft models in that view; when you create a new mission of that type, you will be able to find the aircraft models that you want within the view, rather than needing to browse through the entire catalog to find the models.
You can add an item to a view by using the item's right-click context menu or by right-clicking in the view and selecting Add/Remove View Items... and then querying the items that you want to add.
Item names that are displayed in views are just links that point to the actual items within the catalog. You can view the actual item in its folder by selecting Go to Base Item from the right-click context menu of an item link within a view; to modify an item, you must select the base item and not a link to that item in a view. To delete an item link from a view, select Remove from View from the right-click context menu.
Catalog Data
You can use Export/Import package (.eximpkg) files to transport all of the items from one catalog to another. Use the Export and Import right-click commands on the appropriate data sources to create or load these files.
External Data
In addition to catalog items installed with or created in STK, Aviator can read data from DAFIF and ARINC424 catalogs.
DAFIF Catalogs
A very common and useful catalog set that you can use with the Aviator are DAFIF runway and waypoint catalogs. STK supports the use of edition 8 DAFIF data.
DAFIF is restricted-access information. If you do not already have access, you may request it from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. For more information, visit www.nga.mil.
To set up DAFIF catalogs for use with the Aviator:
- You need to download two files - version.zip and the appropriate DAFIF file - for edition 8, it will be named DAFIFT.zip.
- Extract version.zip to a folder of your choosing, and then extract the DAFIF file so that its folder is in the same folder as the version file.
- With the data in place, launch STK and select the Edit menu and Preferences from that menu. Select File Find and specify the folder where you extracted the version file and the DAFIF folder - do not drill down to the DAFIF folder itself. For help with using the File Find interface, click here.
DAFIF data is sometimes incomplete. Fields that are required for Aviator but that lack data will be marked with a "U" in the entry's properties display; Aviator will populate these empty fields with valid data. In other instances, a field may contain data that is invalid. If you are unable to utilize the entry as desired, downloading a more recent version of the DAFIF data may solve the problem.
ARINC424 Catalogs
ARINC424 data files are the only valid data sources for navaid and airport sites. In addition, you can use ARINC424 data to define runway, waypoint, and VTOL point sites.
FPM Data
Aviator can support Flight Performance Models (FPMs) used by military mission planning systems such as JMPS and PFPS. This capability, when installed, allows you to fly those performance models within Aviator. You can manage FPMs from the Aviator Catalog Manager. Contact AGI for more information.