The Aircraft Object
The Aircraft Object models the properties and behavior of a vehicle that travels in a great arc route, generally above the surface of the earth. Select one or more of the following to model an aircraft, impose constraints, and define the aircraft's subobjects:
Basic Properties
Property |
Description |
Route |
Define an aircraft's route using one the following propagators:
- Great Arc - Defines a point-by-point path over or below the surface of the Earth with position and altitude or depth defined at each point.
- StkExternal - Enables you to read the ephemeris for a vehicle from a file.
- Aviator - Defines an aircraft object using STK's Aviator capability. The Aviator route method disables the Attitude properties page for the aircraft because Aviator determines the aircraft's attitude. To disable the Attitude page after selecting Aviator or to enable it after changing the method from Aviator to another, you must click Apply to confirm the change of method.
- RealTime - Enables you to propagate vehicle ephemeris using near-real-time data received over a Connect socket.
|
Attitude
|
Define an attitude profile for the aircraft. |
Lighting
|
Define the eclipse central body list used for lighting computations. |
Ground Ellipses
|
Add a set of ellipses for the aircraft. |
Description
|
Record useful information about the aircraft. |
EOIR Shape
|
Specify the aircraft's Ectro-Optical Infrared (EOIR) image properties. |
2D Graphics Properties
Property |
Description |
Attributes
|
Define color, line style and other graphics characteristics for the aircraft, and opt whether to inherit or override global attributes defined at the Scenario level. |
Route
|
Define the graphical display of the route in the 2D Graphics window. |
Contours
|
Define elevation angle contours in the 2D Graphics window. |
Range
|
Define range contours representing the various regions of the surface that can see an object at the specified level. |
Lighting
|
Define the graphical display of lighting conditions for the aircraft during animation. |
Swath
|
Calculate and graphically display swath for the aircraft. |
Ground Ellipses
|
Set display graphics for an ellipse set defined for the aircraft. |
Radar Cross Section
|
Define the 2D contour graphics for the desired frequency. |
3D Graphics Properties
Property |
Description |
Route |
Define route properties for the aircraft. |
Attitude Sphere
|
The Attitude Sphere is a visualization aid that when combined with vector display constitutes a powerful tool for displaying the aircraft's attitude and for tracking attitude changes over time. |
Vector
|
Control the display of vectors and other geometric elements related to the aircraft. |
Proximity
|
Control the position of the aircraft in the 3D Graphics window. |
Drop Lines
|
Define the display of lines between the aircraft's route (the actual path that the aircraft follows) and the central body. |
Covariance
|
Define the graphical display of a 3D ellipsoid. |
Model
|
Specify a model to represent the aircraft in the 3D Graphics window, and then scale the model and adjust the position of any model articulations. |
Offsets
|
Position a model and marker representing the aircraft in the 3D Graphics window by offsetting the aircraft from its reference frame. |
Contours
|
Define elevation angle contours in the 3D Graphics window.
|
Range
|
Display range contours for the aircraft. Range contours appear in accordance with the values set for 2D Graphics Range Contours for the aircraft. |
Model Pointing |
Point parts of the aircraft model toward a target, such as the Sun or Earth. |
Vapor Trail
|
Add a vapor trail to the aircraft. |
Data Display |
Display dynamic data for the aircraft in the 3D Graphics window. |
Radar Cross Section
|
Control the 3D display of RCS contour lines. |
Constraints
Property |
Description |
Basic
|
Impose a variety of standard access constraints (azimuth and elevation angle and rate, range and range rate, propagation delay, etc.) from the aircraft to another object. |
Sun
|
Impose a variety of access constraints from the aircraft to another object based on the position of the Sun and the Moon. |
Temporal
|
Impose time-based access constraints from the aircraft to another object. |
Advanced
|
Impose several advanced access constraints (grazing angle and altitude, doppler cone angle, solar beta angle, etc.) from the aircraft to another object. |
Zones
|
Use inclusion and exclusion zones to define areas where access is or is not allowed. |
Vector
|
Constrain access computations with respect to any valid vector or angle. |
Special
|
Special access constraints are defined in terms of geostationary belt exclusion, height above horizon, terrain grazing angle, and exclusion of other scenario objects. |
Plugins
|
An interface is provided for defining custom constraints in terms of user-supplied scripts created in VBScript and MATLAB. |
RF Properties
Property |
Description |
Environment
|
Apply environmental factors that affect the performance of a communications link or a radar system.
|
Radar Cross Section
|
Specify the radar cross section (RCS) parameters. |
LASER Properties
Property |
Description |
Environment
|
Apply environmental factors that affect the performance of a laser communications link. |
Aircraft subobjects
You can attach the following subobjects to an aircraft: