Introduction | Designing Missions | The Mission Window | Initial Aircraft Setup | Phases of Flight | Procedures and Sites | 3D Mission Editing| Catalogs
AMM Catalog Manager | DAFIF Catalogs
Aircraft Mission Modeler utilizes a catalog structure for the loading and saving of aircraft, runways, waypoints, and VTOL points. 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 aircraft and procedures. In addition, you can import catalogs of compatible data, such as DAFIF data, and access them for use in defining these elements.
Note: 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.
There are two catalog interfaces associated with the Aircraft Mission Modeler - the Aircraft Mission Modeler Catalog Interface (which is integrated into the Aircraft Mission Modeler user interface), and the AMM Catalog Manager. Both interfaces are described below, but to quickly obtain help for the AMM Catalog Manager, click the quick link at the top of this page.
Within the Aircraft Mission Modeler, the 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 runway, waypoint, and VTOL points catalogs open within the Site Configuration window. Regardless of the specific catalog or catalogs being used, the interface for working with them remains the same.
The catalog interface includes a list of the available catalogs on the left and a list of the contents of the currently selected catalog on the right, as well as the Catalog 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 catalogs of the appropriate data type. To select an item, expand the lists of catalogs and select one by clicking it, and then select an item listed in that catalog by clicking it. Click OK to complete the selection, or Cancel to close the window without selecting anything.
You can create new items, make copies of existing items, modify items, or delete items using the Catalog toolbar. You can rename an item by clicking twice its current name, or by selecting Rename item from the right-click context menu. If you attempt to rename a default item, a copy of the default item will be made - bearing the name you entered.
The AMM 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 AMM Catalog Manager from the Utilities menu whenever you have a scenario open, regardless of whether there are any Aircraft Mission Modeler objects in it.
There are two distinct areas in the AMM Catalog Manager window. The control buttons and 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 one or more catalogs of the appropriate data type. To select an item, expand the lists of catalogs and select one by clicking it, and then select an item listed in that catalog by clicking it.
The properties fields are dependent on the type of item - runways, waypoints, VTOL points, or aircraft. You can edit the properties of any user-defined catalog items by working directly with the fields displayed in the AMM 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.
You can use the AMM Catalog Manager control buttons to create new items, copy items, or delete items. You can rename an item by clicking twice its current name, or by selecting Rename item from the right-click context menu. The following table describes the AMM Catalog Manager control buttons:
| Button | Description |
|---|---|
|
|
New - Create a new item based on the default settings for its type. |
|
|
Copy - Make a copy of the currently selected item. |
|
|
Delete - Delete the currently selected item. |
|
|
Search - Enter search terms in the text box and click
 to search through all available
catalogs for matches. In order to broaden your search, you can use
? to indicate a single wildcard character, or *
to indicate a single or string of wildcard characters. The AMM
Catalog Manager will update the catalog tree to display only those
catalogs that contain matches for the search criteria. You can then
search further within those results by entering a new search term.
When searching for DAFIF items, the best method is to place an
* on either side of the search term. DAFIF entries often
contain additional character strings after, and sometimes before,
the name of the location. |
|
|
Reset - Restores the display of the catalog list to all catalogs available, at the highest level of the tree hierarchy. Use this button to refresh the catalog list after performing a search. |
A very common and useful catalog set that you can utilize with the Aircraft Mission Modeler are DAFIF runway and waypoint catalogs. STK supports the use of edition 7 and edition 8 DAFIF data.
Note: 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 Aircraft Mission Modeler:
DAFIF data is sometimes incomplete. Fields that are required for Aircraft Mission Modeler but that lack data will be marked with a "U" in the entry's properties display; Aircraft Mission Modeler 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.
