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 Allows you to read the ephemeris for a vehicle from a file. The file must be in ephemeris file format (*.e).
MissionModeler Defines an aircraft object using the Aircraft Mission Modeler.
RealTime Allows you to propagate vehicle ephemeris using near-real-time data received over a Connect socket.
Attitude Define an attitude profile for the aircraft.
Ground Ellipses Add a set of ellipses for the aircraft.
Description Record useful information about the aircraft.
EOIR Shape Specify EOIR image generation properties for the aircraft.

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.

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 display 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.

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 Perl, VBScript and MATLAB.

RF Properties

Property Description
Atmosphere Specify the local surface atmospheric conditions used by the gaseous absorption and rain models.
RCS Specify the radar cross section (RCS) parameters.

Aircraft Subobjects

You can attach the following subobjects to an aircraft: