SickSidewinder9 Posted December 11, 2022 Posted December 11, 2022 No no no, I understand the basic concept: If I know the position and direction of the aircraft, and the azimuth and elevation of the targeting pod camera, I could do some trigonometry to get targeting position. Except that should only work if the terrain height is always the same, right? So, without firing the laser, the TGP is giving me pretty precise coordinates as to wear it's aiming. Does it have a map in its computer? Is it always firing some kind of eye-safe laser rangefinder? Or is this just a "hack" in the game? What's going on here, am I missing something?
MadKreator Posted December 11, 2022 Posted December 11, 2022 I believe the real one has a built in INS/GPS system of sorts, just like the aircraft uses for navigation, or maybe tied into the aircraft’s ins/ gps system, which would need to be aligned as the aircraft is being aligned, I would assume. But I’m sure in the game, due to some limitations some things have to be simplified here and there. Basically copying the overall function but maybe not calculating everything exactly how the real one does. Good question though! I’d be curious to hear from someone who really knows how one works. Intel i7 13700k, ASUS rog strix z790A, 64gigs G.Skill Trident DDR5 @6400Mhz, Nvidia RTX 4080FE, 4TB, 2x 2TB, 1TB Samsung NVME, 1TB Samsung SSD, Corsair RM1000x, Corsair Titan 360 X AIO cooler, Lian Li LanCool 2, VKB Gunfighter Ultimate, VKB Custom STECS , MFG Crosswinds, Moza FFB, Virpil Collective, Track IR5, 48” LG UltraGear OLED & HP 24” touchscreen for Helios,49” Samsung Ultrawide, Streamdeck XL, Corsair Virtuoso RGB Headphones
Dragon1-1 Posted December 11, 2022 Posted December 11, 2022 (edited) It has a map. You have GPS coordinates of your aimpoint, and it simply reads how high terrain is at that particular point. This should be less accurate than it is, so that the laser is necessary for proper ranging. This is also why you should always aim at the base of a building, not at the building itself. Since it's not aware of where the buildings are, if you aim elsewhere (such as the top of a skyscrapper) the TGP coordinates will not necessarily be where you think they are, but rather on terrain that would be under the crosshair if the building wasn't there. This applies both IRL and in DCS. Edited December 11, 2022 by Dragon1-1 1
Speedywrx Posted December 11, 2022 Posted December 11, 2022 The TGPs are loaded with DTED (digital terrain elevation data) 2 i7-7700k OC'd to 5.0 GHz, ASUS 1080ti OC, 32 GB 3200 MHz G.Skill, Samsung 960 pro M.2, Thrustmaster Warthog, Saitek pedals, Valve Index HMD
Dr_Pavelheer Posted January 12, 2023 Posted January 12, 2023 There are ways to calculate range without radar or laser rangefinder. If targeting pod is optically tracking either an object or a scene (point track and area track respectively) it can do similar thing ARBS in Harrier does and estimate range from change in angle as the aircraft is moving.
Dragon1-1 Posted January 13, 2023 Posted January 13, 2023 I think it doesn't use the change in angle, it just uses the turret's pointing angle and aircraft's own coordinates to do some trigonometry. ARBS-style calculation takes a while, and the TGP displays range instantly.
drspankle Posted January 30, 2024 Posted January 30, 2024 On 12/11/2022 at 1:11 PM, Speedywrx said: The TGPs are loaded with DTED (digital terrain elevation data) This. DTED comes in three levels of accuracy to us commoners: Level 0 has a post spacing of approximately 900 meters. Level 1 has a post spacing of approximately 90 meters. Level 2 has a post spacing of approximately 30 meters. These are the widely available models - there are more accurate ones in existence which are obviously military spec. Dr Spankle
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