X-Plane
Encyclopedia
X-Plane is a flight simulator, designed for Mac OS X
, but also available for Windows
and Linux
produced by Laminar Research
. X-Plane is packaged with several commercial, military and other aircraft as well as basic global scenery which covers most of the earth. X-Plane also comes with other software to build and customize aircraft
and scenery. X-Plane also has a plugin architecture that allows users to create their own modules, extending the functionality of the software by letting users create their own worlds or replicas of places on earth.
, the most recent version is X-Plane 9.70. Mobile versions of the game are also available for Android, iOS (iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, iPod Touch), and webOS platforms. Version 9 comes on 6 double-sided DVDs, most of which comprise the global scenery, which is 78GB uncompressed. X-Plane allows flight from -70 degrees south to 74 degrees north. Switching the planet to Mars is an option that comes with the game, and although the atmosphere is thin, flight is possible.
On November 24th 2011 a demo of version 10 was released, and Laminar Research announced the release date for the full product will be December 7th 2011.
. Traditionally, flight simulators try to emulate the real-world performance of an aircraft by using lookup tables to find known aerodynamic forces such as lift or drag, which vary with flight condition. These simulators do a good job of simulating the flight characteristics of the aircraft they were designed to simulate (those with known aerodynamic data), but are not useful in design work, and do not predict the performance of aircraft when the actual figures are not available.
Blade-element theory is one method of improving on this. It is a way of modeling the forces and moments on an aircraft by individually evaluating the parts that constitute it. Blade-element theory and other computational aerodynamic models can be used to compute aerodynamic forces in real time or to pre-compute aerodynamic forces of a new design for later use in a traditional lookup table type of simulator.
With Blade-element theory, a wing, for example, may be made up of many sections (1 to 4 is typical), and each section is further divided into as many as 10 separate sections, then the lift and drag of each section is calculated, and the resulting effect is applied to the whole aircraft. When this process is applied to each component, the simulated aircraft will fly virtually like its real counterpart does. This approach allows users to design aircraft on their computer quickly and easily, as the simulator engine will show immediately how an aircraft with a given design might perform in the real world.
X-Plane can model fairly complex aircraft designs, including helicopters, rockets, rotor craft and tilt-rotor craft. Famous real-world aircraft modeled in X-Plane include the V-22 Osprey
, the Harrier Jump Jet
, the NASA Space Shuttle
, and Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne.
Blade element theory has shortcomings, as it can sometimes be difficult to design an aircraft that performs precisely as would real-world aircraft. However, as the flight model is refined, the simulator can better resemble real-world performance, and aircraft quirks and design flaws.
uses X-Plane for flight training and research. X-Plane also contributed to the design of the Atlantica blended wing body
aircraft.
Through the plugin interface, users can create external modules that extend the X-Plane interface, flight model, or create new features. One such feature is the Xsquawkbox plugin, which allows X-Plane users to fly on a worldwide shared air traffic control simulation network. Other work has been done in the area of improving X-Plane's flight model and even replacing entire facets of X-Plane's operation. Scaled Composites
, for example, used the X-Plane rendering engine on top of their own simulator while designing and testing SpaceShipOne.
X-Plane can communicate with other applications via User Datagram Protocol
(UDP). Through a relatively simple interface, third party developers can control the simulator and extract data regarding the simulation state. Companies like Scaled Composites
have used this tool to use X-Plane as a rendering engine for their in-house simulators.
Maps and scenery are fully editable. While no tool is provided to edit the 3D mesh objects, there are tutorials for using the third party 3D modeler AC3D
. Once built, editing landscape elevation and 3D object placement is done easily with the scenery editor. Much of the world's detail, including that in airports, such as ramps, buildings, and taxiways, is provided by end-users. Users can also subscribe to a mailing list, receiving regular updates of the airport and navaid database.
Map imagery and aircraft paint can be created and modified with any paint program able to manipulate Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images. Laminar Research has released a 7 DVD "Global Scenery Package" containing imagery of a much higher quality than the default information. This package covers close to 85% of Earth's surface. The release of X-Plane 9 (Jan 2008) has introduced much improved areas of high ground relief (especially mountains) and a plethora of other improvements.
.
, running on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. X-Plane Mobile is a downsized version of the game available on Android, iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), and Palm Pre
devices. Laminar Research claims the flight model for mobile versions is 85% to 95% as accurate as the desktop version.
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, but also available for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
produced by Laminar Research
Laminar Research
Laminar Research is a small software company based out of Columbia, South Carolina, and is dedicated to providing software that accurately reflects the laws of physics. Laminar's flagship product is the flight simulator X-Plane, but it also produces two other programs, Space Combat and Young's...
. X-Plane is packaged with several commercial, military and other aircraft as well as basic global scenery which covers most of the earth. X-Plane also comes with other software to build and customize aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
and scenery. X-Plane also has a plugin architecture that allows users to create their own modules, extending the functionality of the software by letting users create their own worlds or replicas of places on earth.
, the most recent version is X-Plane 9.70. Mobile versions of the game are also available for Android, iOS (iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, iPod Touch), and webOS platforms. Version 9 comes on 6 double-sided DVDs, most of which comprise the global scenery, which is 78GB uncompressed. X-Plane allows flight from -70 degrees south to 74 degrees north. Switching the planet to Mars is an option that comes with the game, and although the atmosphere is thin, flight is possible.
On November 24th 2011 a demo of version 10 was released, and Laminar Research announced the release date for the full product will be December 7th 2011.
Flight model
X-Plane differentiates itself by implementing an aerodynamic model known as blade element theoryBlade element theory
Blade element theory is a mathematical process originally designed by William Froude , David W. Taylor and Stefan Drzewiecki to determine the behavior of propellers. It involves breaking a blade down into several small parts then determining the forces on each of these small blade elements...
. Traditionally, flight simulators try to emulate the real-world performance of an aircraft by using lookup tables to find known aerodynamic forces such as lift or drag, which vary with flight condition. These simulators do a good job of simulating the flight characteristics of the aircraft they were designed to simulate (those with known aerodynamic data), but are not useful in design work, and do not predict the performance of aircraft when the actual figures are not available.
Blade-element theory is one method of improving on this. It is a way of modeling the forces and moments on an aircraft by individually evaluating the parts that constitute it. Blade-element theory and other computational aerodynamic models can be used to compute aerodynamic forces in real time or to pre-compute aerodynamic forces of a new design for later use in a traditional lookup table type of simulator.
With Blade-element theory, a wing, for example, may be made up of many sections (1 to 4 is typical), and each section is further divided into as many as 10 separate sections, then the lift and drag of each section is calculated, and the resulting effect is applied to the whole aircraft. When this process is applied to each component, the simulated aircraft will fly virtually like its real counterpart does. This approach allows users to design aircraft on their computer quickly and easily, as the simulator engine will show immediately how an aircraft with a given design might perform in the real world.
X-Plane can model fairly complex aircraft designs, including helicopters, rockets, rotor craft and tilt-rotor craft. Famous real-world aircraft modeled in X-Plane include the V-22 Osprey
V-22 Osprey
The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, military, tiltrotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing , and short takeoff and landing capability...
, the Harrier Jump Jet
Harrier Jump Jet
The Harrier, informally referred to as the Jump Jet, is a family of British-designed military jet aircraft capable of vertical/short takeoff and landing operations...
, the NASA Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
, and Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne.
Blade element theory has shortcomings, as it can sometimes be difficult to design an aircraft that performs precisely as would real-world aircraft. However, as the flight model is refined, the simulator can better resemble real-world performance, and aircraft quirks and design flaws.
Extensibility
Users are encouraged to design their own aircraft, and design software is included with the program. This has created an active community of users who use the simulator for a variety of purposes. Since designing an aircraft is relatively simple and the flight model can help predict performance of real-world aircraft, several aircraft companies use X-Plane in their design process. The CarterCopterCarterCopter
The CarterCopter is an experimental compound autogyro developed by Carter Aviation Technologies to demonstrate slowed rotor technology. On 17 June 2005, the CarterCopter became the first rotorcraft to achieve mu-1 , an equal ratio of airspeed to rotor tip speed, but crashed on the next flight and...
uses X-Plane for flight training and research. X-Plane also contributed to the design of the Atlantica blended wing body
Blended wing body
Blended Wing Body aircraft have a flattened and airfoil shaped body, which produces most of the lift, the wings contributing the balance. The body form is composed of distinct and separate wing structures, though the wings are smoothly blended into the body...
aircraft.
Through the plugin interface, users can create external modules that extend the X-Plane interface, flight model, or create new features. One such feature is the Xsquawkbox plugin, which allows X-Plane users to fly on a worldwide shared air traffic control simulation network. Other work has been done in the area of improving X-Plane's flight model and even replacing entire facets of X-Plane's operation. Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...
, for example, used the X-Plane rendering engine on top of their own simulator while designing and testing SpaceShipOne.
X-Plane can communicate with other applications via User Datagram Protocol
User Datagram Protocol
The User Datagram Protocol is one of the core members of the Internet Protocol Suite, the set of network protocols used for the Internet. With UDP, computer applications can send messages, in this case referred to as datagrams, to other hosts on an Internet Protocol network without requiring...
(UDP). Through a relatively simple interface, third party developers can control the simulator and extract data regarding the simulation state. Companies like Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...
have used this tool to use X-Plane as a rendering engine for their in-house simulators.
Maps and scenery are fully editable. While no tool is provided to edit the 3D mesh objects, there are tutorials for using the third party 3D modeler AC3D
AC3D
AC3D is a 3D design program which has been available since 1994. The software is used by designers for modeling 3D graphics for games and simulations - most notably it is used by the scenery creators at Laminar Research on the X-Plane...
. Once built, editing landscape elevation and 3D object placement is done easily with the scenery editor. Much of the world's detail, including that in airports, such as ramps, buildings, and taxiways, is provided by end-users. Users can also subscribe to a mailing list, receiving regular updates of the airport and navaid database.
Map imagery and aircraft paint can be created and modified with any paint program able to manipulate Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images. Laminar Research has released a 7 DVD "Global Scenery Package" containing imagery of a much higher quality than the default information. This package covers close to 85% of Earth's surface. The release of X-Plane 9 (Jan 2008) has introduced much improved areas of high ground relief (especially mountains) and a plethora of other improvements.
Community
The community for X-Plane has evolved rapidly over the last few years. A major factor in community growth has been thanks to the iPhone and iPad releases of X-Plane, and the closing of ACES studios, which produced Microsoft Flight SimulatorMicrosoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for the Microsoft Windows operating system, although it was marketed as a video game. It is one of the longest-running, best-known and most comprehensive home flight simulator series...
.
Version history
| X-Plane version history | ||
|---|---|---|
| Version | Release date | Release notes and features |
| X-Plane v1 | 1993 | X-Plane v1 was a beta for Macintosh-only originally designed to simulate the Piper Archer. |
| X-Plane v2 | 1996 | First Microsoft Windows version. |
| X-Plane v3 | 1997 |
|
| X-Plane v4 | 1998 | Version 4 added:
OpenGL OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL... graphics library.
|
| X-Plane v5 | 1999 | Version 5 added:
Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a major development and the best-selling model of the Boeing 747 family of jet airliners. While retaining the four-engine wide-body layout of its predecessors, the 747-400 embodies numerous technological and structural changes to produce a more efficient airframe... . |
| X-Plane v6 | 2001 |
|
| X-Plane v7 | 2003 | Changed to a new game engine, .png texture format, and icon. |
| X-Plane v8 | 2004 | Features of version 8 of the X-Plane series include:
Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... version. |
| X-Plane v9 | Initial release: 2007, latest stable release: June 2011 |
|
| X-Plane v10 | X-Plane 10 was officially released for purchase on 24/11/11 and will ship 7/12/11 |
|
Compatibility
X-Plane is available for Windows, Linux, and the Macintosh. The Macintosh version is a Universal BinaryUniversal binary
A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...
, running on both PowerPC and Intel Macs. X-Plane Mobile is a downsized version of the game available on Android, iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), and Palm Pre
Palm Pre
The Palm Pre is a multimedia smartphone designed and marketed by Palm with a multi-touch screen and a sliding keyboard. The smartphone was the first to use Palm's Linux based mobile operating system, webOS...
devices. Laminar Research claims the flight model for mobile versions is 85% to 95% as accurate as the desktop version.