[RELEASE] ILS Instrument Landing System v1.13

[Norby]

This semi-automatic landing system supports Injector speeds very well.

NPC ships can dock much faster also - effectively cure traffic jams near stations when you are waiting for landing clearance.

Following a request ILS will steer instead of the pilot using an ideal curve into the dock: just keep the flashing white lightball within the screen (slow a bit if needed) and save a lots of approaching time. In addition, Injectors are usable more safely during docking.

The pilot still handle the throttle controls. There is no collision prevention, so the pilot should temporary override the controls in any problematic situation. In the last 2km the ship will be rolled also but only if wider than the height of the dock.

In a narrow ship you can simply lock the station, hold down the Injectors and watch the docking animation a few seconds later. Since Oolite v1.80 the Cobra3 is the only core ship which can not dock sideways into a Coriolis Station, in this case you should give a second to ILS roll your ship into the right position before the dock.

Try [wiki]ILS[/wiki] and you will use Injectors during every landing.

[Norby]

V1.1 contain small fixes to work better with other oxps.

I need testers, so if you try landing with ILS and Injectors then please report your observations.

I started my landing tests from scanner range within a large  Carrier which need a few extra seconds at the end to roll to the correct position but I was able to land in 20 seconds if I arrived from torus speeds and pressed Injectors from before masslock until I must start roll.

If I approach from behind the station then I must release Injectors during the sharp turn right before the dock because the slow turn rate of the Carrier can not follow the movement of the flashing white mark at Injector speeds.

Ships with better turn rates and speeds can land faster, my best in a Cobra3 is 15s.

[streb2001]

Hi, I tried v1.0 last night and it worked well, although I did not try it with injectors. I could not see the white ILS beacon though.

With 1.1 I seem to have very poor control over roll. In fact, with the station NOT targeted the joystick response in all axes is now very poor, lagging and not proportional. If I remove the OXZ my joystick returns to normal. I still can't see the beacon either!

Nice idea though! This could be a very nice alternative docking computer if you take into account current approach traffic and also automate the roll.

ED. OK, tried it again and the joystick seems fine. Maybe a caching issue of the previous version? Anyway, still can't see a white beacon.

[Norby]

Thank you for the feedback!

When you put your target lock to the station, the white beacon appear near to the station's Nav Buoy if you are far from the station. In this moment the nose of your ship will start turning to this white flashing dot of ILS. When you travel to the station, the white beacon moving towards to the station in a straight line from the Nav Buoy to the dock, in proportion with your decreasing distance from the station.

Your ship will turn automatically to follow the movement of the white beacon. Depending on your turn rates the beacon usually should be near to the center of your screen in the whole landing sequence, so I am doubtful why you can not see it.

Try the following: launch from the station, fly near to the Nav Buoy, then stop, turn back to place the station into the middle of your crosshairs and press "r" to lock it. The white flashing ball should be appear in front of you and you should get an "ILS set to ..." message (except if you forgot to buy the ILS equipment).

After this if you try turn your ship to another direction then you can do it but right when you release the controls your ship will turn back to the white beacon, this mean ILS is operational.

To stop ILS press "r" again when you are not facing to the station to break the target lock.

[streb2001]

It does everything you describe, but I still see no white beacon.

Does the white beacon even need to be there? Works fine without it!

[Norby]

Not so important, just a visual feedback of ILS.

Technically use the same feature as the green flashers on the sides of the dock or the four alternating yellow dots on the back of the dock. The red balls in  NeoDocklights are the same also, so if you have some graphical problem then maybe you can't see all of them? I see these even at minimum graphics detail:



Note that this is a light source only (plus a white lollipop in your scanner), but there is no physical Buoy there and will not appear in your  advanced space compass, so this is not a full-featured beacon in the terms of Oolite.

[streb2001]

Still can't get the beacon to work. I tried a fresh vanilla install of Oolite 1.80 too, still nothing.
I am running the Windows 32 bit version if that is any help.
This is what I see on an ILS approach with Neo-docklights installed:

[another_commander]

No white light here either. The log has this to say:

20:51:04.065 [shipData.load.error]: ***** ERROR: the shipdata.plist entry "ils-marker" specifies non-existent model "telescope-marker.dat".

[Norby]

Thanks for the reports, I fixed the marker in v1.2 and refined the approaching curve to less sharp to be more safe when using Injectors.

I found an interesting test usage of ILS: press F1 (launch), F2 (rear view), r (lock the station), F1 (forward view) and roll until docked.

[Potential Debris]

I've had a play with this, it's great fun on full injectors, but a bit alarming whe you accidentally ID a station or hermit or something and the ship starts doing its own thing!

Excellent work Norby!

[Cody]

I've had a play with this, it's great fun on full injectors...

It's more fun docking manually at a rotating rock hermit on torus!

[Norby]

it's great fun on full injectors, but a bit alarming whe you accidentally ID a station

Thank you! An alternative is a primable equipment but I think this is an oftenly used feature so more boring if always must prime. After a few practice the surprise will be gone and you will remember to press "r" again in this case to clear the lock and get back the control from ILS.

[cim]

After a few practice the surprise will be gone and you will remember to press "r" again in this case to clear the lock and get back the control from ILS.

There are other reasons that one might want to target a station where losing direct control of pitch and yaw might be rather inconvenient.
- to fire a missile at it
- to use primable equipment on it
- to get an accurate range to it
- to request docking clearance when there's a large queue
- in 1.81, to view its market data

[Norby]

Ok, in v1.3 there are new ways to avoid ILS steering when a station is locked:
1. the missile targeting mode: use the "t" key instead of "r" and ILS will not switch on,
2. ILS steering will be suspended until your ship is stopped.

[Rese249er]

Heh, hi again. ILS isn't working for me. I've purchased the equipment, used r to lock, had weapons on- and offline, stopped and at speed... *shrug*