Plugins for AeroSIM RC

A plugin is a piece of software that is added to the simulator, allowing the emulation of real OSD, Auto Pilots, Ground Station, etc. and which are created by the same developers of the real devices.

Plugin capabilities

A plugin can perform many functions:

- OSD (see demo plugin)

- Auto Pilots (see demo plugin)

- Simulator as a Ground Station

- Development of low cost Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) based on accelerometers, gyros and magnetic compass.

Download and Install Plugins

The plugins can be downloaded from the downloads page at www.aerosimrc.com

Plugins are downloaded as a single file with .plg extension.

To install a plugin, just click on Menu / Plugin / Install and select the .plg file you yant to install.

Benefits for Users

- Users can download a Plugin created by a manufacturer and familiarise with their product.

- Users can learn to use the simulated equipment, since even the menus controlled by transmitter can also be simulated.

Information for Plugin Developers

Benefits for Developers

- Speed up the development of your OSD, AutoPilot, etc.

- Can do hundreds of flight tests at home when it is raining outside.

- Can push the flight tests beyond the safety limit since there is no risk involved in the simulation. Thus, achieving an increased reliability in real life.

- Free demo platform for potential customers to try your product.

If I were interested in developing a Plugin, where do I start?

Firstly, edit file config2.txt and set I_AM_DEVELOPER_OF_PLUGIN to 1. This file can be found in folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Program Data\AeroSIM_RC or in C:\Program Data\ AeroSIM_RC, depending on your operating system. This will enable new options in the Plugin menu, and a new debug menu item.

Then play around with the DemoPlugin and try all its menu options.

And after that, have a look at the demo source files. These can be found in the folder \Plugin\PluginDemo\src, under the AeroSIM RC installation folder.

The demo plugin ilustrates:
- how to define a custom menu
- how to change model position (useful to repeat tests from same position, velocity, attitude, etc.)
- a simple aileron autopilot that takes the roll angle and move the ailerons to keep roll at 0º
- a simple elevator autopilot that takes the pitch angle and move the elevator to keep pitch at 0º
- a OSD with a simplified MAX7456 emulation
- a simple HUD

PluginDemo.vcproj is the project file for Visual Studio. The plugin demo is programmed in C.

Briefly

1. To create a plugin, you write a DLL consisting basically on a function that will be called from AeroSIM RC in each simulation cycle.
2. This function receives the flight data (position, velocity, acceleration, angles, height above the ground and stick positions)
3. The function returns a data structure to optionally overwrite the stick positions, model variables, and OSD display.

Some details

A Plugin is composed of the following files:

The plugin name is taken from the folder where the files can be found. No spaces are allowed in the name.

In the sample plugin, PluginDemo is the name of the plugin, and its files are found in C:\Program Files\AeroSIM-RC\Plugin\PluginDemo

Help for developers

There is more information in the source code, and in any case, send us an email if you need help to create your plugin or need any new feature.