General Question How to simulating random errors/anomalies

[lindquir]

I want to use Orbiter for a research project that compares different training styles. I want to be able to input errors or anomalies that the user will have to fix (engine failure/issues, lose power, etc.). This way I can see how they react to see if one training style was better at preparing them.

I have looked around but haven't found anything on how/if you can input errors. Does anyone know of a way to do that, or have any suggestions on ways I can mess with the user to test their skills while a scenario is running?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[martins]

The occurrence and type/behaviour of failures is coded, if at all, by developers of individual addons, so you would have to look for addons that provide this functionality. The Orbiter launchpad has an option "Damage and failure simulation", but this doesn't do anything in itself, but is only a hint for the addons to enable or disable their failure simulation if they have any.

Since you want the failure simulation for a comparative study, I guess you need the failures to be reproducible in different runs. So in addition to the failure support itself you may need to be able to set the seed for the random generator that triggers the failures. I suspect that most addons, even if they support failures, will not provide that access.

 

[fred18]

I want to use Orbiter for a research project that compares different training styles. I want to be able to input errors or anomalies that the user will have to fix (engine failure/issues, lose power, etc.). This way I can see how they react to see if one training style was better at preparing them.

I have looked around but haven't found anything on how/if you can input errors. Does anyone know of a way to do that, or have any suggestions on ways I can mess with the user to test their skills while a scenario is running?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I did some failure simulation with my multistage module, that was done on a random basis, so as Dr Martin correctly suggested it depends if you want to be able to reproduce the failure or just be random.

There are many many failures you can simulate anyway if you want: engine total failure, engine partial failure, attitude thruster failure, sudden resource limitation, failures due to excess of G loads or excess of aerodynamic stress...

and if you want them to be set from you, there are (IMO) easy ways to set the failures from the scenario file through predetermined codes and timing.

Then it depends: you want to simulate failures to ships of which you have the code? for example if you want to develop your own ship with your own code then it's a matter of writing the failures directly in your ship's code.

Another option could be if you want to simulate failures on the stock DeltaGlider, of which the code is available and you could implement failures to the various subsystems and compile your own version of the deltaglider for your purposes.

Or you may want to simulate failures on any ships, or ships of which you have no access to the code. Then you would need to create a separate module that simulate failures on the ship you want.

Maybe a general failure simulation module could be implemented as a plugin and then in the scenario file you could have something like (pseudo code)

BEGIN_FAILURE_SIM_PLUGIN
Ship DG-S
Code 00100
Time 325
END

that would trigger the failure with code 00100 on the ship DG-S when simtime gets to 325 seconds...

many options open here, I've been thinking a lot on this aspect, so I have suggestions. I hope this is helpful