Request: Terrain Following Visualization

[iskess]

We need a profile view to visualize the terrain and how the autopilot will respond to it while utilizing Terrain Following. The Elevation Graph does not show the aircraft following the terrain. There are two important aspects to flight planning with TF that are missing:

1. How will the autopilot fly the terrain utilizing the TERRAIN_LOOKAHD parameter? I'm envisioning a profile view with a TERRAIN_LOOKAHD slider that changes the smoothing effect that the autopilot will have over the varying terrain. The algorithm used in the autopilot would need to be duplicated in MP to show how it would intend to fly the altitudes.
2. What are the gradients that my plane will be expected to fly? The flight plan gradients are a critical part of flight planning decsion making, but they no longer work if utilizing TF. Either with '#1 above, or listed separately in a new WP column, we need to be able to see if the flight plan gradients are reasonable.

We also need a clear way to see if TF is active or not. Perhaps a HUD flag that says "Terrain Following" so the pilot doesn't get confused over the behavior of the aircraft.

[robustini]

+1

[1Steven]

+1

[GrahamDyer]

+1

[iskess]

I see that Elevation Profile now shows the vertical flight path mirroring the SRTM when Terrain Following is selected. That is a great start. To be really useful, we still need to see the gradient that the plane will be required to fly. This could be listed in the existing gradient column which would be much more useful than what is there now, but that wont provide information for altitude changes within the waypoints. Perhaps, if there is a place to enter the maximum and minimum gradient for our plane, the Elevation Profile could display the line in red when the slope exceeds these values. Maybe the user can hover the pointer over the line and it will read out the gradient wherever the pointer is?

Ultimately it would be best to create something like I described in my original post:

"1. How will the autopilot fly the terrain utilizing the TERRAIN_LOOKAHD parameter? I'm envisioning a profile view with a TERRAIN_LOOKAHD slider that changes the smoothing effect that the autopilot will have over the varying terrain. The algorithm used in the autopilot would need to be duplicated in MP to show how it would intend to fly the altitudes."

[Naish88]

+1

[RANNDON]

I support the need for a "Terrain Following Active" flag in the MP HUD.

[Patribus]

+1

[gelazanskas]

+1