This document describes how to invoke FlightGear's generic IO subsystem. FlightGear has a fairly flexible generic IO subsystem that allows you to "speak" any supported protocol over any supported medium. The IO options are configured at runtime via command line options. You can specify multiple entries if you like, one per command line option. The general form of the command line option is as follows: --protocol=medium,direction,hz,medium_options,... protocol = { native, nmea, garmin, fgfs, rul, pve, ray, etc. } medium = { serial, socket, file, etc. } direction = { in, out, bi } hz = number of times to process channel per second (floating point values are ok. Generic Communication: --generic=params With this option it is possible to output a pre-configured ASCII string using a predefined separator. The configuration is defined in an XML file located in the Protocol directory of the base package. params can be: serial port communication: serial,dir,hz,device,baud,protocol socket communication: socket,dir,hz,machine,port,style,protocol i/o to a file: file,dir,hz,filename,protocol[,repeat[,count]] See README.protocol for how to define a generic protocol. Serial Port Communication: --nmea=serial,dir,hz,device,baud device = OS device name of serial line to be open()'ed baud = {300, 1200, 2400, ..., 230400} example to pretend we are a real gps and output to a moving map application: --nmea=serial,out,0.5,COM1,4800 Note that for unix variants you might use a device name like "/dev/ttyS0" Socket Communication: --native=socket,dir,hz,machine,port,style machine = machine name or ip address if client (leave empty if server) port = port, leave empty to let system choose style = tcp or udp example to slave one copy of fgfs to another fgfs1: --native=socket,out,30,fgfs2,5500,udp fgfs2: --native=socket,in,30,,5500,udp --fdm=external This instructs the first copy of fgfs to send UDP packets in the native format to a machine called fgfs2 on port 5500. The second copy of fgfs will accept UDP packets (from anywhere) on port 5500. Note the additional --fdm=external option. This tells the second copy of fgfs to not run the normal flight model, but instead set the FDM values based on an external source (the network in this case.) File I/O: --garmin=file,dir,hz,filename filename = file system file name example to record a flight path at 10 hz: --native=file,out,10,flight1.fgfs example to replay your flight --native=file,in,10,flight1.fgfs --fdm=external You can make the replay from a file loop back to the beginning when it reaches the end of the file with the "repeat" flag: --generic=file,in,20,flight.out,playback,repeat With a numeric argument, FlightGear will exit after that number of repeats. --generic=file,in,20,flight.out,playback,repeat,5 Moving Map Example: Per Liedman has developed a moving map program called Atlas (atlas.sourceforge.net) The initial inspiration and much code came from Alexei Novikov. The moving map supports NMEA format input either via network or via serial port. Either way will work, but this example demonstrates the use of a socket connection. Start up fgfs with: fgfs --nmea=socket,out,0.5,atas-host-name,5500,udp Start up the Atlas program with: Atlas --udp=5500 --fgroot=path-to-fg-root --glutfonts Once both programs are running, the Atlas program should display your current location. Atlas is a really nifty program with many neat options such as the ability to generate and use background bitmaps that show the terrain, cities, lakes, oceans, rivers, etc. HTTP Server Example You can now interact with a running copy of FlightGear using your web browser. You can view all the key internal variables and even change the ones that are writable. If you have support in your favorite [scripting] language for interacting with an http server, you should be able to use this as a mechanism to interface your script with FlightGear. Start up fgfs with the --httpd= option: For example: fgfs --httpd=5500 Now point your web browser to: http://host.domain.name:5500/ When a value is displayed, you can click on it to bring up a form to assign it a new value. ACMS flight data recorder playback fgfs --fdm=acms --generic=file,in,1,,acms