Drone Aircraft

[Mark Hargrove]

How do the drone aircraft visible on the live map come into play when I'm flying within the PE world? Is that traffic somehow injected into my simulator world? I know that something magical is happening because I got a traffic advisory during my V2 cross-country to KONT and I actually could see the traffic out in front of me. How does this work?

-M.

[Keith Smith]

Think of them as other live aircraft who are really quiet on the radio. From a technical standpoint, they are regular clients on the network. They're being driven by a data file (a recording of a real flight) rather than being driven by a human in real time.

If you couldn't see the traffic, and if ATC couldn't see the traffic on their scopes, then their value would be minimal

[Mark Hargrove]

Sorry, should have asked my question better. I know that we both "see" the traffic -- I was wondering how it actually works. Does the PE client permit injection of the traffic into FSX so that I see it in my sim world?

-M.

[Keith Smith]

Hi Mark,

I see. It sounds like you're asking about how the traffic appears in general, not just the drones, specifically. The PE client creates and manages AI aircraft within FSX. It updates their location within the sim every time the screen is redrawn in FSX. It also sets their light, gear, control deflections and even the power settings. This way, when you see an aircraft up close, you can see what it's up to.

[Mark Hargrove]

Wow. Very cool!