Hello again. I'd like to give another update. During our investigation into updating our NavData to the XP1100 format, it became apparent that this must be the way to go for long-term future compatibility and more reliable route calculations, including holds, but would require a significant rewrite of the FMS base architecture to do so. So over the last 4 weeks, we have done exactly that. We now have the beginnings of a 2nd FMS running in parallel with... but independently of.... our original FMS. We are running 'newFMS' on CDU1 and 'oldFMS' on CDU2. We will NOT be simulating dual FMCs though. This old/new arrangement only exists so we can compare the new with the old while developing the new. It is much like building a new bridge alongside an old bridge...and when the new one is ready, we will remove the old.
Much of the challenges we have faced with regards to drawing routes / vnav have been related to the limited nature of the navData format we have used since we began the project. Moving to a format which have been designed expressly for "navigation processing" will go a long way towards easing our algorithm development. The image below shows the two CDUs, both on the "IDENT" page, but clearly displaying differing data as they use differing algorithms/databases....and for those curious, the pilot CDU displays 'odd' formatting simply because we were testing our new display drawing code.
We are very excited moving to this new XP1100 format. We have, in 4 weeks, accomplished what took us over 24 months to accomplish originally. Of course we have the benefit of experience, but the elegance and efficiency of the new navData format and architecture allow us to focus on the FMS functionality by orders of magnitude more than before. With the new infrastructure complete, we will begin working on the route editing. The current navData set only supports about 8 different waypoint types. Arcs are not supported, as is common in today's RNAV procedures, but the new format contains all path/terminator types typical in today's procedures.
As usual, we thank you for any patience you have managed to muster as we work to improve the IXEG 733.
P.S. Jan and myself will be at Flight Sim Expo in Orlando, FL/USA in a few weeks if anyone wants to talk shop.
-Tom Kyler