[OT] Performance of Simulators

I just gave a paper at SIMTECT 2004, the Australian Conference on simulator
technology.

While waiting to give my paper, I had time to hit the M1 Tank
training simulator and RBS-70 simulator.

After 15 minutes on the M1, I was getting a 1st round Pk of 50% with sabot,
but a lot less with HEAT. Average time from target appearing to destruction
was 15 secs. That was with laser operational, but auto Fire Control off. It
would have been a lot easier if there
had been less cover - with no clear LOS, only an antenna to aim at
through the shrubbery, you can't get a good range with a laser.

Ranges were anything from 700 metres to 4 km. Close in, the high
rate-of-change-of-azimuth for crossing fast moving (60 km/h+)
T-80 targets was tricky, especially as they zigged.

With the RBS-70 - well, I got two hits out of 20 attempts.
The major problem was the coarse tracking. Once I'd managed to get the thing
trained onto the close vicinity of the target, steering it to hit was
comparatively easy. But the simulator
had the Z-controls for the fine and coarse tracking reversed -
pull back the thumbsticks to go down. Bleah!

Although the graphics were quite realistic (as opposed to a single moving dot
on a black screen), it was very similar to the SeaCat simulator I'd used back
in 1965.

It occurs to me that a simple edge-filter tracker could be made
for the RBS-70 quite easily. Get the pipper close to the target,