interpretation assistance requested; re: AI sensors

OK, for the most part I've had no trouble interpreting settings in the various .dat and .sim files. I've a new project in mind and I was investigating the AI_Sensors.dat file and I'm a bit confused with the meaning of some of the settings for the AI Hydrophone.

MinRange and MaxRange seem to be the minimum and maximum ranges the hydrophone can 'hear'.

MinHeight and MaxHeight seem to be the minimum and maximum heights the hydrophone can 'hear'. As Maxheight is set at 0 and MinHeight at -235 I'm interpreting this to mean the AI hydrophone can 'hear' from the surface to 235 meters down.

MinBearing and Maxbearing, and MinElevation and MaxElevation, though, are what is confusing me.

MinBearing=0
Maxbearing=130
MinElevation=70
MaxElevation=180

Eh?

Could some kind soul please explain to me what these values do and how they affect the AI hydrophone?

Danke!

~Albrecht

as i understand it, the bearing is refering to the forward looking cone angle the sensor is detecting in. think of it as a compass and the bow is the zero point.

MinBearing=0 < this is starting reference point centered on bow

Maxbearing=130 < this is how wide of a forward looking cone angle (130 degree cone angle) that the sensor is detecting within

[swuboo]

I don't know a damn thing about that file, but I'll take a stab at it.

I would imagine that MinElevation and MaxElevation refer to the angles at which the hydrophone can hear, but I'm not sure how to interpret them.

If we take Webster's notion as a starting point, with zero being the bow, 90 straight down, and 180 the stern, the resulting arc would be really bizarre. The ship would be deaf to anything in front of it vertically, and deaf to anything behind it laterally.

If, however, we take zero to be the stern, 90 to be down, and 180 the bow, then it still seems weird. The ship would be able to hear anything within 130 degrees of the bow laterally, and anything an arc that extends from the surface to slightly behind the hydrophone.

Hmm. Are you looking at a really late war unit?

[caspofungin]

re elevation -- 0 is straight up, 90 is dead ahead, 180 is straight down.

Originally Posted by swuboo

I don't know a damn thing about that file, but I'll take a stab at it.

I would imagine that MinElevation and MaxElevation refer to the angles at which the hydrophone can hear, but I'm not sure how to interpret them.

If we take Webster's notion as a starting point, with zero being the bow, 90 straight down, and 180 the stern, the resulting arc would be really bizarre. The ship would be deaf to anything in front of it vertically, and deaf to anything behind it laterally.

If, however, we take zero to be the stern, 90 to be down, and 180 the bow, then it still seems weird. The ship would be able to hear anything within 130 degrees of the bow laterally, and anything an arc that extends from the surface to slightly behind the hydrophone.

Hmm. Are you looking at a really late war unit?

well the reason my answer about the bearing setting makes no sense for minelevation or maxelevation is because bearing and elevation are 2 completely different things.

bearing is the horizontal sweep angle from left or right, so the 130 maxbearing would translate to: looking straight forward (the zero point) the sensor area of detection is 65 degree angle to the left in front of you and 65 degree angle to the right of you. so it looks like this: 65 degrees left + 65 degrees right = 130 degrees total detection area.

point your arms straight out in front of you and how far apart you open your arms is the bearing setting. the max number is divided in half because it represent the left and right sides of the ship. so if you wanted it to look out at a 45 degree angle off the bow: 45 + 45 = 90 so set the max bearing to 90.

the elevation does the same thing but in a vertical way, extend one arm straight out in front of you and then swing it down, this is the elevation setting. not all ships sensors will detect from bow to stern, some have forward looking sensors and seperate rear looking sensors that can overlap or even leave small blind spots so the ship has a lot to do with how you set these. i believe for the elevation the zero point is straight down but im not sure how to adjust those perameters.

[bobchase]

Min Bearing = 0 is the bow
Max Bearing = 135 is 135 degrees to port *or* 135 degrees to starboard. Leaving the AI with a 90 degree dead zone centered on the stern (+/- 45 degrees from the stern.) You see this as an arc of dotted lines in the stock game when you click on the warship's icon.

Min elevation = 180 is straight down
Max elevation = 70 is -20 degrees from level (the horizon is 90 degrees)

Now you have created a 3 dimensional pattern that extends downward from -20 degrees below the horizon forward and side-to-side +/- 135 degrees, terminating at a depth of 235 meters. If you are anywhere within this pattern, they can hear you - if we disregard your lack of noise (hopefully) and poor water conditions.

You can also see why, when an escort is searching for you passively, a periscope depth evasion tactic can work.

Bob Chase

Thanks for all the help and explanations! Now I have something to work with. Muah-ha-ha!!!