New Astronavigation Mod (ANM) – A Conception - Page 2

silent marshal · 04-05-12, 05:30 AM

First the disclaimer:
Meanwhile there a a few real navigation mods for SH5and they seem to work pretty well. I for myself dont know any of them in detail because I wanted to make my own ANM. If you should find out that I solved the issue in a way which already exists, please dont’t beat me.

Now what the ANM will do:
ANM is a mod for real navigation purpose. You determine your own position by using the „Höhendifferenzmethode“, which means that you have to gauge the hight of the sun twice a day by a sextant and then you can graphically determine your exact position at the nav-map by drawing the two „Standlinien“.

General set-up:
+ the position of your u-boat is unknown (no mark on the nav-map)
+ you have to use dead reckoning
+ you have to shoot the hight of the sun twice a day
+ you need to see the sun (no bad weather) to gauge its hight
+ you can use the „Nautisches Jahrbuch“ (nautical yearbook) to read some parameters you will need for your calculation as you would do in real wordl (with porper entries for each minute of the war)
+ you can choose an easy way to find the solution (if you get rid of manual calculations)
+ your navigation officer can make all the work for you and you will get your position at the notepad (this method will even use the Höhendifferenzmethode but is more exact because the calculation is done with the exact values – no user input needed; but you have to see the sun also twice a day)
+ you can read your exakt position at the notepad if you are totally lost (GPS-function

)

Lets make a testrun! Note that the shown values are all fictive, they make no sense, it’s only to show how it would work.

On the nav-map you can see the UI with the slide out bar at the right where there are buttons for manual calculation (use the sextant), automatic calculation done by the navigation officer and immediate position determination.

The green cogwheel shows you that the navigation officer had shoot one hight and is waiting for the second shot.

At the left side of the nav-map you see another pen especially for navigation markings. The mark differ from the default one because additional information ist printed on the map to help you with dead reckoning (Date, Time, speed, heading and maybe the position).

By using buttons for automatic calcualtions you will read the position at the notepad.

Now after some rainy days you will know your exact position. It is midmorning and the WO reports fine weather. Press the button for manual calculation and a new UI will appear (notice: only draft version!).

In the center you see the optics of the sextant („Halbspiegel“). With the first index at the bottom you choose the degrees, the second one is for the minutes and the third one, the „Nonius“ is for the minute’s decimals.
Before you shoot the sun (bottom of the sun touches the horizont line), you have to toggle whether you want to fill out all the white boxes or only the hight of the sun „Gem. Sonnenwinkel“: „nur Sonnenwinkel manuell eingeben“ – „EIN“.
If you decide not to use the nautical yearbook („Nautisches Jahrbuch“), toggle „Tabellenwerte automatisch berechnen“ to „EIN“, the GrW/GHA and Deklination will be computed exactly.
If all inputs are done, you can memorise the Azimut Z and the Radialversatz u.

Repeat these steps a few hours later and draw the lines on the nav-map and correct the position with the Horizontalversatz w to transform to UTM (coordinates).

After the second shot your nav-map will look like this:

The middle of the center is your estimated position („gegißte Position“) and Markierung 1 in the upper rigth sector is your exact position – pretty fun!

The accuracy depends on the precision of your shooted hight of the sun and other factors you have to read from the nautical yearbook and of course of the precision of default SH5 map tools.

How does it all work?
The idea is to determine the exact hight of the sun from the exact position (which is read from SH5 but you don’t know). Now, everytime you use the sextant, the visual hight of the sun in your optics is calibrated regardless the position of the sun of SH5. What you see is not the sun of SH5 but a dummy-sun (the right side of the optics is a fake, the left one is the true background of SH5). This will allow to use calculations as in real life.
The advantage is that this method is totally independent from the hight of the default sun and in future stages you can easily implement all the stars you wish to navigate with. For this stage the sun will be sufficient.

This is the theory so far. So, the big question is: are there some modders out there who can do all the programming stuff and help me with the UI? I have pretty no experience with this kind of modding so the realization of this mod totally depends on outer help. I am convinced that this mod would be an asset for SH5 and will make simming more interesting.

For this time it’s enough, I guess. If you have any questions I will answer with pleasure. Detailled information to how it works on demand.

Have a nice day!

04-05-12, 05:30 AM	#1
silent marshal Watch Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Vienna - Austria Posts: 25 Downloads: 89 Uploads: 0	New Astronavigation Mod (ANM) – A Conception First the disclaimer: Meanwhile there a a few real navigation mods for SH5and they seem to work pretty well. I for myself dont know any of them in detail because I wanted to make my own ANM. If you should find out that I solved the issue in a way which already exists, please dont’t beat me. Now what the ANM will do: ANM is a mod for real navigation purpose. You determine your own position by using the „Höhendifferenzmethode“, which means that you have to gauge the hight of the sun twice a day by a sextant and then you can graphically determine your exact position at the nav-map by drawing the two „Standlinien“. General set-up: + the position of your u-boat is unknown (no mark on the nav-map) + you have to use dead reckoning + you have to shoot the hight of the sun twice a day + you need to see the sun (no bad weather) to gauge its hight + you can use the „Nautisches Jahrbuch“ (nautical yearbook) to read some parameters you will need for your calculation as you would do in real wordl (with porper entries for each minute of the war) + you can choose an easy way to find the solution (if you get rid of manual calculations) + your navigation officer can make all the work for you and you will get your position at the notepad (this method will even use the Höhendifferenzmethode but is more exact because the calculation is done with the exact values – no user input needed; but you have to see the sun also twice a day) + you can read your exakt position at the notepad if you are totally lost (GPS-function ) Lets make a testrun! Note that the shown values are all fictive, they make no sense, it’s only to show how it would work. On the nav-map you can see the UI with the slide out bar at the right where there are buttons for manual calculation (use the sextant), automatic calculation done by the navigation officer and immediate position determination. The green cogwheel shows you that the navigation officer had shoot one hight and is waiting for the second shot. At the left side of the nav-map you see another pen especially for navigation markings. The mark differ from the default one because additional information ist printed on the map to help you with dead reckoning (Date, Time, speed, heading and maybe the position). By using buttons for automatic calcualtions you will read the position at the notepad. Now after some rainy days you will know your exact position. It is midmorning and the WO reports fine weather. Press the button for manual calculation and a new UI will appear (notice: only draft version!). In the center you see the optics of the sextant („Halbspiegel“). With the first index at the bottom you choose the degrees, the second one is for the minutes and the third one, the „Nonius“ is for the minute’s decimals. Before you shoot the sun (bottom of the sun touches the horizont line), you have to toggle whether you want to fill out all the white boxes or only the hight of the sun „Gem. Sonnenwinkel“: „nur Sonnenwinkel manuell eingeben“ – „EIN“. If you decide not to use the nautical yearbook („Nautisches Jahrbuch“), toggle „Tabellenwerte automatisch berechnen“ to „EIN“, the GrW/GHA and Deklination will be computed exactly. If all inputs are done, you can memorise the Azimut Z and the Radialversatz u. Repeat these steps a few hours later and draw the lines on the nav-map and correct the position with the Horizontalversatz w to transform to UTM (coordinates). After the second shot your nav-map will look like this: The middle of the center is your estimated position („gegißte Position“) and Markierung 1 in the upper rigth sector is your exact position – pretty fun! The accuracy depends on the precision of your shooted hight of the sun and other factors you have to read from the nautical yearbook and of course of the precision of default SH5 map tools. How does it all work? The idea is to determine the exact hight of the sun from the exact position (which is read from SH5 but you don’t know). Now, everytime you use the sextant, the visual hight of the sun in your optics is calibrated regardless the position of the sun of SH5. What you see is not the sun of SH5 but a dummy-sun (the right side of the optics is a fake, the left one is the true background of SH5). This will allow to use calculations as in real life. The advantage is that this method is totally independent from the hight of the default sun and in future stages you can easily implement all the stars you wish to navigate with. For this stage the sun will be sufficient. This is the theory so far. So, the big question is: are there some modders out there who can do all the programming stuff and help me with the UI? I have pretty no experience with this kind of modding so the realization of this mod totally depends on outer help. I am convinced that this mod would be an asset for SH5 and will make simming more interesting. For this time it’s enough, I guess. If you have any questions I will answer with pleasure. Detailled information to how it works on demand. Have a nice day!