26.1. Overview

The platform_edit tool is a basic tool to configure the "Generic Platform Model" (see the Improved Platform Modeling chapter), which is the new and improved platform model that was introduced in DIRSIG4. This platform model requires the user to define the location and orientation of the platform as a function of time. The model will then linearly interpolate the position and orientation for any time from this user-defined set of waypoints.

Since the data for this platform model is very tabular in nature, The platform_edit tool was designed with a simple spreadsheet style interface which each row representing a different location and orientation waypoint. Rather than manipulating the XML data directly, the program allows the user to import tabulated text (ASCII) data, to generate position and orientation data from a basic specification, to shift the position and orientation data, etc.

This tool is one of the first DIRSIG4 specific graphical user interface (GUI) tools that has been written. The main editor window is shown in Figure 26-1 with position and orientation data already loaded.