iSim Ltd's Hawker 800 Simulator Powered by ORCA™ Motors

iSim Ltd, a New Zealand-based manufacturer of next-generation flight simulators, specializes in designing and building custom Flight Training Devices for various aircraft and helicopter types. Their latest project tackled the challenge of designing a custom control loading system for a medium business jet simulator—specifically for the Hawker 800. To achieve this, Iris Dynamics’ ORCA^TM Series Smart Linear Motors were used to build a custom control loading/force feedback system on top of a six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) motion platform.

The Challenge: Precision and Realism in Flight Control Loading 

In a real aircraft, pilots experience forces through the controls (stick, yoke, pedals, etc.), providing critical feedback that allows them to “sense” how air is flowing over the control surfaces. As flight conditions change—such as fuel burn, weight shifts, or atmospheric changes—forces felt by the pilot also change. This tactile feedback is crucial for maintaining “positive control” and situational awareness during flight.

Flight simulators with passive controls, such as spring-loaded joysticks or yokes, lack the ability to replicate the nuanced feedback of real aircraft. Without accurate tactile cues, simulators risk reduced effectiveness and could lead to negative training outcomes. To address this, advanced simulators use control loading, a system that replicates the forces experienced on real aircraft controls, often referred to as "force feedback." For example, controls adjust with airspeed, vibrate during stalls or turbulence, and move automatically when the pilot is in use. Traditionally, implementing this in a simulator has been complex and costly due to motor control hardware usually being limited to position or speed, rather than force control. Creating a truly effective simulation environment requires the ability to control a motor’s force. 

Achieving this previously required high-voltage, high-pole-count servo motors, complex gear trains, load cells, and expensive external systems. While effective, these setups were costly, time-consuming to configure, required significant effort to ensure accurate performance, and demanded a large physical footprint, making integration challenging. Despite their long existence, their complexity and cost made them impractical for many applications. Backdrivable or compliant motion remains essential for realistic pilot interaction in modern training systems, as it enables natural pilot interaction while dynamically overlaying realistic forces.

Iris Dynamics' ORCA-6-24V Linear Actuator as an Ideal Product Fit

Recognizing the limitations of conventional solutions, iSim turned to the fully integrated ORCA motors for better performance, faster development, and lower total cost. ORCA motors provided a highly precise, customizable control loading solution, enabling iSim to quickly replicate the forces of the Hawker 800. With smooth, compliant backdrivability, ORCA motors made implementing high-quality force feedback easy, allowing iSim to focus on building their solution instead of configuring controllers, amplifiers, and fabricating linkages.

• Simplified Integration and Setup: Using ORCA's SDK and direct USB connectivity, iSim streamlined development, bypassing complex wiring, intricate multi-component setups, and extensive calibration. They avoided programming multiple black boxes and managing interconnecting equipment with proprietary protocols. This saved considerable time and effort, allowing the team to focus on delivering their simulation solution rather than troubleshooting hardware integration challenges.
• Smooth, Compliant, and Backdrivable Force Feedback: ORCA motors provide precise, dynamics control loading with smooth, cogless motion, compliance, and backdrivability. This allowed iSim to create a system that responded naturally to user inputs and applied dynamic forces, mirroring real-world flight control dynamics for a realistic, intuitive simulation experience. This level of control and responsiveness ensured a realistic and intuitive simulation experience that mirrored real-world flight control dynamics.
• Silent Operation: Minimizing distractions is critical for maintaining situational awareness and preventing cognitive overload in training environments. While most electric motors operate at around 65 decibels (dB), ORCA motors function at a whisper-quiet 20 dB. This ultra-quiet performance ensures that actuator noise does not break immersion, allowing pilots to remain fully engaged and focused on the simulation.
• Fully Integrated Solution: ORCA motors combine hardware and firmware into a single package, enabling rapid integration. Features such as adjustable stiffness, damping, spring centers, stick shaker and pusher functionality, autopilot-driven movements, and "software" dual control linking can be configured with much less effort. While ORCA motors simplify development, integrators retain full control over customization, ensuring the system meets their specific requirements.
• Customization: Custom shaft lengths on the ORCA motors enabled additional force amplification through mechanical advantage while ensuring a compact fit within the system. This adaptability ensured the motors met the specific needs of iSim’s project.
• Versatility for Diverse Applications: Aircraft and helicopter controls require distinct mechanical setups. ORCA-6-24V motors offer a highly adaptable system suitable for both types of simulations, making them ideal for a wide range of aviation training scenarios.

ORCA-6-24V Fully-Integrated Linear Motor

This project utilized an ORCA-6-24V with a custom 26" shaft to meet its requirements.  

Integrating the ORCA Motor into the Hawker 800 Simulator

ORCA motors simplify control loading systems by integrating motor controllers, load cells, encoders, drivers, and amplifiers into a single unit. This reduces the system footprint, eliminates external force sensors, and simplifies wiring with direct USB connectivity, removing the need for complicated serial protocols or learning PLC programming, which significantly cuts down on setup time, calibration, and troubleshooting. ORCA motors feature multiple attachment points including pivot mounts on the end caps allowing for flexible and secure installation without the need of extensive custom hardware. 

Iris Dynamics provided software and engineering support to enable rapid prototyping and integration. This allowed the team at iSim to seamlessly integrate the ORCA motors into their control loading system while focusing on enhancing simulator performance, rather than actuator set up and calibration. 

• Enhanced Realism: Precise, dynamic force feedback addressed control loading challenges by replicating real-world forces. This allowed the simulator to accurately adjust to varying conditions, such as side-loading forces and autopilot transitions, delivering a more authentic and responsive training experience for pilots.  
• Time Saved: With ORCA motors’ fully integrated design, iSim was able to seamlessly integrate their three pre-calibrated ORCA-6-24Vs, complete with all necessary components such as motors, drivers, and sensors built into the technology. This plug-and-play solution saved iSim valuable time, allowing them to focus on developing the core system rather than spending time on actuator setup and calibration.

Final Thoughts

The integration of ORCA force-controlled motors tackle control loading issues in iSim Ltd’s Hawker 800 flight simulator, and enhanced flight control realism. These cutting-edge actuators provided precise, dynamic force feedback essential for replicating real-world flight conditions, such as turbulence, stalls, and autopilot. With their fully integrated, silent, and customizable design, ORCA motors addressed common limitations of traditional systems, including side-loading inaccuracies and noise interference. The plug-and-play simplicity of the ORCA-6-24V motors not only saved iSim valuable development time but also ensured a seamless integration process.