MakerPlane CEO and former Lockheed Martin Prepar3d Principal Engineer brings more than 25 years of military and commercial simulation expertise to Victoria, BC based start-up.
VICTORIA, BC, Sept. 15, 2014 /CNW/ – Motion control systems start-up Iris Dynamics Ltd. today announced that simulation industry veteran John Nicol has been appointed as a Special Advisor to the Board of Directors of Iris Dynamics. As the CEO of innovative aviation company MakerPlane, John Nicol has extensive experience in the design of flight control systems, simulation hardware and software and has spent many years in corporate leadership roles, business development and marketing.
Prior to founding MakerPlane, John Nicol was the Principal Engineer responsible for the productization of Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3d flight simulator and consulted for the Microsoft Aces Studio on the development of their commercial flight simulator, Microsoft ESP. He is a former CEO of a Top 40 Canadian Public Safety and Defense company and currently a Modeling and Simulation Consultant for the Canadian Armed Forces.
Nicol brings his extensive expertise in the simulation industry to Iris Dynamics, where his role will be to advise the corporation on business strategy, marketing and the development of future products related to advanced simulation hardware.
Iris Dynamics has developed a patent-pending control-loading flight yoke based on its innovative electromagnetic motion control technology. Iris’s yoke provides a high degree of realism for the critical human-machine interface in flight simulators, remotely piloted vehicles and electro-hydraulic control systems.
According to Nicol, “I’ve tested the Iris Dynamic yoke and found it to be one of the most realistic I’ve ever used for flight simulation. I can see it having broad applications and the technology can be applied to vehicle simulators of all kinds. In particular, I was impressed by the onboard computation of force feedback and the proper representation of trim function, which most simulation yokes get wrong, even those that are 100 times the cost.”
Vern Little, Chairman of of Iris Dynamics, said “We are thrilled to have John Nicol as a special advisor. The combination of his extensive industry experience and our new motion control technology will facilitate the development of a whole new class of simulation hardware for the prosumer and professional markets.”
Iris Dynamics, Ltd. is a privately held Canadian advanced technology company that provides high performance motion control systems for the realistic simulation and precision remote operation of aerial, marine and land vehicles.