Part 1
During the months of spring Cockpit will make major tests of the Project Magenta software. The idea is that those tests shall end up in a comprehensive review. Since this is a large project, interesting to most of us, the tests will be presented in several parts in order to make it possible for everyone to follow the development and get insight in how the software works.
Step One - What is Magenta really?
The software from Project Magenta is actually several different programs. The basic idea is to simulate the instruments, which are parts of Boeings and Airbus modern aircraft systems and referred to as "Glass Cockpits". The main difference between the older and the new aircraft systems is that the new ones does not have any, or just a few, analogue instruments since the pilots are getting all flight and aircraft information via computer monitors. The pilot can with a flick of a switch choose what information to display on the monitors. A modern Boeing aircraft has got
no less than six monitors in the cockpit not counting the additional and smaller monitors being parts of the Flight Management Computers. This is the ideal foundation for the PC-pilot wanting to simulate real commercial jetliner flying. And this is exactly what Project Magenta has set out to offer: a software almost identical to the real software in the real
aircrafts.
A class cockpit can be divided into four basic parts. The by far most important instrument is the PFD (Primary Flight Display). This is the instrument in front of the pilot showing a number of combinations of functions. It displays ADI, altitude, speed, speed bugs, AFDS system, A/T system and several messages, just to name a few.
The second instrument is the ND (Navigation Display) displaying amongst other things HSI, map, flight plan, terrain, weather, TCAS and waypoints. The flight plan is displayed as a magenta coloured line on the ND, hence the name Project Magenta!
The third instrument is the EICAS (Engine Instrument and Crew Alert System) displayed on two separate monitors, one upper and one lower. The lower normally installed almost horizontally in the pedestal. The EICAS displays all information related to the engines, fuel, oil, temperature and pressure. It also displays Crew Alerts which is information and/or events that the system is programmed to highlight to the pilots. On the lower EICAS is also information displayed related to the general status of the aircraft like electricity, various temperatures, wheels, hydraulics, pneumatics etc.
The fourth part of the glass cockpit is the FMC (Flight Management Computer), which is able to handle almost any task performed in a modern aircraft. Given the necessary data it will basically fly the aircraft for you!
As you can see Project Magenta consists of several different parts. It is the program for PFD, ND and EICAS. In addition there is the MCP (Mode Control Panel) and the FMC (Flight Management Computer / Control Display Unit - name varies between Boeing and Airbus). These are the cores of the Project Magenta programs. In addition there are programs like WhazzUp, PMSounds, TCAS and QuickMap. Altogether those programs are thought to represent a replica of the systems in a real aircraft as close to "the real thing" as possible.
OK, but who needs Project Magenta? The answer is simply that no other producer of add-ons to MSFS, payware or freeware, has managed to come up with a software that simulates all of this so close to reality. There are very nice products with panels including very sophisticated and accurate system simulations like 767PIC or DF737 but they are not even close to what Project Magenta offers. In addition Project Magenta is programmed in an OpenGL architecture meaning that the instruments are displayed with vector graphics giving smoothness quite different to the Direct3D, which is the architecture being used for a FS-panel.
For the next episode I am going to show what can be done with the graphics in Project Magenta and what information that is available to show on the monitors.
Patric Moreau
(translation: Claes Heijbel)