Predictive washout filter design for VR-based motion simulator

Modern simulators normally consist of hydraulic motion platform, computer visual systems, force-feedback systems, and sound systems such that the operator is provided realistic motion cues given the state of the vehicle. Giving to the limited motion workspace of typical motion platform, filtering is required between the computer vehicle motion and the desired simulator motion trajectory. These filters are commonly referred to as washout filter. Unlike most of the washout algorithms which focus on how to tune the filter parameters wisely or flexibly, this paper proposes a method which can directly manages the simulator trajectory by moving it freely in the workspace without the sensation of operator. By this approach, simulation results show a smaller workspace required under the same filter parameters. In other words, more aggressive filter parameters can be chosen under the same constraint of limited workspace, which indirectly implies that a more realistic simulator performance can be attained.