[GRP] Stands.txt config for LTFM

[Gursel Alp (1434943)]

Hello,

I am creating a new setup for LTFM and I have a question about stands with capacity of 1 Heavy or 2 Medium aircrafts at the same time. Which code should i use for stands like this. Currently I only use "BLOCK:" entry to use it. Also should I use coordinates entry like the ones in the picture or, make a polygon between Left and Right gates.

Here is the example:
 

// G9
STAND:LTFM:G9
COORD:N041.15.24.629:E028.45.02.638
...
HEADING:360
BLOCKS:G9L,G9R
USE:A
SCHENGEN
WTC:H
PRIORITY:+3

// G9L
STAND:LTFM:G9L
COORD:N041.15.26.700:E028.45.00.549
...
HEADING:360
BLOCKS:G9
USE:A
SCHENGEN
WTC:M
PRIORITY:+3

// G9R
STAND:LTFM:G9R
COORD:N041.15.24.478:E028.45.00.794
...
HEADING:360
BLOCKS:G9
USE:A
SCHENGEN
WTC:M
PRIORITY:+3

And here is the screenshot:

[Juha Holopainen]

Hi,

BLOCKS is correct for that situation.

The HEADING definitions are probably not required for those stands. They are meant for situations where there are closely separated stands on different headings so you can create overlapping reasonable sized stand areas to account for scenery differences and piloting skill (parking the aircraft accurately) and still get the plugin to recognize the correct stand that is occupied. It's not wrong to include the headings to every stand should you choose to do so, but it's one more calculation step for the code. Similarly, the stand area polygons should be as simple as possible - the more coordinates there are in a polygon, the more work the code needs to do in order to find out if the aircraft is within it. For more accuracy, you might also consider changing the WTC limitations to wingspan-based ones, either CODE or WINGSPAN.

From the picture it appears that the defined G9 stand area covers also G9L and G9R. If that is the case, stand allocations will work as expected if none of the stands are occupied, but once an aircraft parks at any of the stands, G9 will be seen as occupied instead. To make it work correctly, the easiest way is to define the stands as non-overlapping polygons so that an aircraft is never inside the polygon for two or more stands at a time (the stand areas may overlap and in some cases it's best/easiest to define them so, but then you'll have to deal with the priority order of the overlapping areas). The L and R stand polygons will need to be a bit narrower so that the middle stand polygon can be wide enough to "catch" all aircraft parking on it. A good starting point might be putting the boundary between G9L and G9 halfway between their stand centerlines unless there are scenery issues that would require shifting the boundary closer to one of the stands, and the same for G9/G9R.

[Jonas Kuster (1158939)]

Maybe this helps to illustrate the advices given by Juha. We do it exactly the way he described and we are really happy how the plugin performs.