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Pneumatic Motion Seat
Cobra Technology Inc., was awarded a SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) grant for
phase I and 2 by the National Science Foundation to development a "Pneumatic Valve and Control
System". The patented valve system has some very unique and precise performance properties for
motion cueing seat applications. Cobra’s pneumatics' offer an "All In One" motion cueing solution,
including seat cushion inflation, harness tightening, G-suit inflation and up to six degrees of seat
motion. Cobra’s pneumatic valve provides realistic cues for sustained and onset cue generation
and many other special effects. Cobra’s actuation technology uses very little space and can easily
be retro fit to existing seat types. The valve and controls reside external to the seat permitting ease
of maintenance. A single remotely placed low pressure air compressor can power many motion
cueing training seats at the same time.
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Motion Cueing for High Speed Jets
The Air Force awarded Cobra Technology Inc., a contract to build a pneumatic motion cueing seat
simulator for training pilots to assist in the flying of high speed jets primimarly for "Air-to-Air Refueling"
and "Formation Flying." Motion cueing experts worked in conjunction with Cobra to successfully
complete the contract. The objective of the contract was to demonstrate the capabilities of our new
pneumatic valve technology in an aircraft training device capable of producing both “on-set” and
“sustained” acceleration cues. This seat system could be applicable to any current or future high
performance aircraft training system including high speed jets, rotary wing, ground and water based
vehicles and applications. The picture shows an F-16 seat at the Air Force AFRL (Wright Patterson)
being flown using simulation software. Special effects include vibration as a function of engine thrust,
buffet, weapons release, touch-down surge, weather effects such as wind, micro burst, icing etc.
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New Motion Technology For UAV's
Cobra has since built a 6 degree of freedom “Motion Cueing Demo Seat”
The seat feature’s our pneumatic technology as well as a new patent pending motion producing
actuator design. Also patent pending is a "Control System for operating unmanned aircraft remotely
with motion feedback". Motion information is transmitted from the UAV in flight to a ground based
pilot and the motion cueing seat picks up those actual motion cues from the UAV. This seat can be
used for training in the simulation mode or actually to fly the in UAV remotely. An additional benefit
of the motion cues can be used to monitor autopilot flight and or allow for manual takeover. UAV
simulation software has been developed to support our technology capable of simulating such
functions as icing, stall, turbulence and engine failure etc. Cobra is working with the Air Force under
a CRADA (Cooperative Research And Development Agreement) to apply our technology to UAV”s
training and flight control applications.
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