Direct Motion Mode

Direct Mode Overview

In Direct Mode, each actuator is controlled individually. The actuator position is transmitted in a bit-coded format with a 24-bit resolution (3 bytes per actuator). This means:

• Value = 0x000000 (Decimal = 0) → Actuator at the lowest position

• Value = 0x7FFFFF (Decimal = 8,388,607) → Actuator at the middle position

• Value = 0xFFFFFF (Decimal = 16,777,215) → Actuator at the highest position

Each actuator can be set to 16,777,215 different positions.

Data Format

• ID consists of two bytes: 0xFF + 0xFF

• Each axis is represented by 24 bits (3 bytes)

• Line Feed + Carriage Return (LF+CR) is required at the end (0x0A + 0x0D)

Packet Structure:

ID   AXIS1   AXIS2   AXIS3   AXIS4   AXIS5   AXIS6   AXIS7   AXIS8   LF/CR

Byte Layout:

• 2 Start Bytes → <255><255>

• 24 Data Bytes → 3 Bytes (24-bit) per channel/actuator (up to 8 channels)

• 2 Stop Bytes → <10><13>

Important Notes for Mover/SimTools

To prevent errors, follow these guidelines:

• The transmitted string must always have a fixed length of 28 bytes, even if not all actuators are used.

• If only a single actuator (e.g., Wind) is used, 21 additional characters must be included before/after the wind data.

• Example for one actuator (Wind):

  <255><255>aaabbbccc<Wind>eeefffggghhh<10><13>

• In Rig Mode or Direct Mode, ensure that the Wind actuator value is set to 24-bit, so it is always 3 bytes long.