An OpenRocket plugin adding airbrake behaviour in simulations.
At each simulation timestep, the plugin calculates airbrake extension given a Controller. Then, it calculates and overrides the simulation drag force given the current airbrake extension and dynamic pressure.
JDK 17 is required.
- Clone this repo.
- Download and place the OpenRocket v23.09 jar in the root directory. The jar must be named
OpenRocket-23.09.jar. - Build the plugin jar to
target/using Gradle:./gradlew jaror run jar task via IDE.
Option 1 (recommended): Use ./gradlew run (or use an IDE navigator) to automatically build the jar then run OpenRocket. (This option uses Java to run the OpenRocket jar in this folder.).
Option 2 (manual): Place the plugin jar in the OpenRocket plugins folder, most likely /home/user/.openrocket/Plugins or C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\OpenRocket\Plugins. Then open OpenRocket as usual.
OpenRocket must be restarted to load/reload the plugin.
Add the plugin to a simulation via New Simulation > Simulation Options > Add extension > Waterloo Rocketry > Airbrakes. The plugin will now be in effect during this simulation.
Always-Open Mode: Check the Enable Always-Open Mode box to disable PID control. Then, use Always-Open % to set the airbrake extension.
PID Control Mode: If Enable Always-Open Mode is not selected, the simulation will use PID control. Adjust PID constants with Kp, Ki, and Kd, and Target apogee.
- Airbrakes only take effect during the coast phase of simulations (between motor burnout and apogee), and only if velocity is greater than 23.5 m/s. This is due to the drag tabulation starting at 23.5 m/s.