The FreeFlyer Team at a.i. solutions is proud to announce the release of the newest version of our software, FreeFlyer 7.1. This is a major release, with numerous new features and enhancements. Here’s the full list of what’s new in this release!

Timing Precision

  • Added a nanosecond timing precision mode to FreeFlyer that maintains time precision down to the nanosecond level
  • Epochs are stored in TimeSpan objects in nanosecond precision mode to facilitate the increase in precision
  • By default, FreeFlyer will utilize the millisecond timing precision mode to maintain backwards compatibility with older versions of the software
  • Mission Plans created in FreeFlyer 7.0.2 and earlier will load as millisecond timing precision mode Mission Plans
  • Millisecond Mission Plans must be converted manually to the new mode if nanosecond precision is desired
  • Nanosecond timing precision mode will become the default as of FreeFlyer 7.3

Generating Output

  • FreeFlyer can now generate output windows with FF.exe and the runtime Application Program Interface (API)
  • Output windows can now be printed and exported both from the Output Properties tab and the output window context menu
  • Graphics card information has been moved from the Output Properties tab to the Help menu at the top of the FreeFlyer interface
  • Control+Right Click in an output window now opens up the output window context menu
  • ViewWindows
    • A new Viewpoint type, the Star Map, has been added to the list of available view modes in the ViewWindow
    • ViewWindow objects now support size scaling of the CelestialObject axes when they are displayed
    • Planetary shadowing can now be visualized on 3D models rendered in a ViewWindow
  •  ThreeDModels
    • Autodesk FBX, LightWave / Modo Object, Wavefront Object, and Stereolithography file types are now supported for ThreeDModel objects in FreeFlyer
    • New group handling functionality has been added to the ThreeDModel object to simplify adding and managing 3D nodes in the object
  •  PlotWindow
    • The background color of legends in PlotWindow objects can now be modified
    • Specific series can be hidden from the PlotWindow legend as needed

FreeFlyer Extensions

  • The FreeFlyer Extensions SDK is now at version 2
    • FreeFlyer extensions now support the passing of TimeSpan objects in association with the new nanosecond timing precision mode
    • Users can now estimate properties of custom force extensions in orbit determination (OD) processes
    • Array and Matrix properties and method returns are now supported

Rotating Libration Points

  • FreeFlyer now supports rotating libration point (RLP) functionality natively with the new RotatingLibrationPoint object
  • The new RLP object supports Lagrange point-based conversions from L1-L5 and is expanded to be compatible with any/all celestial objects

Ephemerides

  • The FreeFlyer ephemeris format is now at version 3
  • Adds support for TimeSpan columns (supporting nanosecond timing precision) and String columns
  • Now supports a new EphemerisVector object to simplify accessing and handling data in the ephemeris
  • Improved efficiency by representing the epoch column by a Variable or TimeSpan epoch
  • CCSDS OEM Updates
    • Added the ability for FreeFlyer to read CCSDS OEM files with multiple data blocks without time gaps
    • FreeFlyer now supports both Blue Book standard comment blocks within CCSDS OEM files
    • Improved overall CCSDS OEM parsing

Miscellaneous Improvements

  • JPL’s De430 planetary ephemeris file has been added to FreeFlyer’s installer, and is now used as the default.
  • State update de-weighting is now supported for both the extended and unscented Kalman filters
  • The FreeFlyer user profile (profile.xml) now creates a temporary file when being generated before overwriting the old profile
  • Installation for FreeFlyer now offers either an executable for the full installation or a set of MSI variants for remote installation
  • Static methods and properties are now supported in some FreeFlyer objects, and more will be appearing in the future
  • An assortment of other bug fixes and minor enhancements were made