Incidence Sideslip And Airspeed — Robotics/Flight Parameters
Robotics/Flight_Parameters/Incidence_Sideslip_And_Airspeed · 1 input / 3 output port(s) at insert · exports to Python, MATLAB, Java, Rust, C, C++, VHDL, Verilog, SystemVerilog, PLC Structured Text
Description#
The block's own DESCRIPTION_HTML, rendered verbatim — the same text the config dialog's info panel and the library navigator show. Fix a wrong sentence in the block's .cpp (R-D9), never here.
Incidence, Sideslip & Airspeed
Robotics / Flight Parameters
The three aerodynamic angles-and-speed of a body-axis velocity:
α = atan2(w, u), V = √(u² + v² + w²), β = asin(v / V)
α is the angle of attack, measured in the aircraft's plane of symmetry and ignoring v entirely; β is the sideslip, the angle the total velocity makes with that plane.
Ports
- Vb – the velocity in body axes, a [3,1] column [u v w]’. Any consistent units.
- α – the angle of attack in radians, a [1,1] scalar, four-quadrant, so a backwards flight path is not folded onto a forwards one.
- β – the sideslip angle in radians, a [1,1] scalar, in [−π/2, π/2].
- V – the airspeed, a [1,1] scalar, never negative.
Parameters
- Sampling Time (s) – zero or less inherits the solver's rate; a positive value runs the block at that period.
There are no others: the velocity is all the block takes.
Code export
All ten targets: Python, MATLAB, Java, Rust, C, C++, VHDL, Verilog, SystemVerilog and PLC Structured Text.
The three HDL targets are simulation-only: a square root, a
division and two inverse trigonometric calls, none of which exists in a Q16.16
datapath, so the values convert at the port boundary and evaluate in
real. The cores simulate correctly and are not offered as
synthesizable.
A zero velocity is the one input worth knowing about: α is atan2(0,0) = 0 in every target, and β would be 0/0 – the block answers 0 there rather than NaN, in all ten, because a vehicle that is not moving has no sideslip to report.
Simulink bridge
Import and export, mapped to Aerospace Blockset's
aerolibasang/Incidence, Sideslip, & Airspeed. That block has
no dialog parameters at all – measured in R2026a – so nothing
is mapped and the add_block carrying nothing is itself the
assertion. It defines no SampleTime either, so the rate stays
on the ICore side.
⚠ The library block's own name carries an embedded newline, and the
flattened spelling is Incidence, Sideslip, & Airspeed with
no space after the comma – a path that differs by one space resolves to
nothing, silently.
Notes
- Algebraic and stateless: the outputs depend on this sample alone.
- Not spherical polar. Cartesian To Spherical answers an elevation of atan2(z, √(x²+y²)); α here is atan2(w, u), which ignores v. The two agree only at zero sideslip.
- The arcsine's argument is clamped to [−1, 1]. It cannot leave that interval mathematically, but one rounding step can when u and w are both zero, and asin of 1+ε is NaN rather than π/2.
- Not linear, so the block carries no state space and model reduction correctly reports it as unmergeable.
- Verified against R2026a: at [50 3 7]’ both this block and the Simulink one answer 0.13909594148207133, 0.059350718679965005 and 50.576674465607169.
Code facts#
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| registered type | Robotics/Flight_Parameters/Incidence_Sideslip_And_Airspeed |
| family | Robotics/Flight_Parameters |
| solver environment class | ICoreBlock_0_Robotics_1_Flight_Parameters_2_Incidence_Sideslip_And_Airspeed |
| source | src/ICoreBlocks/ICoreBlockLibrary/Blocks/Robotics/Flight_Parameters/Incidence_Sideslip_And_Airspeed/ICoreBlock_0_Robotics_1_Flight_Parameters_2_Incidence_Sideslip_And_Airspeed.cpp |
| header | src/ICoreBlocks/ICoreBlockLibrary/Blocks/Robotics/Flight_Parameters/Incidence_Sideslip_And_Airspeed/ICoreBlock_0_Robotics_1_Flight_Parameters_2_Incidence_Sideslip_And_Airspeed.h |
| default size on canvas | 124 × 84 px |
| ports at insert | 1 in, 3 out |
| code generators implemented | Python, MATLAB, Java, Rust, C, C++, VHDL, Verilog, SystemVerilog, PLC Structured Text |
Ports#
| # | Direction | Signal type | Description label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | in | ICoreDouble | Vb |
| 2 | out | ICoreDouble | alpha |
| 3 | out | ICoreDouble | beta |
| 4 | out | ICoreDouble | V |
Ports the constructor creates. A block whose port list changes with its configuration adds or removes ports at load time; the count above is the one a freshly inserted block has.
Configuration variables#
No config variable beyond the Sampling Time (s) every block carries.
Every block also carries Sampling Time (s) from ICoreBlockSolverEnvironment: zero or less inherits the solver's rate, a positive value runs the block at that period.
Simulink bridge#
| support | Support::Both |
| Simulink path | aerolibasang/Incidence, Sideslip,\n& Airspeed |
| port-count rule | PortsParam::None |
SampleTime parameter | no — the counterpart defines none; the rate stays on the ICore side |
Caveat (shown to the user): the Simulink block carries no dialog parameters and no SampleTime, so the whole mapping is the library path and the port list: one [3,1] velocity in, alpha, beta and V out in that order. The rate stays on the ICore side
Catalog contract: src/ICoreBlocks/ICoreCoder/ICoreCommandSystem/SimulinkBridge/ICoreSimulinkBlockCatalog.h
Description vs code#
The checker has a blind spot here — it could not resolve something (a grouped port bullet, a computed config name), which is reported and never counted as a pass. A reader has to settle it:
B0every stimulus in the sample errored — cross-checks skipped
The verdict above is
tools/docs/check_block_descriptions.py(P7.1), which compares LISTS. It cannot read a sentence: "stateless" on a block with a state, an initial-value semantic the recursion does not implement, a "not synthesizable" caveat the HDL banner contradicts. That is the agent audit (P7.3) on BLOCK_DESCRIPTION_AUDIT.md, and this tool's green is not a substitute for one.
File banner (developer view)#
The top comment of the block's .cpp — the maths, the realization and the export strategy, addressed to whoever changes it. It must not contradict the description above (P7.5).
Incidence, Sideslip & Airspeed -- alpha, beta and |V| from a body-axis velocity alpha = atan2(w, u) the angle of attack V = sqrt(u^2+v^2+w^2) the airspeed beta = asin(v / V) the sideslip angle
MEASURED AGAINST R2026a rather than asserted: driven at [50 3 7]', Aerospace Blockset's aerolibasang/Incidence, Sideslip, & Airspeed answers 0.13909594148207133, 0.059350718679965005 and 50.576674465607169 -- atan2(7,50), asin(3/norm) and norm, to 1e-17. The block carries NO dialog parameters at all and no SampleTime.
⚠ THIS IS NOT SPHERICAL POLAR. Robotics/Coordinate_Transforms/Cartesian_To_Spherical answers an elevation of atan2(z, hypot(x, y)); alpha here is atan2(w, u), which ignores v entirely. The two agree only when the sideslip is zero, so one block cannot serve for the other.
⚠ THE ARCSINE'S ARGUMENT IS CLAMPED to [-1, 1]. It cannot leave that interval mathematically -- v is a component of the vector whose norm divides it -- but one rounding step can put it at 1+1eps when u and w are both zero, and asin() of that is NaN rather than pi/2. The clamp changes no answer a real velocity produces, and it makes the ten backends agree on the one input that could have separated them.
⚠ THE THREE HDL TARGETS ARE SIMULATION-ONLY: a root, a division and two inverse trigonometric calls, none of which exists in a Q16.16 datapath.
Sample results#
No stimulus produced a sampled output in this rig — Invalid input size at Incidence, Sideslip & Airspeed block: ICore Blocks/Home/Incidence Sideslip And Airspeed. That is a fact about the single-block rig, not a verdict on the block: an offline batch fit, a block whose output only appears at onSolverFinish, or one that needs a driven environment cannot be exercised alone.
Category unsampled · sample time 0.1 · 60 steps · commit 7a92e77df807c552be6236159919fcefe95c17d3 · produced by docsSample --out <folder> --blocks Dynamic_Pressure Mach_Number Incidence_And_Airspeed Incidence_Sideslip_And_Airspeed --steps 60
Sample data: docs/generated/samples/Robotics__Flight_Parameters__Incidence_Sideslip_And_Airspeed.json