Launch control

Launch control coordinates the processes that make up a simulation session. Instead of starting each simulator, service, and supporting application manually, an operator selects a launch configuration and the Launcher starts the corresponding processes on the appropriate computers.

A launch configuration is a named description of a runnable system. It can expose parameters, such as a station name or hardware selection, whose values are supplied when launching. It also contains launch items representing the individual processes and the actions needed to set them up, start them, shut them down, and clean up afterward.

Launchers publish the configurations they can provide on the rti/launchconfigurations channel. The RTI control panel and CLI use this information to show available configurations and their parameters. A launch request is then sent on rti/launchcontrol, together with the selected parameter values. Launchers publish process state on rti/launch, allowing tools to show which items are starting, running, stopping, finished, or failed.

Remote actions

A remote action is a smaller operator-triggered action that does not launch a complete configuration. It can run a program or script on a selected Launcher host—for example, resetting a piece of hardware or switching an external device on. Launchers advertise available remote actions alongside launch configurations so the RTI control panel and CLI can present them to the operator.

Launch control is also observed by other Suite applications. For example, the Recorder associates the active launch configuration and its parameter values with the current log, preserving the context in which a session was recorded.

Launch configurations, control messages, and process state are defined in the RTI contract and included in the RTI client libraries.