that's really interesting. Historicly we've played with some things like that with rounds. I wonder how it would do with out the paraglider attached. Ossolate more with out that damping? The inner lines give a sharper radious at the sides and might cause the air flow to break off at that point reduicing the ossilation but it's so damn short. Makes me wonder what the malfunction rate is like. Perticuarly hand deployed at low speed where there could be a cross wind component and with out any tension on the "apex" during opening. There's a good pic on there web site. Interesting choice of line and tape locations. I wonder if all the panels are just square and all the shape comes from the distortion or if the seam them togather with shape in the edges of the panel. Like to see one some day. The actually have some really inovative designs.
There is a youtube video/ computer simulation of its opening. It is a shallow cross type canopy, similar to the U.s. Army's XT-11 static-line, paratrooper canopy. The Orange Cross has a total of four apex(?) lines to flatten the canopy's profile.
It looks like all the panels are rectangular.
As for deployment reliability ... you can get away with a lot of errors at low speeds and light weights.
OTOH, the U.S. Army seems to have made the (cross type) XT-11 work at 130 knots and suspended weights of more than 250 pounds.
.. . Ossolate more with out that damping? The inner lines give a sharper radius at the sides and might cause the air flow to break off at that point reduicing the ossilation but it's so damn short. ...
Larger (T-11) and faster round canopies (drogues) have shown the need for vents at the equator to reduce osscilations. Basically, equator vents force the airflow to stall/separate at a predictable point.
