Compatibility
This is the reason it works across different simulator setups. GSA sits on the bay PC and operates it: powering it on, launching the stack in the right order, holding the bay closed until every component actually reports ready, watching those processes for the rest of the day, and restarting them when they stop responding. It does not need to be built into your swing engine or your launch monitor, because it is running the machine both of them sit on.
What we run
These are the setups GSA runs on today in live commercial bays. We would rather name four we can speak to in detail than list a dozen we cannot.
Launch monitor · overhead camera
Camera-based, which means nothing works until the capture software is up and the cameras have settled. Power a bay on cold and there is a window where it looks ready and is not. A player walks in, tees up, and gets nothing. GSA sequences the stack on power-on, handles the camera stabilisation, and holds the bay shut until every component reports ready rather than assuming it from a timer. If capture drops mid-round it is relaunched without the player leaving the mat.
Launch monitor · radar
Its own software stack on the bay PC, with its own start-up order and its own ways of going wrong. GSA sequences it on power-on and holds the display in the correct output mode, so you never get a round starting on the desktop instead of the projector. A watchdog stays on the processes for the rest of the session, so a freeze in the middle of someone's round is caught and restarted, rather than reported to you afterwards by an annoyed customer who wants their money back.
Simulation software
Not a launch monitor. It is the game, and it has to be paired to whichever monitor you run. That pairing is the fragile part. The connector between the two is what drops, and when it goes the round stops even though both halves are technically still running, which is exactly the failure that looks fine on a dashboard and ruins an evening. GSA launches them in the correct order, watches the pair rather than each half on its own, and restarts them together, because bringing one back without the other usually leaves you where you started.
Launch monitor · camera
Runs its own capture and connects through to whatever simulation software you pair it with, so there are more links in the chain than it looks from the outside. GSA sequences the whole chain on open and treats a fault anywhere along it as a bay to recover, not an alert to forward to you. If the same fault comes back it escalates to a full stack restart rather than trying the same fix twice and hoping.
Running something else? Tell us on the demo. GSA operates the Windows machine, so a stack we have not named is usually a conversation about specifics rather than a no. We will tell you straight if it is a no.
The same on all four
Everything below happens at the machine, so it behaves the same whichever launch monitor and swing engine sit on top. This is the part that makes an unattended bay possible.
| Capability | What it does | Depends on the system? |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled power | Bays power on and shut down to your opening hours | No |
| Boot sequence | Launches the stack in the correct order and waits for each part to be ready | No |
| Crash recovery | Detects a frozen or exited process and relaunches it | No |
| Escalated restart | Repeat failure triggers a full stack restart rather than the same fix twice | No |
| Display mode | Switches the bay to the right output on open | No |
| Kiosk lockdown | Players reach the game and nothing else on the machine | No |
| Remote control | See and drive any bay's screen from the dashboard | No |
| GSA Heartbeat telemetry | Every bay reports its state on a short interval | No |
| Nightly reset | Scheduled resets so the first booking meets a clean bay | No |
What it needs from you
The one already running your simulator. GSA installs onto it. There is no extra box to buy, rack or find power for.
Each bay reports its own state and takes remote commands, so it needs to reach the internet. Nothing needs to be exposed to it. Bays reach out, not the other way around.
For the bays to open and close themselves, the machine has to be able to come up on a schedule. We go through how yours is wired during setup.
Where systems differ
The automation is the same everywhere. What is not the same is all the small stuff a player runs into, and none of it is written down anywhere obvious.
Knowing these four systems at that level is exactly what GSA Guardian Assist is for. It is also why we would rather run four systems well than claim a dozen.
“I've looked everywhere. Where is Augusta?”
It is there, just under a different name. Famous courses are usually renamed for licensing, so searching for the one they know turns up nothing at all.
What we do Tell them what it is actually called on their system and where to find it.
Bring your launch monitor, your swing engine and how the bay is wired. We will tell you what GSA does with it, and what it does not.