YASim: Difference between revisions

YASim is one of three flight dynamics models commonly used by Flightgear.

The flight dynamics model (FDM) determines how the aircraft moves and flies.

:The FDM is the mathematical model that controls the physics of flight within the simulator. The physical 3D aircraft model has nothing to do with flight dynamics-- in essence it's just a picture to look at. It's the FDM that dictates how the model flies.

:Why YASim? YASim uses the geometry of the aircraft to generate the base flight characteristics. While this suggests a 'realistic' or out-of-the-box approach, it is a only rough approximation that will require much tweaking before you get a result that approaches realism. Contrast this with JSBSim which relies on pre-generated tabular data to build up the flight model. If you have solid flight data for your aircraft such as wind-tunnel data or you are looking to eventually generate a hyper-realistic simulation, JSBSim is probably a better approach. If you lack such data but know the geometry of the aircraft and have access to the same flight characteristics and limits as a real pilot would, then YASim can provide a solution that is more than sufficient for most simulation needs.