Flight Dynamics Model

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Revision as of 16:28, 15 January 2010 by Michaelfavor (talk | contribs) (minor copy edit)
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A Flight Dynamics Model (FDM) is a set of math equations used to calculate the physical forces acting on a simulated aircraft, such as thrust, lift, and drag. FlightGear supports several different types of flight dynamics models. Every aircraft simulated by FlightGear must use one of these models.

  • LaRCsim was originally developed by NASA, and was the first FlightGear FDM, now replaced by JSBSim and UIUC.
  • JSBSim was developed specifically for FlightGear, and has been the default FlightGear flight dynamics model since 2000.
  • UIUC was developed by the UIUC Applied Aerodynamics Group at University of Illinois, based on LaRCsim, and includes additional features, such as the ability to simulate aircraft icing.
  • YASim is yet another FDM using different calculation methods. YASim was introduced in FlightGear version 0.7.9 in 2002.
  • FlightGear can also be set up to render using inputs from an external FDM source, such as from Matlab.
  • Other custom FDM have been written for specific aircraft types, such as for lighter than air aircraft.

Currently, FlightGear is the only graphical flight simulator to support all of these flight dynamics models.

For developers, see also FDM engine feature standardization