Rapid Development of Realistic UAV Simulations

Abstract: Instrument Control Sweden (ICS) is a software company that develops NATO STANAG 4586 compatible ground station software for control of unmanned systems such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). To perform testing and demonstration of the ground station software ICS needs a realistic UAV simulator that implements the STANAG 4586 protocol. This thesis studies what methods are best suited for the rapid development of such a simulator. One goal with the project was to examine what existing flight simulator systems and flight dynamics models can be used to rapidly develop a UAV simulator. Another goal was to design and implement such a simulator. It is found that it’s possible to quickly develop a UAV simulator based on existing projects such as the flight simulator FlightGear, the simulation framework OpenEaagles and the flight dynamics model (FDM) JSBSim. The design of the simulator is modular, object-oriented and features real-time design techniques. The main application is a simulation of a Vehicle Specific Module, which implements the STANAG 4586 protocol. Another module based on the OpenEaagles framework simulates the aircraft and its subsystems. A third module consists of the JSBSim FDM and simulates the flight dynamics and movements of the aircraft under the forces and moments affecting it.