ABSTRACT

Human-in-the-loop simulations of aircraft are commonly referred to as flight simulators. A simulator is a device that imitates the dynamic behaviour of a real system. A mathematical or other simulation is employed to create a simulator. A simulation is the implementation of a dynamic model over time. While a dynamic model could be either a physical or a mathematical representation of a real-world entity, it is the mathematical model that is normally implemented within a flight simulator. Flight simulation attempts to provide a pilot with enough sensory information to sufficiently convince the simulator pilot that he or she is flying an actual aircraft. Sensory cues from visual, motion, tactile and acoustic sensors are provided in a holistic way. The objective of simulation being the provision of realistic cues to the pilot, the realistic simulation of the aircraft motion, the external visual environment, the all-round visual environment and the atmospheric environment are the primary aspects of flight simulation. Historically, flight simulation began in the late 1920s with the development of the Link simulator, by Edwin Link, the son of a piano manufacturer. It was essentially a platform supported on a Hooke’s joint which is kinematically equivalent to a gimballed platform, a sort of two-degree-of-freedom (DOF) gyroscope. As the limitations of the system were gradually understood, flight simulators capable of both translational and rotational motion simulation were built.