Development of a Virtual Reality Flight Simulator to Assist in the Design of Original Aircraft

The undergraduate engineering curriculum is extremely challenging, largely due to the complexity of the processes and concepts it introduces. One good way to handle this complexity and assist students in learning about the development of engineered products is by providing enhanced visualization of the processes and concepts involved. This has been recognized recently by several researchers who are attempting to harness state-of-the-art virtual reality experiences to improve the quality of engineering education. This has prompted one group to write, "Virtual reality has grown up. Once an exotic field of computer sciences, it is now an important topic for the engineers of tomorrow." 1 The engineering research and development of a virtual reality flight simulator seems like a good way to engage undergraduate engineering students with the up-and-coming field of virtual reality. A multidisciplinary team of students at our university are pursuing this as their senior capstone design project. The completed system will serve as an addition to the engineering labs and assist future students with their design of original aircraft. With the help of a HTC Vive virtual reality headset, the system will simulate the cockpit environment and faithfully respond to pilot control inputs. The pilot will be strapped into a seat to be rigidly mounted atop a Stewart platform, which will roughly simulate the dynamics of a student’s custom aircraft design. This virtual reality aircraft motion simulator will be developed through extensive engineering analysis that enhances engineering education both for those developing the simulator and for those who will use it in design. First, the geometry of the simulator will be mathematically analyzed and defined by the students, which will enable optimal geometries to be solved for to maximize certain ranges of motion. Then, the dynamics of the system will be simulated using MATLAB's Simulink technology to confirm the simulator's theoretical dynamic performance, verify the ranges of motion from the students' mathematical analysis, and provide the necessary specifications for the motors. Furthermore, structural analysis with SolidWorks will be used to calculate the factor of safety of the system, which will help properly size the rotary actuators. This engineering analysis of the simulator will function to increase exposure to principles of aircraft design to both technical and non-technical students alike. The simulator is tailor-made to accompany our university's Aircraft Design course. By pairing the our simulator with the course engineering students will be able to learn about aircraft design, create their custom airplane using X-Plane 11’s plane maker software, and then experience flying it on our simulator. This immediate, immersive feedback enriches the students' knowledge of aircraft design and increases interest in the topic. Additionally, the portable design of the simulator enables the system to serve as an exciting advertisement to pre-college students considering the world of STEM studies. RECENT WORK IN VIRTUAL REALITY AND FLIGHT SIMULATION As virtual reality is becoming more accepted and found to be useful in industry, these experiences are finding their way into the engineering classroom and laboratory. The 2017 ASEE Annual conference saw two papers that described how virtual reality is being used in construction engineering education. Hao et al explain how virtual reality is used to recreate the complex structures and construction techniques of dougong, a unique characteristic of ancient Chinese architecture, in an environment where users can interact with objects with a high degree of realism. Students benefit by examining structures and techniques via static images, dynamics videos and VR interactivity, which are all compiled and integrated into a knowledge-based system known as the Intelligent Dougong System with Virtual Reality (IDSVR). Multiple presentation methods of dougong construction were then conducted with Autodesk 3DS MAX and virtual simulations using the Oculus Rift. 2 In another paper from last year, virtual reality was used to illuminate ancient engineering and construction methods used in the Jinshanling region of the Great Wall of China. A VR simulation using the Oculus Rift and an Xbox controller, allows students to examine the construction process in a virtual environment. Thus, this study is expected to permit students to immerse themselves in the virtual erection process of ancient structures in a classroom setting. 3 Flight simulators are also being used to enhance engineering education. To increase student engagement and provide an enriched learning environment, Memon et al integrated a flight simulator into a Flight Vehicle Performance course. Class performance revealed that students enhanced their knowledge of aircraft stability and control through flight simulator experience. Reflections from the students showed that they benefited greatly from the intuitive theoretical learning through the use of flight simulator. 4 Indeed, an earlier paper described the benefits of integrating experience-based system simulation modules into a series of vehicle dynamics courses, including a flight dynamics course. The authors claim that, “The benefits of imitating a real process by way of simulation cannot be understated. The educational value of simulations does not necessarily lie in the program itself, but rather, in the overall experience of the simulation.” 5 It is hoped that the following project can integrate a hands-on virtual reality experience with a high-fidelity flight simulator to enhance student understanding of various aspects of aircraft design and their impact on aircraft dynamics, stability, and performance. To embark upon the complex endeavor of this project, an understanding of flight simulation first had to be obtained by the team. At the beginning of this journey, the team had discovered that the Stewart Platform was commonly used in the flight simulation field due to its ability to operate in all six degrees of freedom. Immediately, they began to seek after highly academic sources on Stewart Platform motion and the mathematics that governed it. They viewed sources such as Detecting Singularities of Stewart Platforms 6 and Stewart Platform with Fixed Rotary Actuators: A Low-Cost Design Study. 7 These sources gave great initial understanding of the motion that a Stewart Platform can provide and the geometric constraints that must be upheld within its construction; however, they primarily provided information that was beyond the scope of this project and the mathematical understanding of the undergraduates students on the team. To gain a simpler comprehensive grasp of the topic, the team began searching online forums for assistance. This was highly beneficial to the project. The team discovered that there are many projects that have some similarity to their own. Through forum sites such as XSimulator 8 and Motionsim, 9 the team was able to observe not only successful Stewart Platform designs, but also failures that had occurred in the making of those designs. Although these sites are nonacademic, they provided very valuable information pertaining to the structural geometry and electrical interfaces of the system. While on these sites, the team mainly observed builds by users SilentChill and GA-Dawg from XSimulator and Motionsim respectively.