Motion cueing for flight simulation in virtual reality

Simulator training has been an important part of flight training since the invention of aircraft. Advanced computing techniques have boosted the realism and performances of flight simulation. In this thesis, starting from an overview of flight simulation, a study was conducted on flight simulators with particular attention to the motion system focusing on motion cueing and the different algorithms that are used to represent the motion signals. Another aspect that was taken into account was the application of Virtual Reality in the flight simulation field, with particular attention to the connection between the motion system and the VR environment, focusing on problems related to the sickness that can arise using Virtual Reality. The activities that had to be performed were initially a comprehension of the cue motion system with the support of the literature. Secondly, some of the problems to face in the realization of a motion system for a Virtual Reality simulator were discussed and analyzed. The work was mainly conducted towards the exploration of possible ways to solve the problems related to the realization of a Full Flight Simulator. In order to better understand the performances of cue motion algorithms, a flight simulator was developed in the MATLAB-Simulink workspace to test the behaviour of the motion platform system. The second part of the project deploys the implementation of a small-scale 3 degrees of freedom motion platform to evaluate from a qualitative point of view the data exchange between FlightGear and Arduino board: this is the first step towards the development of a more complex system capable of driving the motors required to move a platform carrying the pilot. The final part of the thesis is an overview of the present state of the full-scale VR flight simulator that is located at the university, which will soon be equipped with a motion platform system to increase and improve the realism of the flight simulation experience.