A Simulation Environment to Model Aerobot Telemetry

Tony Wu

June 27, 2008

My project consists of creating a simulation environment to model aerobot telemetry. To make the behavior of the airship realistic, we need a flight simulator. We also need to integrate existing software with this simulator. I have found a simulator, FlightGear, the will be used to create a realistic environment. So far I have integrated the simulator with the existing software so that the software may record telemetry data and present the data collected in a "movie player" type playback. The next step in the process is to get the simulator to simulate a lighter-than-air craft. The simulator has support for lighter-than-air vehicles but is not currently implemented. I will need to make and model a dirigible aircraft according the the current aerobot prototype's physical and flight characteristics and behavior. Integration of the current aerobot autonomy software to this simulator also needs to be done.