Dual Pilot Active Sidestick Demonstrator Flexible rapid prototyping platform for research flight simulation

Abstract

The application of flight simulators is a standard practice in aerospace research. At the German Aerospace Center (DLR), these tools are employed to validate systems prior to their integration into the research helicopter ACT/FHS. Recently, the development toolchain for the experimental system of ACT/FHS was augmented by the addition of the Dual Pilot Active Sidestick Demonstrator (2PASD) simulator. Originally designed for research on active inceptors, 2PASD was expanded to replicate the experimental system of ACT/FHS. The integration of a MATLAB/Simulink development environment with 2PASD's real-time simulation framework enables the simulator to serve as a rapid prototyping platform for flight control systems development. Furthermore, 2PASD's visual system was enhanced by the incorporation of Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality environments, thereby broadening its applicability in new research contexts. Additionally, latency measurements were coducted using a non-invasive setup to identify sources of time delay between pilot inputs and the response of the visual system. The results provide a baseline for optimizing the simulator's performance.