The Flight Simulation Group's work on the Pheagle Flight Simulator is largely completed as we have moved most of our operations to the Motion Flight Simulator.

Located in the Northrop Grumman Aerospace Flight Simulation Laboratory in the Advanced Technologies Labratories (ATL - Bldg. 7) the Pheagle Flight Simulation lab is equipped to run a number of aircraft simulations. Boasting a three projector setup and the ability to fly through any landscape on Earth, or Mars, the lab provides a unique opportunity to students by letting them test there various design projects.

The Pheagle CAB was donated to Cal Poly by NASA's Dryden Research Center more then 10 years ago. The technology was state of the art then. The lab boasts a electrically driven force feedback system. These magnets can generate up to 50 pounds of force. By contrast, a Microsoft© Force Feedback joystick can only muster less than a pound. There is also a full panel inside, with special electronic analog instruments. All of these instruments are fully operational, as well as roughly 20 digital switches, and of course, the F-15 Eagle stick.

Since the beginning of the Flight Simulation Project, the team has strived to build and improve their own non-linear flight model. Over the years, this model has evolved into the cornerstone upon which our work is based. Now, in an effort to make our work more publically available, our team is releasing the source code and Simulink based models. To view this source code, please visit our development wiki by Clicking Here. All code is the property of the Flight Simulation Group of the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and is not avaliable for commercial use.

The Motion Flight Simulator (MFS) allows students the chance to desgin, build, and test a flight simulator from the gorund up. The MFS operates not only as a learning experience on building and designing a working flight simulator; but also as an engineering tool to allow our students the ability to experience their designs on a new level, with motion. Read more about the motion simulator by Clicking Here.

The Cal Poly Flight Simulation Team has forged a partnership with the Autonomous Helicopter Group to expand into the emerging aerospace field of autonomous flight. Read more about the autonomous helicopter project by Clicking Here.

Since the establishment of the Cal Poly Flight simulator, the main objective has always been rapid prototyping of aircraft with minimal cost. To achieve this aim with both accuracy and quality, the simulator team focused on using an off the shelf flight simulator for graphics rendering while still maintaining our Matlab based model. The program known as X-Plane is providing our simulator with both topographically accurate world maps in addition to quick aircraft rendering ability using their aircraft building software. Using UDP network code, we are attempting to remove X-Plane's simulation calculations and insert our own in their place, thus giving a graphics capability unparalled to previous methods employed.

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