Photorealistic Digital-Twin Flight Simulation for Advanced Air Mobility

Urban Air Mobility (UAM)-a subset of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), is a realm of flight that has seen heavy investment, but this mode of transportation has yet to be widely adopted. Despite the numerous conceptual works aimed towards launching UAM into reality, many unknowns remain in the details of universal operations and standards. It is in this area where an immersive, modular simulation platform can be purpose-built for addressing the challenges of full-scale operations. This publication outlines the implementation of flight dynamics for the purpose of simulating a diverse set of aircraft types found in the UAM space, including electric Vertical TakeOff and Landing (eVTOL) and Short TakeOff and Landing (STOL) vehicles. Generalized aircraft stability and control theories are applied using the JSBSim open-source framework, while highly accurate visualization and Virtual Reality (VR) immersion is conducted through custom integration work within Unreal Engine 5, providing an authentic depiction of the expected operations. Emphasis is placed on the use of this simulation platform as a basis for determining the limits of UAM operations, such as during windy conditions in low-altitude flight.