Development of a Virtual Reality Simulator for eVTOL Flight Testing

Human-in-the-loop flight testing is an important step in the development process of an aircraft and its flight control system. Simulation-based testing in a flight simulator can often be very cost-effective in comparison to real flight tests and allows rapid-prototyping of the software and hardware early in the development. One major factor for a successful design process and the applicability and validity of these tests is a suitable and realistic flight simulation environment. Especially in the context of novel aerial vehicles, such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL), the cockpit and simulator need to be modular and adaptable, allowing different configurations to be evaluated quickly during flight testing. This paper describes the technical setup of a low-cost eVTOL flight simulator incorporating Virtual Reality. Dedicated features for conducting such tests have been developed, i.e. the visualization of standardized test course environments, a virtual cockpit with functional head-down instruments and a head-mounted display for relaying critical flight information and instructions to the pilot.