A Re-Configurable Hardware-in-the-Loop Flight Simulator

This thesis describes the development of a fixed base flight simulator capable of hardware-in-the-loop testing of aviation electronics, or “avionics”. The system is composed of a pilot controlled 6 degree-of-freedom aircraft model, a flight display, and a hardware interface to an ARINC 429 avionics databus. Avionics can be connected to this databus for testing. These systems are combined in a modular fashion allowing easy re-configuration for use with various aircraft models, and testing of avionics using databuses other than ARINC 429. This modular design is achieved by using an aircraft model constructed in Matlab’s Simulink, and by relaying the model data to the display and ARINC 429 interface using the UDP network protocol.