Digital Framework for Urban Air Mobility Simulation

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is revolutionizing urban and suburban air transport. This paper presents a comprehensive digital framework for UAM simulation, integrating extended reality (XR) and digital twin technologies to create a realistic and versatile testbed. Utilizing Unreal Engine 5 and JSBSim for flight dynamics, the project replicates UAM vehicles’ real-world behaviours, environmental conditions, and human-machine interfaces (HMI) within a virtual ecosystem. Key components include accurate flight dynamics models, real-time weather and time-of-day simulations, and detailed digital twins of aircraft and urban terrains like downtown Toronto. This integration enhances pilot training and operational planning by simulating various UAM scenarios. The framework ensures high fidelity and synchronization between computational and visual domains, offering an immersive simulation experience. Performance tests on high-end systems demonstrated consistent frame rates and realistic visuals. This digital framework represents a critical step towards realizing UAM’s potential and integration into the broader transportation ecosystem.