Development of a high-fidelity fighter 6DoF simulator for immersive education and training

Fighter jets play a crucial role in modern combat. However, pilot training on real aircraft is costly and involves considerable risk. Regarding this issue, high-fidelity simulators have attracted increasing attention in recent years and have been widely recognized as an effective approach for reducing training expenditure and enhancing safety. Based on this background, this study develops an F-16 simulator with a particular emphasis on simulation fidelity, which is mainly achieved through two digital twin subsystems proposed in this work. For the first subsystem, a rigorous nonlinear modeling approach and publicly available NASA data are used to construct an accurate F-16 flight dynamics model. For the second subsystem, Unreal Engine (UE) and Cesium are employed to provide a highly realistic visualization of the aircraft and the virtual world. A general framework is further proposed to efficiently integrate both subsystems and several essential interfaces, including hardware joysticks and virtual reality (VR) devices, thereby providing a more comprehensive flight experience. In addition, a dedicated logging module is incorporated to enable seamless integration with the well-known analysis tool Tacview for post-mission review and debriefing. Finally, a simplified cannon-shooting training scenario is implemented, and the results indicate that the proposed simulator achieves a high level of realism and immersion.