Overview

JSBSim is a lightweight, data-driven, non-linear, six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF), batch simulation application aimed at modeling flight dynamics and control for aircraft. Since the earliest versions, JSBSim has benefited from the open source development environment it has grown within and from the wide variety of users that have contributed ideas for its continued improvement.

The JSBSim online reference manual is a community effort to keep the users and developers up-to-date with all the functionalities of the software. Yet the manual is not meant to be a tutorial or a user guide, and it does not include examples of how to use the software in practice. This repository acts as a side project to JSBSim and demonstrates real-world usage of the JSBSim Python API through fully executable Jupyter notebooks. Eventually the collection of notebooks will grow to cover a wide range of use cases, from basic API usage to advanced analysis and integration with other tools, and will be integrated into the online reference manual as a companion resource.

The notebooks in this repository are here to serve as an example-based user guide of JSBSim for Python users. For instance, this documentation serves as a reference for how to use the API for common tasks such as loading aircraft models, setting initial conditions, running flight simulations, and analyzing results.

The examples include demos of how JSBSim can be integrated with interesting Python libraries, such as PathSim, and pathsim-flight, and PathView.

The notebooks cover:

• Basic API usage – creating an FDM executor, loading aircraft models, setting initial conditions, trimming, and reading properties.

• Flight simulation – running trimmed flight, recording time histories, plotting altitude, airspeed, attitude, and ground track.

• PathSim – block-diagram simulation with integrators, amplifiers, adders, scopes, and custom function blocks.

• pathsim-flight – embedding JSBSim inside a PathSim block diagram, using the International Standard Atmosphere model, and building a simple pitch-hold autopilot.

Documentation

• Concepts
  • Frames of reference
  • Simulation
  • Frames of reference
  • Units
  • Properties
  • Math
  • Forces and moments
  • Flight Control and System Modelling

JSBSim Basics

• JSBSim Hello World
• JSBSim Flight Simulation

PathSim Integration

• PathSim Introduction
• JSBSim Trim and Elevator Doublet with PathSim
• pathsim-flight: JSBSim as a PathSim Block

Advanced Analysis

• Angle of attack (AoA) vs Calibrated Airspeed (CAS) of a Global 5000 aircraft in wings-level flight
• Rudder Kick
• Thrust Vectoring Analysis
• Trim Envelope
• Trim Envelope and Climb Analysis

Resources

• Resources

Quick start

# 1. Create and activate the conda environment
conda env create -f environment.yml
conda activate jsbsim-python-examples

# 2. Launch JupyterLab
jupyter lab

Indices and tables

• Index

• Search Page