Experimental evaluation of the contribution of adding a motion system to an EDS

The use of flight simulators in pilot training campaigns has become a cheaper and saferalternative to the use of a real aircraft, as simulators will not cause any kind of humaninjury or vehicular damages. However, the degree of fidelity of the simulation is of theutmost importance for this application, thus it has become the subject of discussion inseveral studies.It is understood as a flight simulator with a high degree of fidelity, all kind of simulatorsthat are capable of providing motion cues that are sufficiently similar to those obtainedduring an actual flight, so much so that a human would be incapable of noticing anydifference (Giordano et al., 2010). Many argue that the only way to obtain such a highquality of simulation is by using a motion platform, which makes the cost of thisequipment the same order of magnitude of a real aircraft.Several recent studies have contributed in this topic of discussion, the influence of themotion platform is still unclear (McCauley, 2006), (Proctor, Bauer and Lucario, 2007),(McDaniel, Scott and Browning, 1983). Bürki-cohen, Sparko and Bellman (2011) madea thorough review of the need of motion platforms in aircraft simulators while discussesthe need of motion platforms in military helicopter simulators, butThe objective of this work is to analyze the contribution of adding a motion system to anEDS (Engineering Development System), yielding a flexible and reconfigurablesimulator, available as soon as the official aerodynamic databank is made available. Theadvantage (if any) of creating an EDS with motion platform is that it brings to the aircraftdevelopment cycle, the opportunity of anticipating the knowledge acquired in thelearning-by-using approach, by means of a simulation environment that resembles thebehavior of the final product, especially in the early development phases.