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arXiv · 2609.06046

FALCON-S: Fixed-wing ground-effect Aerodynamics Simulator and Flight Control Learning Suite

Matteo El Hariry·Pedro Lima·Andrej Orsula·Matthieu Geist·Miguel Olivares-Mendez
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Abstract

We present a modular, high-fidelity simulation framework for the development and benchmarking of flight control strategies in fixed-wing aerial robots operating near the ground. Unlike existing simulators that rely on simplified or hover-oriented dynamics, our framework models full 6DoF rigid-body physics, semi-empirical ground-effect aerodynamics, actuator dynamics, sensor noise, and environmental disturbances. This physical realism, combined with modular component design, enables systematic analysis of low-altitude flight behavior under realistic conditions. The simulator supports both CPU and GPU backends via Torch and NVIDIA Warp, enabling high-throughput parallel execution suitable for large-scale reinforcement learning training and optimal control rollouts. A unified interface accommodates a range of controllers (both RL and optical control algorithms) across tasks such as altitude regulation and trajectory tracking. Cross-validation with X-Plane and JSBSim is also supported to facilitate engineering integration and visual fidelity.

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Matteo El Hariry, Pedro Lima, Andrej Orsula, Matthieu Geist, Miguel Olivares-Mendez. 2026-09-05. FALCON-S: Fixed-wing ground-effect Aerodynamics Simulator and Flight Control Learning Suite. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06046

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