C++ Architecture for Simulating UAVs

A conference paper describes the use of the CADAC++ software system for simulating operations of uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) in conjunction with moving ground targets while interacting with other UAVs and with satellites that assist in targeting. CADAC++ was developed by rewriting the prior Fortran-language CADAC software to take advantage of features of C++ that enable multiple instantiation of UAVs, targets, and satellites, thereby enabling the study of such phenomena as fly-out trajectories, third-party targeting, and distributed information sharing. [CADAC (Com puter Aided Design of Aerospace Con cepts) is chiefly an engineering tool to aid in developing aerospace vehicles.] The architecture of CADAC++ is based on the hierarchical structure of inherited classes, wherein, among other things, every instantiated vehicle object is encapsulated with its methods and data. The paper discusses this architecture in more detail, outlining its class structure and a global data bus through which encapsulated vehicle-objects communicate. The paper then discusses a simulation involving a generic UAV model having five degrees of freedom in order to demonstrate the interactive features of the simulation and to support the conclusion that C++ is the programming environment of choice for networked simulations.