Free Tools
The following tools are free to use. Some are publicly available, while others are provided once a contract is in place. Additional external tools developed in our partner research lab at Utah State University are also listed for convenience.
More information about research projects, publications, and tools can be found on the Aerolab website: https://aerolab.usu.edu/home
Basic UE5 Visualizer
For an introduction to UE5 graphics, we provide a basic, default Unreal Engine 5 graphics executable, delivering high-quality visuals for simulation environments. This visualizer is fully compatible with MAVRIK or any UDP enabled device. This base version includes various standard vehicle platforms for visualization, while advanced customization options—such as custom vehicle models, camera views, weather effects, HUDs, and more—are available as an additional service.
Vehicles included:
Cessna 172
Quadcopter
Reaper UAV
F-16
Cessna 172SP 3D model: “FREE Cessna 172SP” by NLM on Sketchfab, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution. Source: Sketchfab. No changes were made for use in this visualization.
Quadcopter drone model: “Drone – Game-Ready 3D Model free Dowwload” by GAMICO on Sketchfab, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. No changes were made for use in this visualization.
Wire-Frame Visualizer
While Unreal Engine offers high-fidelity visuals, it can be resource-intensive. For users running simulations on lower-spec machines, we provide a lightweight wireframe visualizer that delivers clear and efficient simulation visualization without the performance demands of UE5.
This python visualizer contains a simple heads-up-display (HUD) and uses VTX models which can be imported from MAVRIK to visualize the direct component based vehicle.
MachUpX
Fast Aerodynamic Analysis of Fixed-Wing Aircraft
Implementation of the Goates-Hunsaker general numerical lifting-line method
Capable of dimensional and non-dimensional analysis
Easily generate and analyze wings with complex twist, sweep, and dihedral
Viscous airfoil modeling
STL, STEP, IGES, and VTK geometry creation
Used by researchers for analyzing bird wing aerodynamics (story here)
MachUp 6
Numerical Lifting-Line
Web-Based GUI
Nondimensional
Fortran Backend (very fast)
Inertia and mass properties automatically computed
MachLine
MachLine (Multi-order Approach to Calculating High-speed Linear Aerodynamics) is a modern, unstructured, subsonic/supersonic flow solver currently being developed by the Aerolab at Utah State University. It is a linear panel method based on the Prandtl-Glauert equation. MachLine will implement many features not available in legacy compressible panel methods, such as unstructured meshes, iterative matrix solvers, automatic wake modelling, variable-order singularity distributions, and more.
Unstructured incompressible, compressible subsonic, and supersonic panel method.
Lightning-fast Fortran implementation.
Straightforward user interface.
SLT, VTK, and TRI mesh handling.
Built for data visualization using ParaView.
