C++ in Aerospace Simulations

This C++ course will take you deep into the guts of aerospace simulations. Like the students that I taught at the University of Florida, you should come with a first knowledge of C++ and a general understanding of flight dynamics. Step-by-step I combine C++ constructs with increasingly more complex aerospace features. You will be given access to eight simulations that replicate this build-up, culminating in a final multi-object CRUISE simulation.

I teach by example, using UAVs attacking targets, tracked by overhead satellites. Though I show you how to build this complete aerospace simulation, my focus is on the main elements of the C++ PIE: Polymorphism, Inheritance, Encapsulation. I apply them to overloading functions—both pure and virtual functions—leading to the efficient run-time polymorphism; arrange the aerospace vehicles—UAV, target, and satellite—into a hierarchical inheritance structure; and encapsulate into classes the aerodynamic and propulsive data to protect their access.

Though I use my simulation framework CADAC++ to exemplify the key features of C++, you will find that the C++ PIE is feeding most if not all complex aerospace simulations. (At the end of the course I will briefly discuss three other architectures.) Your familiarity with CADAC++ will also open for you all my other simulations of missiles, aircraft, rockets, and hypersonic vehicles.

Update April 2024: Simulations compatible with Microsoft VS C++ 2022 are added to the downloadable resources.

Update Oct 2025: CADAC Studio download changed to the landing page of my AIAA textbooks’ fourth edition: "Modeling and Simulation of Aerospace Vehicle Dynamics”.

So, take the plunge and become a C++ expert in aerospace simulations!