Effects of Aerodynamics in Virtual Reality Sky Diver and Parachute Jumper Training Simulator for Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sky diving and parachuting are sports and kind of military maneuver technique which actions started with the exiting from a moving aircraft or from a relatively stable platform (aero plane, helicopter, higher platform etc) and returning to earth under the influence of the gravitational force and atmospheric frictions. Entire process is involved in aerodynamic physics. The basic training for skydiving involves learning how to exit from an aircraft and stabilize oneself in freefall and then deploy the parachute. When a paratroopers jumps out of a plane he starts to accelerate downwards under a certain amount of free fall, until reaching to the terminal velocity. This is the speed at which the drag from air resistance exactly balances the force of gravity pulling him down. With the manipulation of the body postures a skydiver can generate turns, forward motion and backwards motion and even lift. During the last part of the jump the slowing down is handled using a parachute maneuvering. With the proposing simulator system, a Sri Lankan paratrooper will be able to get a virtual reality experience to practice skydiving and parachute maneuvering skills under realistic physics approximated for Sri Lankan environmental conditions. In this paper we describe what is our approach to model aerodynamics within a computer generated virtual world to create near real environment and experience to the trainees.