The MathWorks releases Aerospace Toolbox to facilitate flight-data analysis in MATLAB

NATICK, Mass., 13 Dec. 2006. The MathWorks has introduced Aerospace Toolbox, a built-in interface to FlightGear flight simulator. Aerospace Toolbox enables engineers to visualize flight data in a three-dimensional environment, and reconstruct behavioral anomalies in flight-test results.

By streamlining aerospace data analysis in MATLAB, Aerospace Toolbox accelerates the design and development of aerospace and defense systems. It is designed to provide reference standards, environmental models, support for importing aerodynamic coefficients, and three-dimensional visualization capabilities in MATLAB.

Aerospace Toolbox comes with utilities for unit conversions, coordinate transformations, and quaternion math, along with standards-based environmental models for the atmosphere, gravity, and magnetic fields. Flight parameter utilities calculate such parameters as equivalent airspeed, Mach number, and dynamic pressure.

Engineers can now import aerodynamic coefficients from the U.S. Air Force Digital Data Compendium (Datcom) into MATLAB to carry out preliminary control design and vehicle performance analysis. Using the coefficients with Aerospace Blockset, available separately, lets engineers calculate aerodynamic forces and moments for their Simulink flight simulations.

Aerospace Toolbox is available immediately for the Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux, and Macintosh platforms. U.S. list prices start at $1,000.