An open-source Python-based air traffic simulator for research on air traffic management and air traffic flows.
BlueSky is an open-source air traffic simulator designed for research on Air Traffic Management (ATM) and air traffic flows. It provides a tool for visualizing, analyzing, and simulating air traffic without licensing restrictions, using open data and extensible plugins. The simulator includes aircraft performance modeling, flight management systems, and compatibility with industry-standard data formats.
Researchers, academics, and aviation professionals studying air traffic management, air traffic flows, or developing ATM algorithms and simulations.
Developers choose BlueSky for its open-source, unrestricted licensing, extensible plugin architecture, and comprehensive simulation capabilities that support global air traffic research without proprietary limitations.
The open source air traffic simulator
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Distributed under the MIT license, it allows unrestricted use, modification, and distribution, making it ideal for academic and research purposes without licensing fees.
Supports self-contained plugins, enabling researchers to easily add custom functionality and simulations, as highlighted in the Wiki for plugin development.
Includes global navaid, airport, and aircraft performance data from open sources, facilitating accurate simulations without proprietary dependencies.
Compatible with BADA 3.x data and NLR Traffic Manager TMX, standards used by institutions like NASA LaRC, ensuring relevance in ATM research.
The flight management system's VNAV (vertical navigation) is noted as 'under construction' in the README, limiting advanced simulation capabilities for vertical profiles.
Written in Python with dependencies like numpy, it may not handle large-scale simulations as efficiently as compiled languages, impacting scalability for high-traffic scenarios.
Requires plugin development for custom features and installation of specific packages (e.g., 'bluesky-simulator[full]'), which can be complex for newcomers without deep Python or ATM knowledge.