Details

HELI-X is a professional R/C flight simulator. It started as a helicopter simulator, but features in the meanwhile also planes and multicopters (currently tricopters, quadrocopters and hexacopters).

The main developer of HELI-X holds a PhD in applied mathematics and is an expert in computational fluid dynamics. He worked successfully on many projects in aerodynamics. He is not only pilot of R/C helicopters and planes but also a private pilot of airplanes. He says: « Of course there are many books and publications on helicopter aerodynamics and flight simulation available. However, the aerodynamics described in these publications mainly deal with the stationary situation and are in a Reynolds number regime which is different to what is of interest for R/C helicopters and planes. But even more important, the flight dynamics of R/C helicopters is much more complex than that of the full size helicopters, so that particular models had to be built. In fact, the physics engine of HELI-X is written from scratch. Another important feature of HELI-X is that also the flow outside of the helicopters or planes is modelled which e.g. enables a realistic behavior in auto rotations or the spin up of the rotors

HELI-X is based on Java and uses an OpenGL graphics framework. The older version 4.2 requires OpenGL in the version 1.2. Version 6.0 or higher requires OpenGL in version 2.0. For V 6.0 to work, you need a graphics adapter AMD/ATI Radeon 9500, NVIDIA GeForce 5 FX, Intel GMA 4500, or better, supporting OpenGL 2.0 or better. The old version 4.2 for Mac OS X  requires a Java installation. This Java version is recommended: Java for OS X 2014-001.

In order to use HELI-X, you need an USB controller or an USB interface for your transmitter. Details can be found here. You can start HELI-X without controller, but the control of the helicopter is not possible.

Heli-X website