From Concept to Flight: How Advanced Simulation Tools Transform GoAERO Team Capabilities

In emergency situations, every second counts—and every calculation matters. For the teams competing in the GoAERO Prize—teams racing to develop the world's first compact, autonomy-enabled rescue aircraft—precision in design could mean the difference between a successful rescue and tragedy.

Through our partnership with MathWorks, GoAERO teams now have access to MATLAB and Simulink, industry-standard computational tools that are helping transform ambitious concepts into viable emergency response aircraft. MATLAB provides teams with a programming environment for algorithm development, data analysis, and mathematical modeling, while Simulink offers a graphical environment for simulating dynamic systems and designing control algorithms—exactly what teams need for developing autonomous flight systems.

Picture this: A wildfire has trapped hikers on a remote mountainside. Traditional helicopters can't reach them, but your GoAERO emergency response flyer—autonomy-enabled and compact enough to deploy from a trailer—can navigate the challenging conditions and execute a perfect rescue.

Getting from that vision to a flying, life-saving aircraft requires solving thousands of complex engineering problems. How do you optimize flight control algorithms for unstable weather? What's the ideal balance between battery weight and flight endurance? How do you ensure your autonomous systems can adapt to unexpected obstacles? These aren't just academic questions—they're the real-world challenges our GoAERO teams face as they design aircraft that will save lives in crises.

This is where simulation becomes crucial, allowing teams to rapidly test thousands of scenarios before their aircraft ever leaves the ground.

For GoAERO teams, having access to MATLAB and Simulink can fundamentally change their development approach. MATLAB enables teams to process sensor data, develop machine learning algorithms for obstacle detection, and perform complex mathematical calculations for flight optimization. Simulink allows them to model entire aircraft systems—from battery management to flight control—and test how these systems respond to different scenarios before building physical prototypes.

With MATLAB and Simulink, teams can benefit from the Model-Based Design (MBD) approach. It is the systematic use of models throughout the development process that improves how you deliver complex systems. It can help teams to shorten development cycles and reduce their development time by 50% or more. With the MBD approach, teams can:

• Try new ideas and perform fast, repeatable tests with modeling and simulation.

• Eliminate manual steps and reduce human error by automating key steps such as reporting, coding, and verification

• Create a digital thread with traceability from requirements and system architecture to component design and tests

• Perform predictive maintenance, detect faults, and optimize the system in operation using models as digital twins

With our partnership with MathWorks, all  Stage 2 and Stage 3 Teams will have access to the same simulation environment used in developing everything from commercial airliners to space exploration vehicles.

This partnership extends beyond simply providing free access to tools. Teams receive comprehensive educational resources designed specifically for aerospace applications, connecting them with expertise that helps translate theoretical knowledge into practical aircraft design.

The recent webinar with Khushin Lakhara, Education Programs Engineer, MathWorks, demonstrated this approach in action. As an aerospace engineer with experience in UAV design and flight controller development, Khushin supported teams by sharing practical knowledge on applying simulation tools to real-world, mission-critical applications.  This kind of guidance helps teams not only use the software but also understand how to apply it effectively in demanding engineering scenarios.

Teams are already seeing concrete benefits in their development processes. With MATLAB, they can analyze flight test data, develop predictive models for aircraft performance, and create algorithms for autonomous decision-making. Simulink enables them to simulate thousands of flight scenarios, model complex interactions between aircraft systems, and validate their designs with simulations.

How do you teach an aircraft to recognize a safe landing zone in disaster-affected terrain? How do you ensure it can adapt its flight path when GPS signals are compromised? These challenges require extensive simulation and testing that would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming without the right computational tools.

The innovations emerging from this work—optimized flight control algorithms, efficient electric propulsion systems, robust autonomous navigation—are forming the foundation for the next generation of emergency response capabilities.

As we approach the 2027 Fly-Off, teams must demonstrate their aircraft's ability to perform three challenging missions: Productivity, Adversity, and Maneuvering. Having access to advanced simulation tools allows teams to prepare for these challenges in ways that weren't possible before.

What's most significant about providing teams with these capabilities is how it connects to GoAERO's broader mission. We're not just running a competition—we're fostering the development of technologies that will save lives in real emergencies.

For GoAERO teams ready to maximize these capabilities, MATLAB and Simulink access remains available through our partnership at: https://www.mathworks.com/academia/student-competitions/goaero.html

Because when every second counts, every calculation matters—and having the right tools to make those calculations can mean the difference between a successful rescue and tragedy.