| Original author(s) | Microsoft Research |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Microsoft and community |
| Initial release | February 16, 2017 |
| Stable release | 1.8.1
/ July 17, 2022[1] |
| Repository | github |
| Written in | C++ |
| Operating system | Windows 10, macOS, Linux |
| Type | Flight simulator |
| License | MIT License |
| Website | microsoft |
AirSim (Aerial Informatics and Robotics Simulation) is an open-source, cross platform simulator for drones, ground vehicles such as cars and various other objects, built on Epic Games’ proprietary Unreal Engine 4 as a platform for AI research.[2] It is developed by Microsoft and can be used to experiment with deep learning, computer vision and reinforcement learning algorithms for autonomous vehicles.[3][4] This allows testing of autonomous solutions without worrying about real-world damage.[5]
AirSim provides some 12 kilometers of roads with 20 city blocks and APIs to retrieve data and control vehicles in a platform independent way. The APIs are accessible via a variety of programming languages, including C++, C#, Python and Java. AirSim supports hardware-in-the-loop with driving wheels and flight controllers such as PX4 for physically and visually realistic simulations. The platform also supports common robotic platforms, such as Robot Operating System (ROS).[6] It is developed as an Unreal plug-in that can be dropped into any Unreal environment.[7] An experimental release for a Unity plug-in is also available.[8][9]
