Welcome
What is RCAIDE?
RCAIDE (Research Centre for Aerospace Intelligent Design Environment) is an open-source Python framework for aircraft design, analysis, and optimization. It is developed and maintained by the Laboratory for Emerging Aircraft Design and Systems (LEADS) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
RCAIDE lets you define a full aircraft — geometry, propulsion, aerodynamics, weights, and mission profile — and run physics-based analyses from a single Python environment.
Getting Started
New to RCAIDE? Start here:
- Install RCAIDE — set up RCAIDE and the GUI on your machine
- RCAIDE GUI — use the desktop interface to define aircraft and run simulations without writing code
- Examples — browse worked examples covering a range of aircraft types and analyses
Key Capabilities
- Vehicle definition — wings, fuselages, propulsion networks, landing gear, and more
- Aerodynamic analysis — vortex lattice, panel methods, and surrogate models
- Propulsion modeling — turbofan, turboprop, electric, hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell networks
- Mission simulation — segment-by-segment mission analysis with fuel burn and performance outputs
- Geometry visualization — 3D viewer for validating aircraft geometry before running analyses
- Optimization — built-in interfaces for gradient-based and surrogate-based optimization
Where to Get Help
- GitHub Discussions — ask questions and share ideas
- GitHub Issues — report bugs or request features
- Community — contribution guidelines and code of conduct