A Display-Based Testbed for Bridging the Gap between Drone Simulation and Real-World Testing

Abstract

Real-world drone experiments are essential but often constrained by safety, regulations, and space, while simulations fail to capture key physical effects. This paper presents a compact indoor testbed that bridges this gap by integrating physical drone dynamics with display-based virtual environments. A real drone interacts with displayed scenes on screens, enabling closed-loop image-based control. By combining physical motion with virtual environment shifting, the system supports flexible and controllable experiments. The effectiveness of the proposed testbed is demonstrated through three scenarios: drone delivery, farmland monitoring, and disaster response.