VARPLE

VARPLE: Virtual Aerial Remote-Piloting Learning Environment

*** VARPLE is designed for school teaching and a school key is REQUIRED to start the simulator. Please contact CLST, CUHK for school key application. ***

Dive into the future of drone piloting education with VARPLE. Built for K-12 and higher education learners, VARPLE is a mobile drone simulator that takes a student from their first hover to a full downtown checkride — no aircraft, no airspace, and no crash bill.

NEW IN THIS VERSION

Flight School — ten graded missions
A structured syllabus that teaches one skill at a time: First Flight, The Elevator, Compass Turns, There and Back, Box Steps, The Circuit, Figure Eight, Spot On, Downtown Checkout, and The Checkride. Every mission states its objective, marks the flight path in the world, and debriefs the student against real criteria — touchdown speed, altitude overshoot, position hold — with star grading that rewards precision, not luck.

Mini games — scored flying practice
Drown Rescue: fly lifebuoys out to swimmers across the bay before their time runs out. Trains payload placement, hovering over water, and triage under pressure.
Infinity Run: ride a storm wind down an endless city canyon that speeds up every second. Trains corridor flying, wind compensation, and small precise inputs at speed.
Personal bests are recorded for each game, and more games are on the way.

Choose your aircraft
A fleet spanning pocket, mini, cinewhoop and industrial classes, each with its own mass, thrust and handling. Some hold position for you; the cinewhoop does not — which is exactly the point.

Choose your terrain
Fly a training field, a downtown trainer, a lifeguard bay, or a coastal dusk scene, each with its own size, light, weather and wind. A built-in terrain editor lets teachers build and share their own stages.

KEY FEATURES

Authentic drone simulation
A physics-based flight model with position hold, battery drain, and real handling differences between airframes. Practice, repeat, and perfect at no risk.

Unique pilot's view angle
Complying with the Small Unmanned Aircraft (SUA) Order in Hong Kong, VARPLE simulates the pilot's own perspective from the ground, enhancing training realism and legal compliance.

VLOS training and local law compliance
Aligned with mandatory operational modes such as Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) in Hong Kong and other jurisdictions, VARPLE teaches students to fly the way local drone law requires.

Controller compatibility
Connect any Bluetooth game controller for a tactile experience that mimics a real transmitter — or fly right away with the built-in on-screen sticks. Stick modes 1, 2 (DJI), 3 and 4 are all supported.

Tune it like a real radio
Per-axis deadzone, expo, and invert for throttle, pitch, roll and yaw. Choose metres or feet, and decide whether a low battery lands the aircraft for you.

Visual cues and indicators
Front and back orientation lights, plus battery, speed and displacement readouts, so students always know where the aircraft is pointing and what it is doing.

Bilingual interface
Full English and Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) throughout.

Self-directed learning and pedagogical affordance
VARPLE supports self-directed learning and serves as a tool for drone-aimed learning (DAL), letting students progress at their own pace while expanding educational opportunities and applications.