ShramkoGSFPV — open-source FPV drone simulator for 3D Gaussian Splatting scenes
Fly a real-feeling FPV drone through photoreal 3D Gaussian Splatting scans, right in your browser. ShramkoGSFPV loads scenes straight from SuperSplat, flies them with a quadcopter model that has four motors, a mixer, a rate PID and Betaflight-compatible rate curves, crashes you into real walls with swept voxel collision, and takes your own radio (EdgeTX over WebHID), a gamepad or touch sticks. WebGPU, the MIT-licensed PlayCanvas engine, nothing to install. Created by Andrii Shramko.
Status: alpha, live since September 2026. The site, the simulator and the measurements below run in public. Every feature claim in this README is either measured (a JSON file in evidence/ with its method) or explicitly marked not tested yet. Most pass/fail checks also run a negative control, a deliberately broken case that must fail; where a check has none, or a weak one, the line says so. The radio path has been tested with a simulated EdgeTX radio, not yet with a real one.
Screenshots
Real screenshots of the live simulator, taken on 2 October 2026 by tools/bench/src/screens.ts in system Chrome on a real GPU (1920×1080 at device scale 2, so the menus stay sharp). A menu is shown as itself with a little of the scene around it; click any picture for the whole screen. The calibration screens use the simulator's built-in simulated EdgeTX radio; the flights are flown by its test pilot or from the keyboard and frozen while really flying. All 39 screens, phone-sized ones included, are in docs/screenshots/ and on the landing page.
Why this exists
FPV pilots train in simulators like Liftoff or VelociDrone because the physics and stick response feel right, but those sims only fly the maps someone built for them. Meanwhile people publish thousands of real places as 3D Gaussian Splatting scans — rooms, villas, streets, whole city blocks — and you can only walk or orbit through them.
ShramkoGSFPV joins the two: pick a real scanned place, arm, and fly it with a drone that behaves like the one in your hands. Rehearse an indoor line before flying it for real, plan a cinematic shot in the actual location, or fly your own house on the Moon.
The default craft is a BetaFPV Pavo20 Pro class 2.2″ cinewhoop, with five more BetaFPV-class whoops for rooms and streets: Pavo20 Pro II on 3S and 4S, Pavo Pico, Meteor65 Pro and Air65. For big scans (city blocks, landscapes) there are three open-prop drones since v0.8: an iFlight Nazgul Evoque F5 class 5″ freestyle quad, an iFlight Mach R5 Sport class 5″ race quad and an iFlight Taurus X8 class cinelifter carrying a RED Komodo, 4.9 kg with slow 8″ props, a lot of inertia and prop wash. Their weights and parts are the maker's; thrust, inertia, motor lag, drag and the cinelifter's tune are estimates, written out in docs/research/drones-v08.md. If you fly one of these drones for real and it feels different here, Help tune it in the drone picker or in Settings sends Andrii your Betaflight diff all, a blackbox log link and a few words; the same form asks for a drone that is missing. On each preset card the spec rows (thrust-to-weight, weight, wheelbase, motor, battery) say where the number comes from: manufacturer, independent measurement or estimate. The card's maximum rate (°/s) and hover throttle (on a full pack and near empty, as the HUD shows THR) are computed by the simulator's own model and carry no source label. The thrust-to-weight of three presets (Pavo20 Pro 3S, Pavo20 Pro II 3S, Pavo Pico 2S) was measured in the model and is within 0.4 % of the preset value (b-fly-b9.json), and that of the three v0.8 drones in the app within 0.6 % (v08-drones.json, D1); the other three whoops are not measured yet.
Features and roadmap
Status on 2 October 2026. Live means you can use it on https://gsfpv.flyreelstudio.eu today; In progress is being built now; Next is designed and queued. How each input device was tested is in Radios and devices, and the numbers behind the physics are in What is measured. The same list, in four languages, is on the landing page. The v0.3 items name the check that accepted them on the live site (JSON files in evidence/; the list is in evidence/2026-10-02/v03-release.json).
Available now (51)
| Area | Feature | Status |
|---|
| Radio & calibration | EdgeTX radio over USB (WebHID) in Chrome or Edge | Live |
| Radio & calibration | Calibration with a drawn radio that shows which stick to move; each step waits until you really move it (v03-wizard-auto-live.json) | Live |
| Radio & calibration | Reverse any channel after calibration | Live |
| Radio & calibration | Recalibrate button in Controls | Live |
| Radio & calibration | A known radio reconnects by itself, and stays connected when you change scenes (v03-scenes-live.json) | Live |
| Radio & calibration | The flight-mode switch on your radio is found on the check screen, with no click (v03-modes-live.json, with the simulated radio) | Live |
| Controls & flight modes | Gamepad through the browser's Gamepad API (not tested on real hardware yet) | Live |
| Controls & flight modes | Touch sticks and an ARM button on a touch screen (tested in touch emulation only) | Live |
| Controls & flight modes | Keyboard, with every flying key shown on screen | Live |
| Controls & flight modes | Flight modes: Angle (self-levelling, the default for everyone), Horizon and Acro; M, the mode chip on screen or your radio's switch (v03-modes-live.json) | Live |
| Controls & flight modes | Close Controls with × or Esc; the summary panel shows every key | Live |
| Drone & tuning | Six BetaFPV-class presets: Pavo20 Pro 3S (default), Pavo20 Pro II 3S and 4S, Pavo Pico 2S, Meteor65 Pro 1S, Air65 1S | Live |
| Drone & tuning | Three open-prop drones for big scans (v0.8): an iFlight Nazgul Evoque F5 class 5″ freestyle quad, an iFlight Mach R5 Sport class 5″ race quad and an iFlight Taurus X8 class cinelifter carrying a RED Komodo (4.9 kg); their thrust-to-weight measured in the app within 0.6 % (v08-drones.json, D1) | Live |
| Drone & tuning | 3D models of every drone in the browser (v0.9): a turntable you drag to turn in the drone picker, in Settings and in the pause menu's "Your drone" card, with numbered pins and a legend of what it carries (frame, motors, propellers, battery, FPV camera and video link, action camera) in four languages, each fact marked as the maker's, a retailer's copy of it, or typical; drawn only while shown, the graphics device freed on close (, research: ) |
In progress (1)
| Feature | Status |
|---|
| Pavo20 Pro and Pro II physics tuned against the real quads: the blackbox log tools and the Betaflight dump import are ready, waiting for logs from the real quads | In progress |
Next (1)
| Feature | Status |
|---|
| Radio switches for respawn and rewind | Next |
Missing a setting you need? Suggest it through the contact form or open an issue.
Everything you can tune
74 settings in 11 groups, 34 keyboard keys, 9 drone presets and 5 rate-curve types, generated from the simulator's own settings schema, so this list shows only what ships today. Every setting with its default, range, scope and key: docs/settings.md; in English, Spanish, Polish and Russian on the landing page.
| Group | Settings |
|---|
| Flight (4) | Flight mode (M) · Angle limit 10–85° · Angle strength 0–200 · Horizon strength 0–200 |
| Crashes & respawn (10) | Crashes · Crash threshold 2–10 m/s · Respawn after a crash · Respawn delay 0.5–10 s · Respawn at · How far back 1–30 s · Invisible platform · Stay armed after a respawn · Reset when stuck · Fresh battery |
| Camera (2) | Camera field of view 70–150° · Camera uptilt 0–50° |
| Display (12) | Show HUD (H) · Stable frame ↔ detail 0–1 · Render · Splat budget · Device class · Reduced motion · Frame stats (F3) · Language · Crosshair · Crosshair size 1–20 % · Crosshair colour · Crosshair opacity 0.1–1 |
| Sound (2) | Motor sound · Volume 0–100 % |
| Controls (8) | Stick mode · How touch and keyboard fly · Altitude help (touch) · Vibrate on a crash · Mouse sensitivity (game keys) 0.25–3× · Invert the mouse up and down · Flight speed (game keys) · Show "How to fly" when a scan opens |
| Drone & physics (15) | Drone · Camera load · Gravity 0–30 m/s² · Thrust on other worlds · Thrust-to-weight 2–16 · Motor spin-up time 8–80 ms · Air drag 0.5–2× · Duct drag 0–1.5 1/s · Propeller inertia 0–3× · Prop wash 0–2× · Motor idle 0–15 % · Wind · Custom wind: from 0–360° · Custom wind: speed 0–30 m/s · Custom wind: gusts 0–20 m/s |
| Tune (3) | PID gains (P / I / D / F) · Rates (stick curves) · Throttle curve |
| Scenes (5) | Next scene after a crash · Scenes to rotate through · Order · Include scenes without walls · Scene size ([ Shift+[ ] Shift+]) |
| Walls and voxel grid (8) | Walls (collisions) (C) · Drop floating pieces under N blocks 0–64 blocks · Ignore collisions above · Custom ceiling: height in scan metres -10000–10000 m · Voxel grid (V) · Voxel style · Voxel opacity over the scan 0.05–1 · Voxel opacity, voxels only 0.05–1 |
| Recording (5) | Frame rate · Video size · Auto-record · New file every 1–30 min · Whose scan it is |
Keyboard: Esc P pause / resume · R back to the start · Y rewind 5 s · Enter keep the wreck (no automatic respawn) · N next scene · Shift+N random scene · Shift+F next favourite scene · M flight mode · Space arm / disarm (pilot keys) · V voxel grid: off / over the scan / voxels only · C walls on / off for this scan · H show or hide the hud · [ Shift+[ scene smaller · ] Shift+] scene larger · F9 start or stop recording · F3 frame times and delay · O settings · B report a bug or an idea · L share this scene · K how to fly (the keys card) · F full screen on / off. Keyboard flying: Mouse look and turn (up and down tilts the camera) · W S forward / back (the up and down arrows too) · A D left / right · ← → Q E turn without a mouse · Space up · Shift down (hold to land) · M self-levelling (ANGLE) or ACRO.
Can I turn off crashes in a browser FPV simulator?
Yes. Switch Crashes off in Settings and a wall hit never ends the flight, so a beginner can keep flying.
Does it have angle / self-level mode?
Yes: Acro (rate mode), Angle (self-levelling) or Horizon (levels, flips allowed). The default is Angle (self-levelling); the HUD chip and the M key switch it.
Does the drone respawn by itself after a crash?
Yes: 2 s after a crash it is back in the air, 5 s before the crash, on an invisible platform. Both times are settings (0.5–10 s and 1–30 s).
Can I change the FPV camera angle and field of view?
Yes, for each drone separately: camera uptilt 0–50° and field of view 70–150° (20° and 115° on the default drone).
Can I fly an FPV drone on the Moon or Mars?
Yes: gravity is a setting (0–30 m/s²): Earth 9.81, Moon 1.62, Mars 3.72, zero-g or anything in between. Thrust on other worlds picks how the motors cope: Real (same motors), Keep thrust / weight or Auto throttle (stick centre hovers).
Can I use my own Betaflight rates and PID in the simulator?
Yes: edit the rates in Settings (Betaflight, Raceflight, KISS, Actual or Quick curves, under Betaflight Configurator's names, with a live chart and Copy as CLI back to your quad) or paste diff or diff all from the Betaflight CLI. The rates, the PID and the throttle curve are set for the drone you fly; every drone keeps its own.
Can I choose which radio channel arms the drone or switches the flight mode?
Yes: Controls, then Switches. Arm, Angle / Horizon / Acro and functions such as rewind and record go on any channel from CH5 to CH16, with ranges as in Betaflight's Modes tab. Flip a switch to assign it, or paste a Betaflight diff all to take its aux lines.
How hard can I hit a wall before it counts as a crash?
That is the Crash threshold: 2–10 m/s for each drone, 4 m/s by default. Slower touches slide along the wall.
Can I fix a scan that has the wrong size?
Yes: Scene size scales the scan around the drone (0.25×–100×) and is remembered for each scan.
Can I see the collision walls of a Gaussian Splatting scan?
Yes: the Voxel grid shows the voxels you crash into, over the scan or voxels only.
Can I record 60 fps video of my flight?
Yes: Frame rate is 30 fps or 60 fps, 60 fps by default.
Can I fly a 5-inch freestyle quad, a 5-inch race quad or a heavy cinelifter with a cinema camera?
Yes: besides the BetaFPV-class whoops, Drone offers an iFlight Nazgul Evoque F5 class 5-inch freestyle quad, an iFlight Mach R5 Sport class 5-inch race quad and an iFlight Taurus X8 class cinelifter carrying a RED Komodo, all on 6S. Each has its own weight, thrust-to-weight, inertia, motor lag, battery and rates, and every number says where it comes from (the drone presets below).
Does the simulator have prop wash?
Yes, on the 5-inch quads and the cinelifter: sinking into its own downwash (catching a dive or a fast drop) the drone loses thrust and shakes. Prop wash scales it for each drone (0–2×; 0 switches it off).
Can I help make a simulator drone fly like my real one, or ask for a new drone?
Yes. The presets are built from published numbers and estimates. If you fly one of them for real and it feels different, press Help tune it in the drone picker or under Drone in Settings (or open /en/fly/?drone=<id>&open=tune) and send your Betaflight diff all, a link to a blackbox log and a few words; Andrii fits the drone to it. The same form asks for a drone that is not in the list. How every number was made: docs/research/drones-v08.md.
What is measured (not claimed)
Numbers from the JSON files in evidence/2026-09-24/ named in each row. The landing page's figures come from evidence/latest.json (rates, tunnelling, clearance, latency), and its build fails if a number is missing.
| Check | Result | How |
|---|
| Rate curves vs Betaflight 4.5.1 | 1880 points, max error 0 °/s in double precision | Betaflight's own rc.c compiled outside the repo with float promoted to double, vs our re-implementation; a float32 build differs by at most 6.3e-4 °/s (PROVENANCE). A deliberately wrong curve (x³ instead of x⁵ in Actual) misses the vectors by up to 280 °/s, so they tell the curves apart (a3-rates-vectors.json) |
| Flying through walls (tunnelling) | 0 in 200,000 straight passes | 1 ms swept test vs an independent resampling oracle at 5–34 m/s on 3 real scans and a 2 cm wall; the endpoint-only control misses walls, so the oracle is not blind (a5-tunnelling.json) |
| Determinism | same SHA-256 of the whole trace in Node and Chrome and at 30/60/144/240 Hz frame splits | Math.random injected into the core changes the hash (a6-determinism.json) |
| Replay from stick inputs only | same hash in a new tab; 1 LSB changed in one report → different hash and > 1 cm divergence | 30 s flight with a flip and a crash, on the live site (b-fly-b15.json) |
| Wall clearance, Pavo20 Pro | body stops 47.2 mm (median) beyond its own size on 5 cm voxel collision | 200 directions from 12 points; a record, not a gate, so it has no negative control (a8-clearance.json) |
| Stick-to-screen latency | display-limited: the test screen runs at 30 Hz (median 252 ms, blank-page floor 65 ms) | SendInput → Desktop Duplication marker, N = 220, lagFrames=2 control fires; camera measurement not done yet (a9-latency.json) |
How it works
superspl.at link or id ──► CDN: settings.json, lod-meta.json, scene.voxel.{json,bin}
│
┌──────────────┐ ┌───────────────┴──────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐
│ render │ │ sim-core (no DOM) │ │ input │
│ PlayCanvas │◄──│ 1 ms fixed step, 4 │◄──│ WebHID (EdgeTX) │
│ WebGPU, GPU │ │ motors, mixer, rate │ │ Gamepad API │
│ sort, LOD │ │ PID, BF/Actual/KISS/ │ │ touch sticks │
│ streaming │ │ Raceflight rates, │ │ calibration wizard, │
└──────────────┘ │ gravity, input log │ │ arm gate │
└──────────┬────────────┘ └──────────────────────┘
▼
┌──────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐
│ collision │ │ crash │
│ voxel octree (vendored│──►│ Rapier wreck, debris, │
│ MIT), swept spheres │ │ chase camera, respawn │
└──────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────┘
- Scenes: any public SuperSplat scene by link (
superspl.at/scene/<id>, superspl.at/s?id=<id>) or id, loaded by the visitor's browser from the public CDN — the server never talks to SuperSplat. Scenes without collision data fly as "no walls" and say so (b-fly-b6.json, b-fly-b7.json).
- Flight model: own code, re-implemented from Betaflight's published formulas (no GPL code copied): motor lag, battery sag, drag, airmode, angle mode for beginners. Every constant carries its source. Checked in Node (
a4-physics.json): hover, full-stick rates, motor lag, airmode at zero throttle, PID step response, drag (terminal velocity). Battery sag is only recorded as information (no pass/fail check); angle mode is not tested yet.
- Crashes: impact speed decides; the wreck tumbles with debris (Rapier), then the crash screen offers a respawn at the start or at the last safe point.
b-fly-b12.json recorded one wall hit, 4 debris pieces and a respawn into free space; it does not record which of the two points was used. Crash effects stay under the WCAG limit of 3 flashes per second: at most 2 flashes per second measured over 50 crashes, whole frame and quarters (b-fly-b17.json).
- Gravity: Earth, Moon, Mars, zero-g or your own value, with an honest "same motors" mode and a "keep thrust-to-weight" mode. Measured on the live site: disarmed drops on Earth (9.59 m/s² for 9.81) and the Moon (1.617 m/s² for 1.62) (
b-fly-b16.json). That check has no real negative control yet: its control is a fixed flag in the harness, not a run that could fail. Mars, zero-g, a custom value and the "keep thrust-to-weight" mode are not tested yet in the app (zero-g is checked only in the Node core: angular momentum is conserved, a4-physics.json).
- Replays: only stick inputs are stored; the flight is recomputed bit-exactly (
b-fly-b15.json).
- Walls for scans published without them: one click builds collision in the browser with SuperSplat's own tool and defaults (
@playcanvas/splat-transform, 5 cm voxels). On a 2.1 M-Gaussian scan it takes about 25 s and the result is byte-for-byte identical to the command-line tool; scans above 4 M Gaussians are refused with the numbers (c-bake.json, which has no negative control of its own; 0 penetrations in 50,000 passes on the baked walls, with a control, c-a5-baked.json).
- Cinema mode: finest level of detail, automatic quality off, and a WebCodecs recorder (H.264 MP4) for the showcase scans, with the scene's credit burned into the picture (: a 6 s, 179-frame test recording; the credit strip was checked on one frame, not frame by frame).
Architecture decisions and their reasons: docs/decisions.md. What can go wrong: docs/warnings.md. Where every piece of code came from: docs/PROVENANCE.md.
Radios and devices
| Browser | Input | Status |
|---|
| Chrome, desktop | EdgeTX radio (RadioMaster, Jumper, …) as USB joystick over WebHID | tested in Chrome with a simulated EdgeTX radio; real radio not tested yet; Edge not run yet |
| Chrome / Edge, desktop | Gamepad, DJI controller as a gamepad | not tested on real hardware yet |
| Desktop Chrome, touch emulation | Touch sticks | tested only in emulation (375×812, 1024×768): the arm button, both sticks at once and the pause button work. Holding a hover was not checked (the craft sat 0.3–3.3 m above its hover target), and the check's negative control is not conclusive yet. Safari, iPad and Android browsers not tested yet |
| Firefox 155 (Playwright build) | Gamepad or touch sticks | the scene renders with WebGPU and the app offers a gamepad or touch sticks (flying there not tested yet); radios need Chrome or Edge (no WebHID) |
Have an EdgeTX radio? A short test report is the most useful contribution right now — open an issue.
Questions people ask
How can I fly an FPV drone through a 3D Gaussian Splatting scan?
Open https://gsfpv.flyreelstudio.eu, pick one of the showcase scans or paste any public SuperSplat link, connect your radio, gamepad or touch sticks, arm and fly. No install, no account.
Is there a free FPV simulator that runs in the browser?
Yes — ShramkoGSFPV is free and MIT-licensed. It needs WebGPU, so desktop Chrome or Edge works best.
Can I use my RadioMaster / EdgeTX radio in the browser?
Yes: set the radio to USB Joystick mode, open the simulator in Chrome or Edge, and the calibration wizard maps sticks, inversion and the arm switch. It has been verified only in Chrome with a simulated EdgeTX radio (Edge not run yet); real-radio reports are welcome.
Do I crash when I hit a wall, or fly through it?
You crash. The drone's body is swept against the scan's voxel collision every 1 ms physics step, so even at 34 m/s it does not slip through a 2 cm wall: 0 penetrations in 50,000 passes at a 2 cm wall and in 150,000 more on three real scans.
Is the flight physics like Betaflight?
The rate curves match Betaflight 4.5.1's own code with 0 error at 1880 points when both are computed in double precision (a float32 build differs by at most 6.3e-4 °/s); the PID and filters follow Betaflight's structure and default gains. It is a simulator, not a certified replica.
Can my AI agent set this up?
Yes — see below.
For your AI agent
Paste into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or any coding agent:
Set up ShramkoGSFPV for me by following
https://github.com/AndriiShramko/ShramkoGSFPV/blob/main/AGENT_SETUP.md exactly.
Install, run the checks, start the simulator locally and open it in Chrome.
Do not change any system settings; ask me only if a step needs my password or a physical action.
Rules for agents working in this repository: AGENTS.md. Summary for language models: llms.txt.
Run it locally
git clone -c core.autocrlf=false https://github.com/AndriiShramko/ShramkoGSFPV.git
cd ShramkoGSFPV && corepack enable && pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
pnpm -r typecheck && pnpm vitest run
pnpm --filter @gsfpv/fly dev # http://localhost:5190/fly/?scene=39e63ce9
Full steps, update and removal: AGENT_SETUP.md.
Contributing
Most useful now: real-radio test reports (EdgeTX version, radio model, RF on/off), measurements on other GPUs and high-refresh displays, and flight-model review from pilots. See CONTRIBUTING.md and SECURITY.md.
Supporters
ShramkoGSFPV is free, and nobody is paid to talk about it. Pilots and creators who tried it and told their audience about it, or sent an idea that made it into the simulator, are listed on the supporters wall, each with a page of their own, and in this section.
Want to be one of them? Fly it, say what you think wherever your audience is (a video, a post, a story, in any language) and send the link to [email protected]. In return: your own page and card on the site, your name in this README, your review shared in the author's Facebook groups, on his profile and on LinkedIn, your quad as a preset from your Betaflight diff all, your favourite spot as a flyable scene from a 3DGS scan.
Author and collaboration
Andrii Shramko — FPV pilot and 3D/4D Gaussian Splatting specialist, author and maintainer of ShramkoGSFPV.
I am passionate about this idea, always open to interesting people and ready to help teams bring incredible projects to life. If you are an FPV pilot, scanning studio, drone maker, simulator developer, 3DGS platform, researcher or investor — let's talk about partnership, integration, licensing, sponsorship or funding. I am ready to assemble and lead a team around it.
License and credits
Code is released under the MIT License © 2026 Andrii Shramko. If you use this project, keep the copyright notice and please credit Andrii Shramko with a link to this repository; citation metadata is in CITATION.cff.
Built on the MIT-licensed PlayCanvas Engine and SuperSplat viewer (two parts vendored: the voxel collision code from v1.35.0 and the renderer behind the Stochastic drawing from v1.38.0, © 2011-2026 PlayCanvas Ltd.; see NOTICE), Rapier (Apache-2.0) for the wreck, and formulas read from Betaflight 4.5.1. Thanks to SplatFPV, an earlier browser experiment that proved the idea works. Scenes remain the property of their authors and are shown with their license and attribution; authors can ask for removal through the "Report this scene" link in the simulator.
Product names (SuperSplat, PlayCanvas, Betaflight, EdgeTX, RadioMaster, BetaFPV, Liftoff, VelociDrone, DJI) belong to their owners and are used only to describe compatibility. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.
