System Development
Figure 2
Quantum’s IDX 6000 image generator to replace two of Bell Helicopter Textron’s image generators and display systems for avionics evaluation and training.
Figure 3
Lyra IG is a pre-integrated PC Image Generation solution that combines visualization software with the latest in PC graphics technology. Shown here is an image produced by the system. program. Using a comprehensive array of Barco SIM 5 projectors, the U.S. Navy’s advanced Submarine Bridge Trainer system development project provides trainees with a “wraparound” high-resolution immersive training environment. With a high degree of fidelity and realism, the SBT system uses Barco’s SIM 5 projectors to simulate the view from atop the submarine’s flying bridge or sail (Figure 1). The immersive environment enables up to eight trainees and one instructor to conduct pre-deployment and mooring training, assess operational performance, and improve the crew’s overall [ 42 ] COTS Journal October 2010 Untitled-4 1
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operational safety and effectiveness. In the past, pilots have used highly realistic flight simulators with interactive visual displays for training on standard and emergency flight procedures. Now, with the SBT system, the first of its kind for the U.S. Navy, that same level of control and realism is available to train submarine bridge crews. To accomplish the required degree of realism within the SBT, high-resolution SIM 5 images are projected on a semi-spherical dome, 28 feet in diameter. Two horizontal swaths of overlapping images are then blended together using Barco’s cross-channel matching and edge-blending processes, resulting in a 6-arc-min/OLP seamless composite image over a 360 x 70 degree field of view. Source imagery for the system, including visual models of vessels, is derived from existing U.S. Navy harbor, piloting and navigational databases. The SBT’s resulting realism is remarkable, with the ability to simulate electronic binoculars, periscopes and the submarine’s roll and pitch—which in turn provides trainees with a sense of the submarine’s rotational motion.
Helicopter Simulation Image generator server systems are becoming essential in many of today’s training operations. Last year Bell Helicopter Textron selected the Quantum’s IDX 6000 image generator to replace two of their existing image generators and display systems for avionics evaluation and training. Both systems will support out-thewindow simulation as well as various sensors on a variety of Bell aircraft. One of the new visual systems was in a light-tight environment and the display system stimulated pilots’ operational night vision goggles. Figure 2 shows an image produced by the IDX 6000. The IDX 6000’s Export-Restricted (ER) features support simulation of sensors including CCD, Day TV, Low-Light TV, thermal, short-wave and multiband FLIRs, and simulation or stimulation of night vision goggles. Mantis combines with viXsen to render physics-based,