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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 0086.PDF
draw a particularly detailed scene. In syn chronised mode, when the frame length is fixed, level-of-detail control is used to prevent overloading the image generator, by using the texture "MIP maps" to concen trate detail in the foreground. CAE is offering a full range of visual display systems: conventional monitor- based, wide-angle cross-cockpit, helmet- mounted and dome. Commercial customers are likely to choose between the two cross-cockpit options — with either glass or Mylar-film mirrors which "wrap-around" the simulator cockpit to give the pilots a wide, uninterrupted field of view. Cross-cockpit displays are available with 150°, 180° or 210° horizontal fields of view. All have a 40° vertical field of view. The glass-mirror display is a lighter version of the Link-Miles AWARDS system, rights to which were acquired when CAE bought Link Flight Simula tion. The Mylar version is similar to Hughes Rediffu sion's WIDE display, with a plastic-film mirror pulled to shape by means of a vacuum. In both versions of the cross-cockpit display, the mirror reflects the image on a curved back-projection screen above the simulator cockpit. A seamless one- piece cast back-projection screen is used. The EIS ras ter/calligraphic projectors are the same as those used in AWARDS, with commer cially available Sony 23cm cathode-ray tubes (CRTs). The "front end" of Max Vue is a database subsys tem, based on a Silicon Graphics' IRIS workstation, where the data for the generated images are stored. One subsystem can support up to eight inde pendent image-generator channels, which are connected by an Ethernet databus. A custom visual database typically takes three to four months to build once the data is assembled, says CAE. Recognising that its established competitors have substantial li braries of airport databases from which customers can select, CAE has set out to build 20 databases by mid-1993. The company is offering a rapid "semi- custom" database utility. This allows a customer to assemble a database using the actual runway location, topography, orien tation and lighting, but generic texture, terrain and buildings. The result is more accurate than a purely generic airport data base, says Barrette, and can be built and used within a day. "Seeing is believing in visuals," says Thompson, and CAE demonstrates Max- Vue's capability on a purpose-built "simu lator" at its Montreal base. This is a "mix-and-match" device combining a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cockpit shell, MD-80 flight model, and a simulated Boeing 747-400 instrument panel using commercial CRTs and driven by a CAE-designed instru ment image generator. MaxVue was launched with an order from KLM for a system to equip an MD-11 simulator being built by CAE. This has been followed by commercial sales to Air India, Emirates, China, Transport Canada and Boeing. Although the sales have yet to be confirmed, MaxVue has been selected to equip Bell 412 and EH Industries EH101 helicopter simulators for the Canadian forces. These will be eight-channel systems Hughes Rediffusion's market-leading SP-X 550 is CAE's target for MaxVue providing additional chin-window visuals and infra-red sensor images. NASA's SPIRIT advanced rotorcraft re search programme will use a two-channel non-calligraphic system and CAE's fibre- optic helmet-mounted display system. It is a US/Canadian-funded programme. BASELINED TO COMPETE The baseline MaxVue 2000 has been de signed to compete with Hughes Rediffu sion's SP-X 550, Link-Miles' Image 600PT and McDonnell Douglas' Vital Vlli. The system is modular and will be upgraded to compete with the new visuals CAE's compe titors are expected to launch this year, says Thompson. Most interest is focused on market leader Hughes Rediffusion's prom ised new product. Hughes Rediffusion's Anderson says that the new visual will have "five times the horsepower" of the SP-X 550 and will be modular, allowing versions to be configured with still higher performance or with SP-X 550 capability at a lower cost. The aim is to introduce the system "...at about today's SP-X price", he says. The display system will be a "...bottom- up redesign [of WIDE]", with increased reliability, more field-of-view options and hands-free operation to allow the simulator to be maintained with fewer people. "All for no more money than a similar SP-X dis play," says Anderson. The visual is based on Evans & Suther land's ESIG-3000 image generator, which has sold well in military and research applications (the US company has sold one system to Boeing for its second 777 engi neering simulator). The image generator uses the latest electronic components and a s totally different architec- g ture to the ESIG product g on which Hughes Rediffu- s sion's present SP-X visual series is based. Anderson acknowledges that the SP-X databases will have to be modified to run on the new machine. This will be accomplished automatically using spe cially developed conver sion tools. Customers will be able to select SP-X mod els from Hughes Rediffu sion's extensive library, and they will be converted to run on the new machine at no extra cost but, be cause of its texture power, full use of the new visual's capability will require cus tom databases. CAE's Hansell is not de terred by the cost of keep ing pace with the market leader. "This is not our only business — it's just an add-on to our product line," he says. The Canadian company is not as badly affected as some by the airline recession because its other activities are growing, he says, citing military, power-station and air-traffic- control simulation. "We will not quite sell a visual with every simulator we sell, because of [Hughes Redif fusion's] large installed customer base," Hansell admits. He believes CAE's entry into the market will make things more difficult for the independent visual suppli ers, fewer now that McDonnell Douglas' Vital line is being sold to simulator builder FlightSafety. "It's really tough selling a visual as a stand-alone [product]," he says. "Marketing costs alone are high — and then there are the support costs." Despite now having a system to sell alongside its simulators, CAE still maintains that "...a separate [visual] decision is the best way to go", says Thompson. "CAE will continue to install any visual the airline specifies," he says. D 32 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 January, 1993
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