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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 2600.PDF
SIMULATION The approach to London Heathrow is almost indistinguishable from reality gramme upon which depends the future of TTS' commercial success. A team was assem bled with engineers from Link-Miles' former IMAGE visuals group, along with their oppo site numbers from Thomson's VISA pro gramme. "We realised early on that they had to meet two criteria," he says. "To meet all of the industry's requirements in one product, and to maximise display technologies from the commercial TV industry." The latter meant, for example, using the latest ideas developed for high-definition television (HDTV), an area where Thomson-CSF already has consider able experience. "HDTV offered us a step- change in display quality," says Jarvis. Other demands for the Space were to achieve the longest possible product life, while minimising maintenance and life-cycle costs, and, of increasing importance, database-mod elling costs. The Anglo-French team gave itself a pun ishing 18-month development schedule in which to produce the initial product: a deliver able fighting-vehicle simulator. "We decided early on that a clear set of ground rules had to be established if timescales and development costs were to be controllable," says Spooner. The size of the image generator was seen as central to the design, given the decision to cover all market segments with a single system. "The need to scale up or down the application meant that core sizing was critical, since it directly impacted pricing," says Spooner. This led to the idea of a common, "minimal-sys tem" module which could be easily expanded by adding others. A new real-time software design gave the Space the flexibility to adapt quickly to new applications. "The nightmares, and the cost, of maintaining escalating variants had to be a thing of the past," says Jarvis. For example, several predetermined generic visual effects were bought in to simulate explosions, drifting clouds, beacons, lightning and airfields. A look at die Space system in action — albeit on an early development simulator — served to demonstrate the phenomenal advances made by the visual-simulation industry in die last few years. Then, the display from a typical full-flight simulator was little more dian a car toon-like animation, able to portray in real time only die principal features of the simulat ed world. Today, however, thanks to the astonishing rate of progress in die electronics industry and the development of photographic texturing, simulator images have become all but indistin guishable from reality. Several innovations have been employed in the Space system. A fourth texture plane has been added to the original IMAGE 600PT phototexture scene, providing either a trans parency map, or additional texture patterns. The latter can have alternative scaling for either macro or micro-textures. The separate plane also allows for combinations of full- colour and transparency-based photographs to be used together. Several of what TTS calls "action models", split into either action or time-related evolu tion parameters, have been provided so that, for example, an undercarriage extension with associated door movements can be carried out from a single host-computer input. Besides position translation and attitude rotation, ani mation parameters include size scaling, lumi nance, translucency, and texture pattern and position. Evolution parameters include time- related illumination (of airport lights, for example), actions related to the time of day, and temperature and humidity, which might be related to die day, or mondi. MISSILE COLLISIONS An events processor widiin die real-time soft ware triggers actions from the host computer in response to inputs from the visual. For example, the damage caused by a simulated missile colliding with a building can be varied to leave the building looking different each time it is hit. The modified scene can be recon structed by the observer for debriefing. The use of HDTV technology has provided a dramatic improvement in visual resolution through the use of "non-interlacing". (Interlacing is the way in which the electron beam on a standard TV scans only alternate lines each time the picture is refreshed. This means diat each scan provides only half of die scene detail, which in a simulator often results in loss of any objects smaller dian two scanline widdis when die scene is moving.) The "full dynamic-resolution" capability of the Space effectively doubles the resolution, a typical projection displaying 1,500 lines over two fields, compared to only half this number in civil simulators during die past decade. This yields three principal benefits, says TTS: increased visual range, for target recognition and identification; increased phototexture visual range, which reduces the distracting scintillation of horizon texture at flat-viewing angles; and a fourfold reduction in die possible size of raster lightpoints. The latter means diat raster lightpoints are now becoming a likely replacement for die traditional calligraphic system, greatly reducing costs. Increased modelling freedom has been achieved dirough "zero-cost depdi buffering". This enables die removal of invisible structures and gives die freedom to model objects in any position dictated by die real world, so diat, for example, cultural objects such as houses can be placed on a sloping terrain without die need for modification. Models can be allowed to pene trate each other, reducing die polygon load. TTS has also introduced what it calls Instantscene, a quick modelling process using generic library models to create basic objects in a scene, such as airport buildings, terrain, vegetation, towns and roads. The system can be controlled from a lap-top com puter and used on-station, allowing the oper ator to place any library object into the scene while it is actually changing. The operator can then move the object around to modify the scene. "It enables airlines, for example, to create a very large library of secondary diver sion airfields that can be used in line-orient ed flight training," says Spooner. Lap-top control was introduced for some other operations, including display alignment, and is run through a standard "Windows" con trol panel. System software, maintenance documentation and all databases are held on a compact disc, and updates are supplied by TTS, also on disc. Thomson has been in die simulator business since 1939. Now, through its acquisitions, it has positioned itself where it can snap at the heels of dominant CAE. Wdi its growing con sumer-electronics and entertainments business feeding development money into die top end, which in turn sends technology back to die former, the French company finds itself better placed than ever to keep up the pressure. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 26 October - 1 November 1994 33
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