MetaVR News Volume V, Issue I April 25, 2001 MetaVR makes software that enables you to create and run your photo-realistic 3D virtual worlds on PC image generators. In This Issue: 9.A -- MetaVR Wins A-10 Fly-Off and Production Award 9.B -- MetaVR Delivers AFRL Image Generator 9.C -- Revenue Increases For 2000 and Q1 2001 9.D -- Continued Sales Into The MUSE UAV Market 9.E -- MetaVR at SPIE Conference 9.F -- PC IG Prototypes Delivered to AVCATT Program 9.G -- Pre Planned Product Improvement Case Study **************************** 9.A MetaVR Wins A-10 Fly-Off and Production Award MetaVR recently won the A-10 Full Mission Trainer (FMT) production award following a competitive fly-off. The initial purchase includes the delivery of five rackmount image generator systems. Each one is comprised of five PC-based visual channels with NVIDIA GeForce3-based graphics cards and one mission function server. The MetaVR VRSG will drive a four-screen display configured to fit within a nine-foot ceiling with an optional upgrade to a full 360-degree (eight-channel) display. This operational configuration is a derivative of the Mobile Modular Display for Advanced Research and Training (M2DART). The fifth visual channel is used to provide the sensor view for the A-10 Maverick missile. The systems will be delivered to five operational units during 2001, including units within the Air Combat Command, the Air National Guard, and the Air Force Reserve Command. The delivery includes five operational nine-geo-cell, geo-specific imagery-based terrain databases for each unit. Each image generator will include a common 24-geo-cell geo-specific imagery-based terrain database of Arizona. A MetaVR WorldPerfect workstation database generation system with one terabyte of disk storage capacity is also part of the delivery. The WorldPerfect terrain creation tool will enable the customer to edit and augment the delivered terrain databases. **************************** 9.B MetaVR Delivers AFRL Image Generator The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) procured a MetaVR image generator for research in distributed mission training visual perception. The multi-channel visual system acquired by AFRL is being used to research potential future Distributed Mission Training (DMT) configurations. The image generator is comprised of a rackmount system with four visual channels and one mission function server that support the Mobile Modular Display for Advanced Research and Training (M2DART) configuration. The MetaVR visual system is also providing imagery for AFRL's visual display testbed and perceptual research activities. MetaVR's PC-based VRSG image generators use a combination of demand paging technologies (for both terrain geometry and texture), load management, and dynamic non-linear morphing between levels of detail. These features enable the MetaVR visualization software to achieve sustained 60 Hz frame rates on high-polygon density, geo-specific terrain databases of size limited only by disk storage capacity. VRSG supports multiple mission function needs to include height above terrain (HAT), intervisibility testing, laser range, collision detection, and realistic missile fly-out smoke trails and weapon effects. A complete UDP-based interface for controlling multiple independent visual channels simultaneously is available, as are customized overlays for adding vehicle specific heads-up displays (HUD). Weather effects such as wind driven clouds, multiple cloud layers and thickness, fog, and independent control of terrain and runway visibility are supported. Advanced lighting features include diurnal effects, full-featured point lights, and articulated light lobes, which can span multiple channels. **************************** 9.C Revenue Increases For 2000 and Q1 2001 MetaVR is a privately held company with fiscal year 2000 (ending December 31, 2000) revenue up 92% over the previous fiscal year ending December 31, 1999. First quarter 2001 revenue is up 340% over the same first quarter period of 2000 (i.e., January 1 to March 31). These results are compiled from the company's income tax returns, which were prepared by Vitale, Caturano and Company, a Boston, Massachusetts accounting firm and from company financial statements. **************************** 9.D Continued Sales Into The MUSE UAV Market MetaVR delivered 16 visual systems and four WorldPerfect upgrades into the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) simulation market in the first quarter of 2001. The JTCSIL facility at Redstone Arsenal uses combinations of desktop, rackmount, and ruggedized MetaVR visuals systems for its Multiple Unified Simulation Environment (MUSE) customer base in Europe, the United State, and South East Asia. The deliveries are follow-on sales as part of an on-going effort by MetaVR to supply the MUSE program with its visual simulation requirements. **************************** 9.E MetaVR at SPIE Conference Earlier this month, MetaVR delivered a paper at the annual International Society For Optical Engineering (SPIE) conference on enhanced synthetic vision. The paper describes how synthetic vision can be obtained in an aircraft cockpit using MetaVR software technology and commercial retail level products with high-resolution geo-specific imagery. A.J. Hansen, W.G. Smith, R. M. Rybacki, "Synthetic Vision in the Cockpit: 3D Systems for General Aviation", SPIE-- Aerosense, Orlando, Florida, April, 2001 **************************** 9.F PC IG Prototypes Delivered to AVCATT Program MetaVR recently delivered three individual MetaVR Ruggedized 2U-high rackmount VRSG visual channel prototypes for the AVCATT SAF after-action review (AAR) workstation. The systems were delivered with the full Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) Primary II (P2) terrain database converted from a SEDRIS transmittal into the MetaVR MDX run-time format. The triangle-for-triangle conversion of the 27-Gigabyte SEDRIS transmittal yields a 154 x 107 km 914 Megabyte MetaVR MDX database. These PC-based visual systems provide 1280 x 1024-pixel resolution at 60-Hz frame rate with the commercial NVIDIA GeForce2 Ultra graphics card. The 2U-high profile of the computer was required to meet the space constraints of the AVCATT simulator cabin. **************************** 9.G Pre Planned Product Improvement Case Study Image generators based on commercial products have proven themselves to offer a nearly limitless upgrade path as evidenced by the Aviation Testbed (AVTB) case study: In 1998, the US Army Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) upgraded the Fort Rucker, Alabama, AVTB Core DIS Facility (CDF) from proprietary image generators (IG) to a PC-based solution based on the MetaVR ChannelSurfer multi-channel visual system. The original systems were delivered with the 90 Megapixel 3dfx Voodoo2 graphics cards. Approximately one year after the eight rotary-wing simulators were fielded, the customer upgraded the original 3D graphics accelerators to the NVIDIA TnT2 Ultra graphics cards. The customer purchased its own hardware at US $200 per part and was able to approximately double the fill rate of each visual channel. The customer-managed upgrades were preformed without affecting the warranty of the MetaVR supplied systems. Recently, the customer upgraded two prototype MetaVR rackmount visual systems by returning both the visual and simulation host channels to our production facility. As part of our general long-term support policy, MetaVR upgraded the channels (at or near our cost) and returned the systems to the AVTB with the latest version of the VRSG software. These units were upgraded from the NVIDIA TnT2 Ultra to the NVIDIA GeForce2 Ultra graphics card while the CPU was improved from the Intel PII 400 MHz CPU to the 1.5 GHz processor. With this upgrade, the CPU performance was nearly quadrupled and the fill-rate of the graphics card was approximately doubled. **************************** Previous issues of MetaVR News can be found at . This electronic newsletter may be redistributed without restriction in any format as long as the contents are unaltered. Copyright 2001, MetaVR, Inc. Requests for subscription to MetaVR News can be sent to mailto:news_request@metavr.com. Please let us know if you do not want to receive future mailings by sending email to mailto:no_news@metavr.com.