MetaVR at I/ITSEC 2008

MetaVR™ exhibited its products and technology at the annual I/ITSEC trade show in Booth #1639. The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference and Trade Show was held December 1-4, 2008, at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL, USA.

Illustration of MetaVR's 50' x 30' Booth #1639 at I/ITSEC 2008.

In our booth

MetaVR showcased several new features and enhancements in the forthcoming release of Virtual Reality Scene Generator™ (VRSG™) version 5.5 within several demonstrations, such as:

• New Vermont database, which features a highly detailed inset area of the VT Air National Guard (ANG) base facilities and airfield at the Burlington International Airport. Demonstrations included landing and takeoff sequences at night with geospecific lighting of buildings and runway lights.
  
  
• New urban crowd scenario, which takes place on MetaVR's Baghdad database. The scenario depicts two mobs confronting a U.S. Army roadblock and demonstrates 280 characters rendered simultaneously in a scene. Part of the scenario involves identifying insurgents within a mob via a simulated UAV payload.
  
  
• Urban operations on a new geospecific Afghanistan terrain database of a village south of Kabul. The database, built with MetaVR's Terrain Tools for ESRI ArcGIS from 1,120 square km of 60 cm source imagery, features a detailed 2 x 2 km terrain inset of the village of Hairabad, located in the southern part of the Kabul province. The virtual village has over 100 custom-built 3D structures that match the building footprints, roads, and courtyards found on the source imagery.

MetaVR also demonstrated its Terrain Tools extension for ESRI ArcGIS Desktop 9.

MetaVR's database demonstrations contained 3D character animation and substantial cultural feature assets from MetaVR's 3D model libraries.

In addition to showcasing its own products and technology, MetaVR hosted two of its business partners in its booth. Simthetiq, provider of military models, demonstrated the cross-platform capability of its model library by showing its models running in different game and simulation engines. VR Group demonstrated scenarios with its Modular Tactics Training System (MTTS). The scenarios depicted convoy training in an Afghanistan village, helicopter tactics training, and Forward Air Controller (FAC) training.

MetaVR's 50' x 30' booth was designed by Freeman.

Other demonstrations

MetaVR technology was also demonstrated in booths of other exhibitors at I/ITSEC:

• ZedaSoft demonstrated VRSG on three simulators and one laptop system: their Portable Simulator Desktop system configured with 6 VRSG channels, a virtual helicopter simulator running 3 VRSG channels, a remote gunner station simulation kiosk with 2 VRSG channels, and a laptop computer with 1 VRSG channel.
  
  
• Christie Digital Systems demonstrated VRSG integration on a 4-channel system. The demonstration of a simulated F-16C flight over MetaVR's Vermont database featured 4 Matrix S+2K projectors and a 4-facet Wide Angle Single Pilot (WASP-II) display.
  
  
• The Air Force Research Lab used MetaVR visuals to generate simulated UAV payload video as part of an AFSERS/MUSE UAV simulation. VRSG's streaming MPEG capability with embedded KLV metadata was used to feed payload video to a handheld ROVER device.
  
  
• PEO-STRI demonstrated the Shadow TADSS training suite built for the National Guard Bureau, which uses VRSG for its visuals in its Shadow crew trainer. Each Shadow crew trainer features two simulated One System Ground Control Stations, a role player, and a ground crew launch and recovery station controlled by an integrated instructor/operator station.

PEO-STRI's demonstration of the Shadow TADSS training suite built for the National Guard Bureau, which uses VRSG for its visuals in its Shadow crew trainer. This demonstration used MetaVR's Baghdad database, shown in the VRSG visualization window at the top. On the right is the correlated SAF database of Baghdad.

• AAI used MetaVR visuals for their Aerosonde UAS trainer. Aerosonde North America operates the Aerosonde UAS in support of research, development, and weather forecasting requirements of U.S.- based customers, including the U.S. Air Force, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA.
  
  
• SRI International used MetaVR visuals for its demonstration of the AAR capability of the XCTC program. The AAR will show recorded exercises from August 2008 of the Oregon National Guard training in Boise, Idaho.
  
  
• Cubic Defense Applications conducted off-site demonstrations using MetaVR visuals and a high-definition video solution. Their immersive training environment, using 19 VRSG channels, featured ground convoy, dismounted warrior, Call-for-Fire, and Engagement Skills Training (EST) Plus simulations.
  
  
• SimAuthor demonstrated FlightViz VR, the company's latest application for analysis and 3D visualization of aircraft and simulator flight data. In partnership with MetaVR, SimAuthor has integrated VRSG with its FlightViz product. For pilot training and mission readiness, FlightViz provides real-time 3D visualization and analysis of flight data in a variety of formats: navigation charts, graphical and table formats, and 3D real-time
  visualization for easy replay and review of flight data.
  
  
• Immersive Display Solutions demonstrated VRSG on an ImmersiveDome 200H-SX3 system. VRSG was integrated with the OmniMAP geometry correction library to provide spherically-correct imagery.

MetaVR manufactures software and turnkey PC-based systems that provide the fidelity of geospecific simulation with game quality graphics. MetaVR's software products enable users to build high-fidelity virtual worlds for high-speed 3D visualization and rapid creation of networked virtual worlds for the simulation and training markets.

MetaVR systems are used for applications such as urban operations training, unmanned aerial vehicles for the US Army TUAS program, the A-10 program, and JTAC virtual training.