MetaVR at I/ITSEC 2009

MetaVR and its partners exhibited their products and technology in a 4,100 sq. ft. operational networked simulation display at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference and Trade Show (I/ITSEC), November 30 – December 3, 2009, at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL, USA. Within this networked display, all of MetaVR’s and partners’ demonstrations of fixed wing, rotary wing, and unmanned vehicle simulations, terrain databases, and immersive displays represented fielded customer systems and 3D content.

MetaVR's 50' x 30' Booth #2380 at I/ITSEC 2009, running several real-time VRSG scenarios to showcase the company's Afghanistan virtual terrain. The frontmost corner shows ZedaSoft’s OH-58D cockpit simulator, provided armed reconnaissance of MetaVR's Afghanistan terrain with three OTW VRSG channels, and one VRSG sensor channel depicting EO sensor video integrated with the helicopter’s cockpit graphics. On the far left, in Immersive Display Solutions' booth, is the JTAC MiniDome, a joint effort by MetaVR and Immersive Display Solutions.

MetaVR and Immersive Display Solutions unveiled their new JTAC MiniDome system. This collaborative effort was demonstrated in Immersive Display Solutions’ booth, Booth #2388, which was immediately adjacent to the MetaVR booth. The JTAC MiniDome provides 220 degrees horizontal FOV and 90 degrees vertical FOV in a small form factor, transportable, hemispherical display of simulated geospecific real-time 3D terrain. The goal of this flexible 6-channel system is to give soldiers a realistic experience when they train for forward air controller or joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) operations while using MetaVR’s real-time image generator in a distributed networked environment. This joint effort provides a low-cost transportable dome to meet the needs of JTAC simulation training in an affordable immersive environment beyond the desktop JTAC simulation training setups currently in use. The new JTAC MiniDome is available for immediate delivery.

All networked systems featured MetaVR’s new Afghanistan 3D geospecific terrain covering 9,600 square kilometers of the Afghan province of Kabul. This virtual terrain, featuring a high-resolution village with over 500 buildings, is available in MetaVR’s round-earth and flat-earth formats for use with Virtual Reality Scene Generator™ (VRSG™), with particular emphasis on identifying and defeating IEDs with resources from combined military branches and nations. The real-time scenarios at I/ITSEC were focused in the area of the high-resolution modeled Afghan village, which is based on the small village of Khairabad in the southern part of the Kabul province. Visitors to MetaVR’s booth can see the Afghanistan scenarios running on several screens as well as on a virtual sandbox, which displayed the terrain in a fixed-altitude aerial view.

  
On the left: ZedaSoft’s F-35 fixed-wing simulator running VRSG and flying over MetaVR's Afghanistan 3D terrain. On the right: Simthetiq's display in MetaVR's booth.

MetaVR’s booth was set up with two accessible unmanned vehicle stations, showing VRSG’s ability to stream simulated camera payload to external video receiver devices in a manner that mimiced the communication configuration currently used by real JTAC systems:

• The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) simulation station displayed the UAV camera payload of MetaVR’s Afghanistan database and streamed the simulated decoded video to a Netbook acting like a ROVER device. The ROVER-like device was located inside the JTAC MiniDome simulation at Immersive Display Solutions’ booth. This type of training setup enables JTACs to see the UAV video of a simulated target area much as they would in the field with a ROVER device.


• The small unmanned ground vehicle (SUGV) simulation station, also running the Afghanistan database, displayed three VRSG views: an out-the-window (OTW) IG view, a monocular view simulating decoded feed from an SUGV, and the UAV camera payload station view. The SUGV video was also streamed to the ROVER-type device inside the JTAC MiniDome at Immersive Display Solutions’ booth. Demonstrating VRSG’s enhanced support for the CIGI protocol, the simulated SUGV traversed the area of interest within the modeled Afghan village and provided a simulated video feed that, in training setups, adds another dimension of information for a JTAC who is also viewing streaming UAV video of the same target location.

A demonstration using the JTAC MiniDome simulation in a first person shooter mode in a network environment while viewing a ROVER-type device of the streaming simulated UAV and SUGV camera payloads took place between MetaVR’s and Immersive Display Solutions’ booths. Inside the JTAC MiniDome, a simulated handheld target designator device was used to identify and designate targets in the courtyard of an insurgent compound within the modeled Afghan village. A building within the courtyard shows multiple damage states resulting from successive air support missions flown by a simulated A-10 ground attack aircraft.

This interaction between the two unmanned vehicle stations and the JTAC MiniDome setup demonstrated the possibilities for using VRSG in unmanned vehicle simulations while focusing on a practical real-world scenario of targeting IED activity near an Afghan insurgent compound.

  
On the left: viewers examining real-time scenarios running on a virtual sandbox, which displayed MetaVR's Afghanistan 3D terrain in a fixed-altitude aerial view. On the right: MetaVR VRSG and Afghanistan terrain running in the JTAC MiniDome in Immersive Display Solutions' booth.

In Booth #2580, immediately adjacent to MetaVR’s booth, ZedaSoft demonstrated fixed- and rotary-wing air support and reconnaissance aircraft simulators built on the company’s CBA® simulation software framework as part of the simulation network, using MetaVR’s real-time visuals software. ZedaSoft’s F-35 fixed-wing simulator provided simulated close air support for troops on the Afghanistan terrain using their behavior models for characters and vehicles. Situated in MetaVR’s booth, ZedaSoft’s OH-58D cockpit simulator provided armed reconnaissance of the Afghanistan terrain with three OTW VRSG channels, and one VRSG sensor channel depicting EO sensor video integrated with the helicopter’s cockpit graphics.

The high-resolution modeled Afghan village and most of the 3D content in MetaVR’s demonstrations were built by Simthetiq, which is MetaVR’s preferred provider of military models and databases. In MetaVR’s booth, Simthetiq showed a workflow for creating updates to the Afghanistan terrain, night scenes for commercial airfield databases in Autodesk 3ds Max, and in collaboration with MetaVR, Simthetiq demonstrated the cross-platform capability of its library of real-time DIS-ready OpenFlight 3D entity models. At I/ITSEC, MetaVR and Simthetiq were both presented their Military Training Technology 2009 Top Training & Simulation Companies ribbons in person at the booth.

Illustration of MetaVR's 50' x 30' Booth #2380 at I/ITSEC 2009.

As part of the capabilities and content on display at I/ITSEC, MetaVR also showed:

• New 3D geospecific terrain database of the US Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC), which includes a high-resolution modeled area of ATC’s MOUT site at Mulberry Point. The 360 square km 3D terrain, built with MetaVR Terrain Tools for ESRI ArcGIS, is constructed from 8 meter per post elevation data and 15 cm per pixel imagery over the entire ATC facility (32 meters per post elevation and 1 meter per pixel imagery elsewhere). The virtual MOUT site area contains over 3,000 trees, over 20 geospecific photo-textured structures, and power lines and poles. All site-specific building models on the terrain were created with textures derived from high-resolution photographs taken at the site.


• F-16 takeoff, flight, and landing sequences on MetaVR’s virtual terrain of Vermont and upstate New York, which features a highly detailed inset area of the VT Air National Guard (ANG) base facilities and airfield at the Burlington International Airport. Night scenes featured geospecific lighting of buildings and runway lights. All site-specific building models on the terrain were created with textures derived from high-resolution photographs taken at the site.
  

All of MetaVR’s database demonstrations contained 3D character animations and substantial entity and cultural feature assets from MetaVR’s 3D content libraries.

JTAC and UAV operators are currently training on MetaVR’s Afghanistan database, which is available to MetaVR customers on active software maintenance using VRSG version 5.5 or later.