Virtual Aberdeen Test Center Terrain

MetaVR™ has built a geospecific 3D database of the Aberdeen Test Center (ATC). The 60 km x 60 km virtual terrain includes a high-resolution photo-specific inset of ATC's MOUT site at Mulberry Point.

	Real-time rendering in MetaVR Virtual Reality Scene Generator (VRSG) of a scene featuring soldiers and an SUGV at the entrance of a structure on the virtual MOUT site on MetaVR's new Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) database.

Because this virtual ATC terrain matches the actual facility to a significant degree of accuracy, the simulated MOUT site can be used for activities such as prototyping the interaction of small unmanned ground vehicles (SUGVs) with infantry in a simulated urban setting.

The US Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) is a major range and test facility base situated at the Aberdeen Proving Ground on the Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland. Since its inception in 1918, ATC has developed into a diverse rigorous DOD test site. The Mulberry Point area of ATC is the home of the Soldier Systems Test Facility (SSTF) which provides present and future warfighters the resources to test and demonstrate a broad spectrum of military weapons systems and equipment. The facility's MOUT site is a compound of fixed
and reconfigurable structures within a road network. The varied terrain and movable structures enable the testing of diverse mission capabilities.

	Real-time rendering in MetaVR Virtual Reality Scene Generator (VRSG) of the virtual MOUT site at ATC, which features over 20 geospecific photo-textured structures.

About the database

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 imagery of the MOUT site has been enhanced with high-resolution ground detail textures. The database was built in MetaVR's flat-earth UTM-based MDX format.

VRSG real-time aerial view of the virtual shoreline region of ATC's MOUT site at Mulberry Point.

The terrain geometry created by MetaVR Terrain Tools includes a high-resolution representation of the Mulberry Point coastline. At runtime, VRSG generates multi-textured, animated, normal-mapped water surfaces in the cutout regions identified as water. The terrain seamlessly transitions to the simulated water generated by VRSG.

About the models

The virtual MOUT site area contains over 20 geospecific photo-textured structures and over 3,000 trees, power lines and poles. The models were built with industry standard 3D modeling tools such as Autodesk Maya and 3D Studio Max, and then converted to MetaVR's model format. Models from MetaVR's 3D model libraries are also used on the terrain.

All MOUT site-specific models were created with textures derived from high-resolution photographs taken at the actual site, at ground level, with a high-resolution digital camera. All high-resolution MOUT building models contain modeled interiors and articulated doors and windows. The database makes extensive use of other elements such as street lights, oil drums, power cables, and fences. All models are in MetaVR’s model format.

The interior of a high-resolution building model on MetaVR's virtual ATC MOUT site, rendered in VRSG.

  
Interior staircase and second floor of one of the building models on the virtual MOUT site area within the ATC terrain.

Actual and simulated views of the MOUT site at Mulberry Point

Below is a series of images of ATC's MOUT site at Mulberry Point. You can compare photographs of the actual MOUT site on the left with VRSG screen captures of the simulated view on the right. The models of buildings and other structures are photorealistic; the models were created from photographs taken of the area.

Photographs of ATC's Mulberry Point MOUT site.	VRSG screen captures of the MetaVR's real-time ATC database.

MetaVR's ATC database, built in MetaVR's flat earth, UTM-based terrain format (.MDX), is available upon request free of charge to MetaVR customers who are on active software maintenance and are US Government or NATO agencies or contractors (for official use only). The terrain requires VRSG version 5.7 or higher.