Lockheed Martin was at the show to talk about the scalability of its software platforms – it wasn’t really talking about hardware. Several years ago, the firm bought the Flight Simulator code from Microsoft and has spent a lot of time to ‘missionize it’, in the company’s phrase, making it multi-platform and more scalable as well as supporting interoperability with other software. This has meant that the application has changed from being just aviation-based and now can be used for combined tactical simulations including ground and maritime forces. The environment is very scalable and can be run on machines from notebooks upwards.
Novatech is a developer of simulation software for maintenance and repair and was showing how its software could be used in training. The software is very sophisticated and complex and simulates down to individual component level. For example, a broken wire or wrong voltage at a certain point can be simulated to train in fault finding and diagnostics. The software runs on PCs and the company uses multi-displays to allow training on different aircraft systems. It can also be run using thin client and cloud technology.
Novatech has systems that allow diagnosis to component level
Ophit of Germany is a supplier of optical extenders for video interfaces and was showing systems for DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 with support for up to 100M or 200M remote operation at resolutions up to UltraHD at 60Hz. The company is watching the development of higher frame rates and resolutions.
Project:Syntropy is a systems integrator, that was working with Barco and others to show a dome simulator with 4m diameter and 180º of horizontal and +100º/-30º vertical field of view using six Barco F70-4K6 projectors five from the circumference at the top and one from below. The company is part of the same group as domeprojection.com.
Project:syntropy had a dome using six Barco projectors. Image:Meko
SIM Innovations is from Groningen in the Netherlands and was showing dedicated simulator displays that it idevelops for full scale professional simulators. The company is working on models for the Airbus and for the Eurocopter project. At the show, the displays looked very good, but the power switch was the only one that was operating correctly as the final version will not ship until 2018.
SIM Innovations is developing displays for full scale simulators for Airbus and for the Eurocopter. Image:Meko
Sony was showing the well-established 4K VPL-GTZ280 which was first shown at I/ITSEC in 2015 (Sony Debuts 4K Simulation Projector) In Rotterdam, the company was showing a dual projector configuration that was using an optimised GBVI optical blender. The company told us for simulations, such as driving, that might need 120Hz, a special version is available, while another version can go up to 120Hz. The hardware is available with different licences for 2K/60Hz operation or 5K/120Hz. There is also a version optimised for night vision use.
