DECEMBER 3, 2002, 11:00
ORLANDO, Fla. Quantum3D, Inc. and United Defense, have successfully implemented an embedded training application for the Bradley A3 Fighting Vehicle. The application features the Quantum3D Sentiris COTS PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC), based on NVIDIA Quadro4 Graphic Processing Units (GPU) technology.
The Bradley A3 Embedded Training Program represents a growing trend in military training focused on embedding high fidelity, synthetic environment training capabilities directly into combat platforms to enable soldiers to practice a range of essential combat/engagement activities as well as rehearse actual mission scenarios in advance of operations, all while deployed to the field. Doing so enables soldiers to augment skills-based training received in institutional and live training environments as well as rehearse for specific engagements and missions. Until the advent of Sentiris, the size, power, weight and cost of realtime visual computing platforms necessary to conduct high fidelity embedded training precluded actual deployment.
The United Defense Bradley A3 program provides embedded training capabilities for both commander and gunner positions within the vehicle. United Defense integrated two Sentiris PMCs with VME form factor COTS single board computers (SBCs) to support independent 360-degree synthetic battlefield views for the two sighting systems. Current training capabilities include support for multiple, concise mission scenarios as well as "free-play" with multiple targets and a range of terrains and weather and lighting conditions that help to enhance vehicle crew readiness. The system features an open architecture that supports existing SEDRIS and OpenFlight ground vehicle databases, which enables the reuse of U.S. Army data assets as well as enables combined arms tactical training. To date, over sixty U.S. Army gunners have successfully completed orientation training on the embedded trainer.
"We have a no compromise approach to embedded training at United Defense that requires deployed environments to have fidelity as close to reality as space, power and weight will enable," said Mark Russell, Manager, Simulation and Training Systems Group, United Defense. "The Sentiris PMC with NVIDIA GPU technology gives us the best performance in the industry, compatibility with our existing mil-spec VME computing environment, and a straightforward path for P3I that gives both our customers and us a path for the future."
"Embedded training is an increasingly important initiative within the US and allied military organizations, and Quantum3D has focused a significant amount of its resources on this growing market by developing COTS realtime graphics subsystems like Sentiris that combine the performance, mil-spec ruggedization, image quality, power efficiency and open architecture that are essential for these applications," said Ross Q. Smith, Quantum3D co-founder and executive vice president of marketing and business development. "We're extremely pleased to be a part of the United Defense effort to bring high fidelity training to the Bradley A3 and we look forward to helping United Defense as it continues to enhance the fidelity of the system and transition the program into production."
For more about United Defense, visit www.uniteddefense.com
Military & Aerospace Electronics