In an industry first, air traffic control simulation company Adacel announced a contract to supply its Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality technology for control tower training at Broward training College in the US during Airspace World in Geneva 8-10 March 2023. The new system will be delivered in June 2023 as part of the MaxSim simulator, with one year cloud service subscription and the company’s SimCare support. The technology follows Adacel’s adoption of the Unreal Engine image generator as part of its MaxSim simulation solution, greatly enhancing its simulation capabilities. More commonly associated with gaming applications, the generator is used to create very high definition, realistic 3D modelling capable of simulating an entire tower cab with one headset.
“The mixture of Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality is key,” Mike Saunders, VP Business Development told Regional Gateway magazine. “This allows the controller to interact with the user interfaces and the equipment as part of the simulation. The user can look down and touch the operational equipment. This would not be possible without the Unreal Engine.” The technology is also compatible with cloud-based remote pseudo pilots and features eye-tracking to measure and monitor student responses.
The VR, mixed reality solution is part of a broader learning management system developed by Adacel to meet the changing needs of Generation Z. “We’ve built a training system that coordinates all the devices used, whether in the classroom or online, in the cloud or using modern gaming technology. We are putting together the building blocks to move training establishments away from traditional use of simulators and provide students and instructors access from the cloud using a range of different learning methods and assessment tools.”
Article contributed by J Beechener
