Importance

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Abstract

A modular, interactive, reconfigurable simulation system is designed to provide a variety of simulation experiences. The system has a distributed state machine architecture to facilitate reconfiguration and technological update. A typical simulation system constructed in accordance with the present invention includes a plurality of simulator stations. Each station includes a seat for the player/operator and controls and displays that are appropriate for the simulation experience. Each simulator station is preferably mounted on a motion base to provide the player/operator with sensory inputs consistent with motions of the simulated vehicle. Each simulator station is controlled by an associated host computer. The host computer maintains a state vector which describes the current state of the associated simulated vehicle within the simulated world. The host computer calculates interaction between moving objects and the underlying terrain data base by mapping 3D terrain objects into 2D maps. The host computers for each simulator station are interconnected by a communication network over which the state vector for each simulator station is available to all other simulator stations. Each host computer is therefore able to track all other simulated vehicles. In addition to the inter-station network, each simulator station has a local network with which the host computer communicates with modular resources for providing images, sounds, motions and other sensory inputs to the player/operator. Except for software, these modular resources are essentially independent of the particular simulated experience. The subsystem that produces and displays images employs a technique for blending multiple channels into a single wide field of view image, and a technique for implementing very rich texturing in the scenes presented. In order to reconfigure the system of the present invention for a new simulated experience, it is necessary only to change the software executed by the host computers and the physical simulator module.

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First Claim