Industry/NASA News
May 4, 1999
SGI Powers NASA's Virtual-Reality
Air Traffic Control Tower
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Using SGI workstations to process 3D graphics, imaging, and video data in real time, NASA can create a full-scale simulation of virtually any major airport. |
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, May 3 -- SGI has delivered and installed high-performance computer technology to power what NASA says is the world's first full-scale, virtual-reality air traffic control tower. Located at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA, the virtual tower is NASA's version of an SGI Reality Center, specifically designed for airline and airport customers. The project is part of NASA's ongoing effort to help reduce the number of airline accidents and ease airport congestion.
According to NASA, the Virtual Airport Tower is a full-scale, R&D airport-operations simulator that offers the look and feel of an actual air traffic control tower cab. It is designed to provide accurate approximations of control towers found at Chicago's O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta's Hartsfield, and other major airports.
"With runway accidents growing 15 percent a year, and passenger traffic expected to double by 2015, this research facility allows airports to widen the safety envelope and push the capacity envelope," said Yuri Gawdiak, project manager for NASA's Aviation Safety Program. "SGI's Onyx2 makes it as real as it gets without endangering lives. Controllers, pilots, and airline operators can test air and runway scenarios without the risks of trying it live."
The two-story, 5,130-square-foot facility uses a Silicon Graphics Onyx2 workstation to process 3D graphics, imaging, and data in real time. According to SGI, the system uses data such as high-resolution satellite imagery, digitized photographs, and architectural data to portray virtually any airport in the world in realistic 360-degree, high-resolution virtual reality. This simulation is viewed through the facility's large, tempered-glass windows.
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NASA's virtual tower provides air traffic controllers with computer-generated images simulating different weather conditions, seasons, times of day and movements of up to 200 aircraft and ground vehicles. |
In NASA's virtual tower, air traffic controllers can move about as though they were in an actual control tower. This adds a greater feeling of realism to the computer-generated simulations. The top floor of the tower is a 24-foot diameter cab that accommodates 12 air traffic control positions. The lower floor houses up to eight ramp control and airport operators and up to 13 "virtual pilots" to support the simulation.
"SGI's Onyx2 allows us to simulate any of the world's airports with an unequaled fidelity," said Nancy Dorighi, deputy project manager. "By simulating San Francisco's airport, for example, we can determine if changing traffic patterns in arrival and departure conditions under certain weather conditions could increase safety."
Dorighi added that the simulator's panoramic IMAX-style view of airport terrain can be used to optimize deployment of emergency vehicles and communications systems.
The SGI image-generator system used in the tower has 16 processors, 2 GB of memory, and six graphics pipes. Each pipe has four raster managers.