BAE Systems is at the forefront of companies bringing simulation and Virtual Reality (VR) visualisation technologies into the design environment.  For more than a decade, specialist company, Virtalis has supported BAE Systems Submarines in its exploration of this field.  The company has designed and built two VR suites for BAE Systems and continues to supply ongoing consultancy.

John Martin, consultant engineer at BAE Systems Submarines, commented: “VR visualisation technologies are not treated as a specialist technology, but rather have been implemented as an everyday tool.  More people from different disciplines are getting involved earlier in the design’s evolution.  Since installation, the VR visualisation technologies have been extensively used on a daily basis by design and build teams on warship and submarine contracts including: LPD’s (Landing Platform Dock), Type 45 Destroyer, Future Carrier, fleet auxiliary oil tankers and nuclear submarines.  The system has also been used on ship concept design studies (aircraft carriers, surface warships and submarines) as a means of addressing key design issues, introducing simulation-based design technologies and reviewing design solution options with the customer.  It has contributed to the introduction of concurrent design and to the synchronisation of an integrated design and build plan.

“VR offers the capability to add colour, texture, simulation animation, smooth flythrough, merging of models from several CAD sources and the optional use of specialist techniques, such as stereo projection and headset immersion.  We use VR as a visualisation tool to ensure design, production and customer teams can effectively and efficiently review a design layout, its detail and its underlying data attributes in a manner not available through conventional CAD systems.”

With 75% of costs committed in the early phases of a design, VR visualisation technologies are improving understanding of the design by giving the opportunity to retrieve, review and assess data using several working scenarios.  Ships and submarines are incredibly complex entities, with contracts being awarded up to two decades before delivery.  Technology can change radically in that time, so that the final product can be significantly different from the one initially tendered for.  BAE Systems Submarine’s current major project involves a partnership with the General Dynamics submarine design and build company, Electric Boat.  Their experience and input is contributing to the planned programme with BAE Systems visualisation facilities being used as a link between Electric Boat’s site on the north east coast of the USA enabling trans-Atlantic, 3D, real-time design discussions and reviews.

In the past, submarine design was supported by a physical ‘prototype’ of either a full size wooden mock-up or a one fifth scale plastic model, both of which are expensive to produce in both time and cost.  The elimination of the physical prototype therefore achieves considerable savings.  Managers of BAE Systems current submarine project stated in 1997 that they would use VR visualisation technologies to replace the physical model.

John continued: “Virtalis has shown us how to get the best out of our investment by focussing on the application rather than on the technology.  Our visualisation rooms are designed to seat up to 35 people and frequently host multi-disciplinary design reviews lasting several days at a time.  Typically, the review will involve switching between PowerPoint, CAD and EDM data, looking at the component attributes before “flying” around the model in the VR visualisation facilities.  Our recently built second design review room is next to our manufacturing site, so there is constant interaction between the design and manufacturing engineers.

”We find that VR immersion with a headset is a very powerful specialist tool, with limited, but very useful capabilities that compliment the normal visualisation technologies.  As an illustration of its use, a senior naval officer was invited to don a headset to view his ship’s operations room.  When placed on a physical seat, wearing the headset, we placed him in the commander’s position and he could look around the 3-D virtual model of the control room and assess aspects of its operability such as line of sight of critical displays.  He found that he had a good view of the major control room display information, but that he didn’t have adequate sight of his senior officer colleagues operating sub sections of the room.  None of this was apparent in the CAD model and its visualisation and we were able to carry out a very early redesign rather than an expensive late one.”

John concluded: “We wanted state-of-the-market, proven, stable, off the shelf technologies for use on our production systems, and, thanks to Virtalis and our early research work with them, we have managed to implement such a system.  Our visualisation technology, recommended by Virtalis and used in our design review rooms, is also used daily by all of our engineering draughtsmen as the method for reviewing 3-D CAD models on their desktop workstation.  This ensures that the people who create the design can be invited to drive formal reviews of that design, resulting in very effective meetings.  We continue to encourage the study and application of advanced VR technologies and the introduction of simulation-based design and development for current and future design projects, and are proud of our considerable record of success in applying the technologies across a wide range of applications.”