THE FARNBOROUGH Air Show saw the announcement of a partnership between the Merlin Flight Simulation Group and Virtalis, the Virtual Reality (VR) specialists.

Chris Neal, MD of Merlin, commented: “Virtalis created a concept demonstrator for us and we were completely bowled over by the level of realism they could bring to our system.  Consequently, we have entered into a long-term partnership. As well as bringing their VR expertise to bear on our visual scene rendering, we now have a multi-stage product development plan in place.”

The Merlin Flight Simulation Group comprises two specialist simulator companies.  Both employ teams of experienced engineers, designers, and flight test personnel who are responsible for the development of the Group’s two products, the M520 and the M521.  These were designed specifically for use by aeronautical university students to demonstrate the subjective aspects of flight.  The simulators provide the link between theory and practice for mechanics of flight and aerodynamics students. Merlin recently released its second generation, fully nonlinear six degree-of-freedom flight software, Excalibur.

Andrew Connell, technical director at Virtalis, explained: “Using our in-house VR development toolkit, we are creating a network system to control and manage data, so that all the system’s applications interconnect at high speed.  As well as creating virtual landscapes and airports, the system is fully customisable, so students can define and create their own airports.”

The most immediate difference users will detect will be to the M520 and M521’s graphics, as it now incorporates KRender, Virtalis' OpenGL-based, rendering system.  Virtalis has already added full, 3D real-time virtual landscapes.  The realistic terrain gradually becomes more and more detailed as the ‘plane is flown closer to the ground, allowing accurate navigation and distance gauging.  Runway approach lighting systems appear exactly as they would in real life.

Chris Neal concluded: “Our involvement with Virtalis puts us right at the forefront of PC-based flight simulation.  Our extra capabilities, such as simulated vertical take-off or the development of Head Up Displays for military aircraft, take full advantage of the superb, smooth visuals.  In addition, all these new features will be fully reconfigurable by the user, giving unparalleled flexibility.”