Thales Training & Simulation (TTS) has tested a three-dimensional flight-simulator visual display that is likely to form part of its training package for offshore helicopter pilots, writes Justin Wastnage.
The company, based in Cergy-Pontoise near Paris, has upgraded its View by Thales graphics generator to render 3D images. The enhancement is aimed at the training of offshore pilots at the Marseilles-based Helisim simulator centre, a joint venture between TTS and Eurocopter. Other improvements include wind, smoke and shadow simulations.
Jean-Claude Pietrement, TTS simulator development manager, says that software being completed to reconfigure Helisim's Level D simulators for the Eurocopter AS532 Cougar into AS332 Super Puma training devices could benefit from the new development. "In maritime applications, the 3D display could show waves, cross-waves and tides more effectively than 2D," he says.
Pietrement says civil certification of 3D image generators will require a shift in thinking by airworthiness authorities, since rules currently forbid the presence of foreign objects, such as 3D glasses, within synthetic training environments.
TTS says accurate 3D wind models, currently limited to a 100km2 (40 miles2) forest with independently moving leaves, can reduce training costs by mimicking downdraft effects in close-area landings. View by Thales uses 5,000 colours and left/right-phased raster graphics to display three dimensions.
The company has also modelled the behaviour of particles to accurately depict crude-oil flare pipes on oil rigs.
TTS is also building in a date-specific moon and star generator, as offshore pilots use celestial points as navigation aids in low-light conditions.
Source: Flight International
