Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
EVANS & SUTHERLAND (E&S) has secured its first contract to provide commercial flight-simulator visual systems since establishing itself as an independent supplier in 1994. Airbus Industrie has ordered two E&S visual-systems for installation on A320 and A330/A340 simulators to be built by Thomson Training and Simulation (TTS).
Salt Lake City, Utah-based E&S has been marketing commercial visuals independently since breaking off its long-standing relationship with Rediffusion after the UK simulator manufacturer was acquired by Thomson-CSF. The company had supplied image generators for visuals marketed by Rediffusion, but, as TTS had its own visual, the companies dissolved their exclusive partnership.
E&S beat TTS and CAE Electronics to win the Airbus contract, says Stuart Anderson, general manager of the company's civil-aviation business group. The deal covers two ESIG-3350 image-generators and 180¡ wide-angle displays incorporating E&S-developed raster/calligraphic projectors.
The A320 simulator will be installed in Airbus' new Beijing, China, training centre in the fourth quarter of 1996. The A330/A340 machine will be delivered to its Aeroformation training subsidiary in Toulouse, France, in late 1998.
Anderson cites "price, payment options, performance and delivery" as reasons for Airbus' selection of E&S. The ESIG-3350, a derivative of the company's ESIG-3000 military-simulator image generator, offers "the highest technical performance ever [in a commercial visual]", he says.
Features include increased image-texturing capability, and realistic modeling of the visibility effects of fog and cloud.
Source: Flight International
