SUCCESS STORIES IN COMBINED ARMS TACTICAL TRAINING

LOCKHEED MARTIN
United Kingdom Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (UK CATT) Program

Today’s battlefield is an unpredictable and complex place, causing mission rehearsal in realistic, realtime synthetic environments to be a vital component in the training of combat personnel. Lockheed Martin’s years of development for such virtual training systems led the United Kingdom (UK) Ministry of Defense to select Lockheed Martin as the prime contractor for the UK’s Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (UK CATT). The program leverages and enhances Close Combat Tactical Trainer (CCTT) technology to achieve even higher levels of fidelity and training.

The UK CATT Program enables precision training of the British Army’s personnel, from armored and infantry crews to battle groups with reconnaissance, aviation, artillery, engineering, and air-defense elements, collaborating in a wide variety of tactical situations. Trainees are able to immerse themselves in a variety of realistic, realtime battle scenarios, connecting and interacting with their colleagues. The training-critical aspects of UK CATT, as well as the size and broad scope of the program, marks a significant milestone in the acceptance of PC-based image generators (PC-IGs) for the visual simulation and training (VST) market.

AAlchemy Image Generator with 7 Visual Channels

Housed in a building the size of two football pitches in Warminster, UK, the UK CATT Program represents the largest and most complex virtual training facility in the world, with over 100 networked, manned simulators. The program includes an identical site with 100 networked, manned simulators in Sennelager, Germany. The two sites can be run separately or linked together via a wireless network (WAN) to create a single exercise for both sites. The UK CATT program incorporated the latest developments in high fidelity graphics, computer-generated forces, and high-speed networking. To meet the need for advanced, realtime 3D graphics capability and image fidelity, Lockheed Martin turned to Quantum3D, the leader in open-architecture, realtime visual computing solutions. Since the contract was awarded in November 2001, over 1,000 channels of Quantum3D’s advanced AAlchemy IGs have been delivered and utilized in the UK CATT interactive, realistic synthetic environment, or virtual battleground.

Quantum3D’s AAlchemy™ IGs for UK CATT offer two unique advantages. First, AAlchemy was the only IG to meet the high performance, image generation requirements of the UK CATT program, and within a strict delivery timeframe. With its unique Parallel Rendering Architecture (PRA™), AAlchemy harnesses the power of multiple graphics chips – eight or more per channel – with a combined graphics memory bandwidth in excess of 42 GB/sec to deliver the highest performance, realtime 3D capability ever achieved in PC-based systems.

Secondly, AAlchemy is the only PC-based IG to provide advanced sensor capability. Together, Lockheed Martin and Quantum3D developed a sensor post-processor (SPP) board for the program. The SPP has since been productized by Quantum3D and is now offered as nVSensor™. NVSensor is a hardware post-processor that provides realistic, realtime sensor simulation and physics-based, thermal-image, and atmospheric special effects, without affecting rendering performance. Users are able to model advanced infrared (IR), electro-optical (EO), and night vision goggle (NVG) devices that are fully correlated with out-the window view.

Challenger CR2, British Army Main Battle Tank

High-fidelity daylight synthetic environment scene

Quantum3D’s AAlchemy simultaneously provides unsurpassed image quality via the system’s T-buffer™ full-scene anti-aliasing (FSAA), trilinear-filtering, per-pixel fog, FXT1 texture compression and high-resolution texture map support for enhanced geo-specific database capabilities. This unparalleled level of performance and image fidelity, coupled with support for key simulation features, including precision multi-channel synchronization, floating point Z-buffering for improved target resolution, and a digital pixel port for sensor and other post-processing capabilities, enable AAlchemy to meet the stringent IG requirements levied by Lockheed Martin for the UK CATT program.

Total cost of ownership (TCO) was a significant factor for Lockheed Martin in the UK CATT program. Quantum3D’s AAlchemy supported this requirement with the only, low-cost, open-architecture, scalable PC-based IG to meet the program’s required image quality, high performance, and cost targets. Prior to AAlchemy, the only systems capable of providing the image quality, visual acuity, and fidelity sufficient for a complex program such as UK CATT were proprietary image generators that are synonymous with high acquisition and maintenance costs. As a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)-based product, AAlchemy’s strong price and performance value helps prime contractors and system integrators drive down the overall cost of a program, thus enabling the installation and use of more training and simulation systems. While at the low-end of the cost spectrum, standard merchant-class PCs and graphics boards were not an option since they cannot meet the rigorous demands of superior image quality, visual acuity, high fidelity, and high performance, which are critical to a realistic and effective combined arms team tactical trainer.

“UK CATT is the largest and most complex training facility in the world. The program sets the standard for world-class virtual training in a synthetic environment, employing such state-of-the-art technologies as high fidelity graphics, computer-generated forces, and high-speed networking. Quantum3D played a key role in Lockheed Martin’s ability to meet this demanding challenge. Quantum3D’s AAlchemy IG provides the image quality and performance needed to meet the demanding CATT requirements with a reliable, open-architecture platform that enables low cost of ownership.”
Rick Perez, Lockheed Martin Project Director, UK CATT

Quantum3D provides its open-architecture AAlchemy IGs to Lockheed Martin for several programs. The Maverick missile weapons system training at Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Mission Training Centers (MTCs) utilizes the AAlchemy IGs. Lockheed Martin has deployed the AAlchemy-based weapons systems trainers at Shaw AFB, S.C., and Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. Quantum3D’s AAlchemy PC-based IGs image generators are also employed for two Lockheed Martin military synthetic environment realtime training programs: the Advanced Gunnery Training System (AGTS) for the U.S. Army and the Special Operations Forces (SOF) C-130 Training System.

Learn more about how Quantum3D realtime visual computing solutions can optimize your synthetic environment for training and simulation applications. Visit our website at www.quantum3d.com; email us at salesinfo@quantum3d.com; in the US call us at 1-800-827-1980; or outside the U.S. call 408.361.9999.

For more information about Lockheed Martin Information Systems, please visit www.lockheedmartin.com.