Integrated solution for aircraft data visualization and simulation image generation

Modern software and hardware solutions available for engineering flight simulation are divided in commonly distributed desktop data and aircraft visualization and high fidelity image generators for pilot-inthe- loop simulation. Recent performance improvements in computer hardware, especially the availability of affordable 3D accelerated graphics boards, allow high-quality real-time three-dimensional visualization of aircraft motion, configuration as well as environment variables. Thus the recent 3D hardware trends tend to facilitate in achieving realistic simulation on desktop computers. The presented system unifies and incorporates both aspects of accurate realtime data visualization and aircraft representation as well as high fidelity realistic multi-channel image generation for flight simulation. Both objectives are delivered in a single uniform software solution with a communication module for data exchange aimed at achieving high-level performance on low-cost 3Daccelerated desktop computers.