Fakespace Systems Expands Supplier Partnership With NASA, Announces System Installation at Glenn Research Center
Fakespace Systems Inc., the
world leader in immersive visualization systems, today announced that it
delivered a RAVE(TM) (Reconfigurable Advanced Visualization Environment)
System to the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, earlier this
month.
Installation of the system, which will be used as part of a
multi-facility network of collaborative immersive environments, extends
Fakespace Systems’ long-term supplier partnership with NASA.
The RAVE was purchased as a part of NASA’s Intelligent Synthesis
Environment (ISE) Initiative, which aims to enable geographically dispersed
teams of engineers and scientists to collaborate in full sensory environments.
“The ISE Initiative will revolutionize the way the Agency plans, develops
and operates its missions,” said Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator in a recent
statement to Congress.
“ISE will develop the tools to enable NASA to rapidly
assess multiple mission concepts and systems design options and predict total
life cycle cost, schedule, risk and performance with much greater accuracy
than is currently possible.”
At NASA Glenn, the RAVE will be used primarily to explore computational
fluid dynamics and structural analysis simulations in an immersive,
collaborative environment.
As part of the ISE initiative, engineers and
researchers at other NASA sites, will utilize broad bandwidth links between
systems to share the immersive environment with the Glenn Research Center.
This real-time, remote collaboration will allow the researchers to work
together as if they were at the same location.
Some of the additional NASA
facilities using Fakespace Systems displays as part of the ISE program include
the Langley Research Center, which has a CAVE® installation, and the
Marshall Research Center, where an ImmersaDesk® M1 system is installed.
“In this era of dramatic advances in computing power, it is essential that
government organizations collaborate with industry to make the best use of the
tremendous resources now available,” said Dan Wright, president and chief
executive officer of Fakespace Systems.
“We are very proud to continue a
strong collaborative relationship with NASA and contribute to advances in
visualization technology to make extremely complex data increasingly
accessible for human understanding.”
For more than a decade, NASA has worked with Fakespace Systems and its
predecessor companies (Fakespace, Inc. and Pyramid Systems) to secure advanced
displays for “sense of presence” viewing and interaction with
computer-generated models and simulations.
NASA Glenn purchased the very
first commercial ImmersaDesk® R2 in 1996 and the Fakespace BOOM® was
originally developed for use at NASA Ames in 1990.
In an extension of this
long-standing relationship, NASA will continue to support the
commercialization of advanced technologies by allowing Fakespace Systems to
bring prospective customers and partners to the Glenn Research Center site,
and to use real NASA data in demonstrations.
The RAVE system at NASA Glenn consists of three self-contained modules,
which can be used as independent stereoscopic projection display systems or in
a variety of groupings.
Each module features an eight-ft. wide by
seven-and-a-half-ft. high rigid rear-projected screen at one end of an
11-ft. deep structure containing one or more high-resolution CRT projectors.
Equipped with air casters, the modules can be raised approximately
one-inch off the ground, and one or two people can easily roll the units into
different viewing configurations.
An overhead projector/mirror addition to
one module produces images on the floor to enable a four-sided immersive room.
The RAVE is an extremely flexible large-scale system designed for a
variety of immersive viewing modalities.
When positioned to form an immersive
room, angled theater-like configuration, a 24-ft. flat wall, or an L-shaped
display, it provides stereoscopic visualizations that appear to have a real
dimensional presence when viewed with special shutter glasses.
Head tracking
and various handheld Fakespace devices for manipulating the computer-generated
visions in real-time add to the “virtual reality” effect.
As a world leader in visualization technology and service, Fakespace
Systems provides products for better insight, communications and collaboration
in automotive, manufacturing, military, aerospace, geophysical exploration,
and scientific research organizations.
The company designs and manufactures
immersive displays and interactive devices, and integrates complete
visualization solutions providing Better Ways to Create and Communicate(TM).
Fakespace Systems, a business unit of Electrohome Limited , is headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and
has U.S. offices in Novi, Michigan; Mountain View and San Diego, California;
Columbus, Ohio; and Rockville, Maryland.
More information on Fakespace
Systems Inc. is available at http://www.fakespacesystems.com .
NOTE:
RAVE and the phrase “Better Ways to Create and Communicate” are
trademarks of Fakespace Systems Inc.
ImmersaDesk and CAVE are registered
trademarks of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.
All other trade
names or marks are the property of their respective owners.
