Technical Information

TAC Research Simulator is a Mid-Range Driving Simulator. This definition refers to the position that the simulator occupies in the hierarchy of simulators which are available in the world today. The simulator has received a number of upgrades from the description below. More information will be provided.

Computer Systems

There are two main computers used in the MRDS system. Both of these machines are manufactured by Silicon Graphics Incorporated: Onyx and Indy.

3D Audio System

The audio system consists of a PC compatible computer, amplifiers and a speaker system. The computer system contains 4 Alphatron sound cards which produce the correctly spatialised audio. The closest eight sounds within the 3D space are played. The audio computer system is Acoustetron II and is supplied by Crystal River Engineering. The amplifiers and speaker system are supplied by ARX systems. The speaker system is manufactured by JBL, it consists of a sub-woofer mounted at the front of the vehicle and four Control-1 satellite speakers located around the exterior of the vehicle. The Acustetron II is connected to the Onyx via a 36k baud serial line.

Projection System

The projection System is made up of four overhead mounted Barco 700HQ video projectors, projecting onto four screens. Two of the screens are situated directly in front and to the rear of the vehicle, while the others are mounted to the left and right of the vehicle at an angle of 60 degrees to the front screen. This arrangement provides a 180 degrees field of view forward of the driver's seat and a 60 degrees field of view to the rear for the rear-view mirror.

PLC Based Control System

The vehicle control system is based on an Allen Bradley PLC-5 system with a closely coupled co-processor which handles the serial communication with the Onyx. The PLC provides analogue and digital I/O for the vehicle instruments and controls, the motion platform and steering system.