REAL-TIME PHOTOGRAPHIC BASED TERRAIN IMAGE GENERATOR WITH CAPABILITIES FOR 3-D OBJECTS

FLIGHT SIMULATORS OF THE FUTURE WILL EMPLOY PHOTO-BASED IMAGE GENERATORS TO CREATE REALISTIC FULL-PHOTOGRAPHIC SIMULATED IMAGES IN REAL TIME. PILOTS IN TRAINING AND ALSO THOSE REHEARSING SPECIFIC MISSIONS WILL NOT BE FLYING THROUGH THE CARTOON-LIKE REALITY OF PAST SIMULATORS BUT THROUGH A PHOTO-REALISTIC REPRESENTATION BASED ON CURRENT IMAGERY. THE TECHNOLOGY TO FACILITATE THIS REVOLUTION IN SIMULATION AND MISSION REHEARSAL IS EMERGING FROM ADVANCES IN IMAGE PROCESSING, BOTH IN THE AREAS OF DATA BASE CONSTRUCTION AND IN REAL-TIME IMAGE GENERATION. ALL OF THE MAJOR SIMULATOR COMPANIES NOW HAVE IMAGE GENERATORS THAT EMPLOY GEO-LOCATED IMAGERY TO SOME EXTENT. DUE TO THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES IN BUILDING THE REQUIRED LARGE PHOTOGRAPHIC DATA BASES AND IN ACCESSING THIS DATA IN REAL TIME, THESE SYSTEMS FALL SHORT OF THE GOAL OF FULL-PHOTOGRAPHIC REALISM. THESE SYSTEMS ARE EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE AND IMMOBILE WHICH SEVERELY LIMITS THERE WIDESPREAD USE. THE PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO DEVELOP AN APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPACT, LOW COST, FULL-PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE GENERATOR. PHASE II WILL FOLLOW BY ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTING THIS IMAGE GENERATOR AND DEVELOPING A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM.