Synthetic Terrain Generation Employing Wavelet Based Multi-Resolution Polygon Meshes

The U.S. Navy needs systems that generate highly realistic, fully and partially synthetic terrain data for training, simulation, and the evaluation of various terrain sensors. Synthetic terrain data is required to simulate areas for which high-resolutiondata cannot be extracted for political or practical reasons. This system must be able to export the information in a variety of standard formats, including SEDRIS and SDTS. In response to this need, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop anew Fractal Extrapolation Wavelet Synthetic Terrain Application Recursive (FEW-STAR) system. FEW-STAR will employ wavelet-based, polygon-mesh, surface representations coupled with a database containing the statistics of similar terrain types to add detailvia wavelet interpolation that incorporates appropriately tailored random functions providing the detail coefficients. FEW-STAR will repeat this process recursively for each resolution level. Rivers and other large-scale natural and man-made structureswill be added to the map by a global monitoring module that controls overall connectivity and orientation of features. This module will be augmented by an expert system that employs fuzzy logic to place discrete foliage and man-made artifacts. In PhaseI, these tools will be integrated into a prototype that facilitates the interactive specification of the desired terrain. The generation of realistic high-resolution terrain data is increasingly essential for the fields of simulation, computer generatedimagery, and electronic games. The capacity of the proposed FEW-STARS to generate arbitrarily detailed terrain in a semi-autonomous manner or add synthetic detail to existing data will be of immense utility to interactive game development and computergenerated graphics for film and high-definition television. Additional commercial applications include videography, remote sensing, mapping, and GIS.