Distributed simulation provides a means for weapon systems to be evaluated in a highly realistic simulation environment prior to the construction of a actual vehicle. However, today's simulators require the use of physical mock-ups of the controls and displays for each of the crew stations in order for the human operators to control the simulated vehicles. These mock-ups are expensive and time consuming to produce, and difficult to reconfigure to test new concepts. Virtual reality (VR) technology has the potential to enable the construction of "virtual crew stations" allowing test and evaluation to be performed without the need for constructing expensive physical mock-ups. This Phase I proposes research and development of a concept for a low cost virtual reality system which will enable the rapid development of crew station concepts for future Army vehicles. The proposed system will be based on Avatar's Desktop Virtual Reality System and object-oriented virtual reality architecture, ObjectVision. A rapid prototype will be constructed to demonstrate the ease with which crew station concepts can be constructed and modified within the proposed virtual reality system.
