Genesis | System Solutions | Virtual Reality

Immersion

Immersion is an unique experience that is connected with the world of virtual reality. Over here the user exploring the three dimensional world of virtual reality will simply immerse into this make believe world as the real world. It is basically a feeling of involvement of the user in the virtual world intelligently designed by experts.
They have the power to interact with this world. This unique combinations where the user can immerse as well interact with the simulations is known as Telepresence. This is devise by the famous computer scientist Jonathan Steuer. Thus the user forgets about his real world scenario, forgets his present identity, situation and life and immerses him in a world of imagination, adventure and exploration. He gets more focused about his newly created identity inside the Virtual Reality world.

Immersion is made up of two main components as stated by Jonathan Steuer. They are:-

Depth of Information
Breadth of Information

Imagine flying an aircraft in turbulance, exploring Taj Mahal in full Moon light, or walking through our galaxy with the comfort of your seat!! ! Virtual Reality allows professionals to get in uncharted waters and experience first hand what they never can in the classrooms or in reality.

We provide our customers content that are 3-dimensional and photo-realistic creating a completely immersive experience. By utilizing a lightweight head-mounted display, users experience a 360° environment that feels "real" to the senses. This head-mounted technology coupled with a position-sensing tracker transports the subject to a virtual environment of their creation or choice.
Whether subjects immerse themselves in existing places, or create new environments of their own, their experience will be engaging, exciting, and thought provoking.

The total idea of immersion breaks once the user gets aware of the real world around. In an environment really good the user forgets everything surrounding him. He forgets that there is a medium called the computer. He starts believing it as his real world. He sees himself as a different identity. All this is possible due to developers who have devised new quality input methods that prove to be more natural. The user gets unaware of this device that allows him to interact.

Military Applications of VR

FLIGHT SIMULATORS

Military vehicle simulations are one of the most successful implementation of the VR technology. Sophisticated computer models are called simulators. They are a duplicate or a replica of the vehicle. They behave exactly with as much efficiency as a vehicle does. But it works in a controlled environment. So in short it’s much safer. Flight simulators are the most popular amongst all simulators. Pilots are trained using this technology by the Air Force, Army and Navy. Training missions teach the soldiers how to fly in battle, how face and emergency and recover fast, or how to coordinate air support with ground operations.

Many flight simulators have an enclosed model. Many are a bit different that contains a series of computer monitors that are arranged in such a way that the pilot’s field of view is covered. The simulators are created keeping a lot of things in mind. They are exactly looking the same way as it would be in a real life aircraft. The controls and layout will be in the same place as in a simulator. However a particular simulator cannot represent so many models of aircrafts because there are fine difference sin all the models. However is the air force training centre is powerful enough it can invest a lot into multiple simulators. Centers that cannot invest much stick to a single simulator.

GROUND VEHICLE SIMULATORS

The Ground Vehicle Simulators are not as high profiles as flight simulators. Simulators are one main examples of the Future Combat System (FCS) - the foundation of the armed forces' future. The FCS has a collection of battle command system. They also have a system of advanced vehicles and weapons platforms. These FCS simulators are connected together by scientists. Complex training missions are hence taken place. They involve candidates in various roles.

These FCS simulators have attached to a console three computer monitor and a pair of joystick. They can simulate ground vehicles, sight mortar vehicles, reconnaissance vehicles or an infantry carrier vehicle. Specialized devises like tanks and heavily-armored Stryker vehicle are used by the Army to train its soldiers. The simulators accurately and effectively recreate the replica and even the touch and feel of the vehicles are same. Any environment you can imagine can be created in the virtual environment. They also understand the nature and ways the real vehicle would act when caught under poor weather like a storm or a hurricane or when traveling on a rough dangerous terrain. They even arrange for virtual complex war games. These make the soldier more efficient by participating in the war and fight as if he is in a real life environment.

WATER Vehicle Simulator

The Navy submarine simulators are totally different from the rest of the simulations sued un-military-vehicles. Over here lifelike graphics are not needed since in a submarine you don’t really need to have windows to see outside. Instead of that these submarine simulators must have the power to project realistic real life like instrument readings very accurately. While the crew members navigate through the sea the readings they see should be matching real life navigation. We also get submarine simulators which are static. This does not allow the element of immersion to grow inside the user. However other models have a setting on a pneumatic arm which when tilts the module allows the feeling that a person is physically diving or surfacing maneuver.

Virtual Boot Camp

Virtual reality has proved to be a boon in the filed of Defence. The soldiers get familiarized with the complex military vehicles and their operations and nature. However usage of virtual reality is not only limited to these trainings. Other applications use this as well. This technology is exploited to its maximum limit by the huge video games industry. The video game studios have patched up with the military officials and have focused on the making of realistic virtual scenes. These games is a fun way to help the soldiers learn to face and get though various difficult environments and situations. Guys and girls with a keen interest for the world of warfare can play these games and get a taste of this real life like scenarios.

We develop VR Boot Camp software in such a way that the soldiers can practice small tricks and ways to get pass a virtual urban environment.

Head-mounted Display (HMD)

A Head-mounted Display (HMD) is generally a display of computer that one wears on his head. They are what they are names after. Mostly these HMDs are placed or attached on helmets or even on the goggles. They are specially designed keeping many things in mind. Engineers have designed them to make sure that wherever the user points his head at and see wherever direction he feels like the monitor will remain in front of his eyes all the time. Mostly all HMDs consist of a screen for individual eye and that is what creates a sense any images the user looks at has some depth. It appears to be highly three dimensional or real-life like sized.

The monitors that a HMD uses are usually made up of Liquid Cystal Display (LCD). However older monitors are also found that are made up of displays of Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). The LCD monitors generally are lightly weighted, compact, more efficient and lot much inexpensive than the CRT displays. However there are two more advantages that a CRT display has as compared to a LCD. Those are the screen resolution as well as the brightness. The displays of CRT are mostly heavy and bulky. This causes usage very uncomfortable. The HMDs that are counted on them are used with great difficulty. It needs a mechanism of suspension to assist in shifting the heavy weight for easy usage. However this suspension mechanism limits the movement of the user. This can again destroy the feeling of immersion.

There are other HMDs that use different technologies. They are:-

Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (VFD)
Fiber-Optics Displays
Virtual Retinal Displays (VRD)
Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) Displays
Electroluminescent Displays
Electrophoretic Displays (EP Displays)
Field Emission Displays (FED)
Plasma Displays
Electrochromism Displays (EC Displays)
Light Emitting Diode (LED) Displays

Display technologies are very rarely used by engineers in HMDs. They have the drawback of limited brightness as well as resolution. There are few that produce nothing more than a monochromatic image. Like the VRD there are also few plasma display technologies that work very well with HMDs. However these are too expensive to be afforded.

These HMDs mostly include speakers or headphones. This is included to make sure both audio and video output is received. The high-end HMDs are attached to the CPU of the VR systems through cables. These wireless systems, however, do not have the eligibility to avoid lag. They always use a device to track as the user moves in whatever direction the point of view of the monitor also changed. There are other systems that use particular types of goggles or glasses along with the other display monitors.

The CAVE

The CAVE system or better known as the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment is developed by the students and researchers of the University of Illinois. This is taken as the most immersive display system for Virtual Environment by many VR specialists.

A CAVE is a cubicle or a tiny room where at least 3 walls and often the floor along with ceiling act as huge monitors. The display produces for the user a very broad field of view. This is something that most of the head-mounted displays are unable to do. Users are also allowed to roam around in a system of CAVE without being attached to computer. However, they should wear a pair of funky goggles that are similar to 3-D glasses.

The active walls are nothing but rear-projection screens. A computer supplies the images projected on individual screen, helping to create a cohesive environment. The images that are projected are in a stereoscopic format. They are further portrayed in a quick alternating pattern. The lenses in goggles of the users have shutters that open and also shut in synchronization with the alteration of images. Thus it lets the user to feel the depth of the illusion.

Tracking devices are added to the glasses instruct the computer in adjusting the projected images as you take a walk in and around the area. Users normally interact with the virtual object with the help of a controller wand or navigate through different sections of the environment. Moreover, multiple users can remain in a CAVE at the similar point of time.

The WorkBench

Workbench display is a system of display that few VR researchers think is the only logically related object to virtual environments. During the 1990s, Larry Rosenbaum, the Computer Science Liaison Scientists at the Office of Naval Research formed a group of Navy VR engineers in the production of a huge display monitor that allowed various users to watch it at the same time. Users can see the display horizontally or vertically just like a bench or table.

The users were given specially designed set of glasses or goggles. They wore them while looking at the workbench. This is similar to the CAVE system. Multiple users can view the same range that is being projected. There is the usage of stereoscopic projection. Hence when the lens of the goggles shutter al images that the user see essentially appears to be three dimensional.

However the VR researchers are of the opinion that the workbench is not essentially a true representation of producing a simulation. The reason is the less presence of the element of immersion. The goggles that the user wears do not cover the field of vision. Hence at the back of his mind he stays alert of his real world. The sense of being a part of a virtual environment ceases to stimulate the user. When even for once he looks further away from the display then he will see the real life room. However it’s proven that these workbench displays are useful.

Tracking System

The tracking devices are the main components for the VR systems. They interact with the system’s processing unit. This relays to the system the orientation of the user’s point of view. In systems which let a user to roam around within a physical space, the locality of the person can be detected with the help of trackers, along with his direction and speed.

The various types of systems used for tracking utilized in VR systems. These are a follows:-

A six degree of freedom can be detected (6-DOF)
Orientation consists of a yaw of an object, roll and pitch.
These are nothing but the position of the objects within the x-y-z coordinates of a space, however, it is also the orientation of the object.

These however emphasizes that when a user wears a HMD then as the user looks up and down; left and right then the view also shifts. Whenever the user’s head tilts, the angle of gaze changes. The trackers on the HMD describe to the CPU where you are staring while the right images are sent back to the screen of HMD.