A graphics system for low cost driving simulation
ABSTRACT There are a significant number of driving simulator applications that would not be viable without low cost implementations. These applications involve training, assessment and rehabilitation of drivers. The simulations are typically implemented on PC work stations and lap tops and the applications are executed with standard PC display hardware in desk top, console or cut down vehicle cab configurations. This paper describes a graphics system with typical COTS solutions and user interfaces that provide low cost schemes for use in occupational therapy, novice driver training, older driver assessment and licensing. The graphics system has a unique internal modeling scheme for producing data bases including roadway profiles, signs, signals, markings, traffic, pedestrians, buildings, flora and fauna, etc. Performance benchmarks are included for several implementations.

VITA Mr. Grant is a software engineer by trade, focusing on image generation for distributed simulation. He has designed software for heterogeneous systems, balancing the computational load across the CPU and GPU for improved realism in virtual environments. Since joining Systems Technology, Inc. he has contributed to the simulation products by architecting high level modules that allow for physically based effects which are used in the driving simulator, STISIM Drive™, the parachute simulator, PARASIM®, animation and computer vision tasks in a the augmented reality product Fused Reality™. He has added support to use animation and shading resources created by graphics artists and is an author of Open-DIS, which is an implementation of the Distributed Interactive Simulation network protocol. Mr. Grant’s current technical interests are in motion synthesis and computer vision.