I/ITSEC 2023: Collins Aerospace introduces Arcus TM training image generator

Collins Aerospace has introduced a new training image generator at I/ITSEC 2023 in Orlando, Florida, which has combined the company’s rendering and processing tools with gaming technology. Named Arcus TM, the image generator has been designed to deliver immersive, modular aircrew training.

Developed in partnership with gaming engine developer Epic Games’ Unreal Engine technology, the solution features an open systems architecture and has been engineered to offer user realistic, complex synthetic training environments.

Speaking to Shephard, Lance M. Moss, product programme manager – synthetic environments at Collins, explained that the platform was a ‘hybrid combination’ of the Unreal Engine technology with Collins simulation expertise and covered ‘the full spectrum of flight simulation’.

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Arcus TM can prepare pilots to fly multiple platforms including fast jets, air transport, tankers, refuelers, rotary wings and commercial aircraft.

Through its common PC hardware and software applications, the system supports a variety of simulated flight devices including full-flight simulators, flight training devices, headsets, and virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) systems.

‘If someone wants just to have a little headset, which they can wear for a simple trainer up to full flight simulators that features multiple channels inside of a dome, this technology allows us to have that scale of deliverables,’ Moss noted.

Arcus TM provides improved graphic capabilities and has been designed to reduce costs related to the instruction of pilots, while also allowing customers to easily adapt their training environments and implement new features as their missions and simulation training needs evolve.

Moss highlighted that, although the solution mostly covers flight simulation, ‘other product avenues may want to pursue with this technology’.

‘It could be [used] to simulate an artillery system, a tank or an armoured personnel carrier,’ he claimed. ‘It really depends on how you drive it, how you tell it to render the pictures. It is really about rendering the immersive and virtual world.’

Apart from Arcus TM, Collins will also be showcasing its Tactical Combat Training System (TCTS) Increment II at I/ITSEC 2023.

The solution has been slated to replace the US Navy's legacy Air Combat Training System (ACMI) tracking systems with a single solution to support training, from tactical aircrew unit-level events to force exercises, including at mobile and fixed locations worldwide.

It has enabled scalable training scenarios that simulate highly contested air combat situations. The system has incorporated advanced systems and algorithms to operate in a GPS-degraded or denied environment.

TCTS II can be used from individual to large force, home stationed to deployed, and across service, allied and coalition security boundaries. It can also be use to support the security requirements of today’s 5th-generation and 4th-generation legacy and coalition fighters, according to Collins.

Shephard's I/ITSEC 2023 coverage is sponsored by: