Christie in 3D air traffic control trial
24 July 2012
3D workbench
When a German air traffic control specialist wanted to discover if 3D flight path visualisation could boost safety it turned to 3Dims to develop a projection powered workbench. Anna Mitchell learns what went into this very bespoke solution.
Air traffic control has been visualised in 2D since its conception. However, aircraft operate in a 3D space and last year Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), a company in charge of air traffic control for Germany, joined forces with Cassidian, a member of the EADS Group, to embark on testing a 3D solution.
DFS looked into companies that could construct a highly accurate projection system to support the project and turned to 3Dims, a virtual reality specialist. The Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), a German aerospace centre, was also involved in the research.
"The study wanted to determine if flight control was safer if the controllers were able to visualise the flights in 3D," explains Friedhelm Birk, general manager of 3Dims. "We were also looking to see if we could increase safety with better interaction between the controller and the display so we included an infrared head tracking system from Advanced Realtime Tracking to ensure optimum viewing angle."
Read the article in InVAate Active to explore how 3Dims used Christie projectors to create a working solution and discover the conclusion of the trial… will the future see air traffic control conducted in 3D?
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Advanced Realtime Tracking infrared system
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