Virtual Afghanistan Village
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Virtual Afghanistan Village www.metavr.com | [email protected] | US 617-739-2667 Real-time scenes in VRSG of a high-resolution geospecific village on MetaVR’s virtual Afghanistan terrain, featuring custom-built 3D structures that match the building footprints found on the source imagery, and characters and other models from MetaVR’s 3D content libraries. To meet the needs of training NATO soldiers for coalition The overall imagery resolution of the virtual terrain of the whole operations in Afghanistan, MetaVR® has built 3D geospecific country is 2.5 meters. The terrain, built with MetaVR’s Terrain terrain of the entire country of Afghanistan, covering 647,500 Tools for Esri ArcGIS, includes an area of 1,120 sq. km of 60 cm sq. km, featuring a high-resolution virtual village with over 650 Digital Globe commercial satellite source imagery and 90 meter buildings in the Afghan province of Kabul. This virtual terrain is elevation posts. Within this area is the highly detailed 38 sq. km available in MetaVR’s round-earth Metadesic™ format for use terrain of a 3D geospecific Afghan village. This terrain was made with Virtual Reality Scene Generator™ (VRSG™) in simulation entirely from commercial, non-export controlled source data. and training, with particular emphasis on identifying and defeating IEDs using resources from combined military branches and nations. As a significant percentage of Afghanistan’s population lives in mountainous terrain, training warfighters in a simulated environment that accurately represents mountainous regions with small population centers is critical. Unlike the simplified, flattened terrain used to simulate urban environments in most image generators and video games, MetaVR’s high-resolution Afghan village is set within mountains and complex terrain of varying elevation and cave networks, enabling realistic training scenarios for mission planning and rehearsal of operations in mountainous villages. Real-time VRSG scene overlooking the high-resolution geospecific village of Khairabad on MetaVR’s Afghanistan virtual terrain. The effective terrain elevation resolution is much higher in the village areas as the construction of inferred cultural features from the geospecific imagery such as courtyards, tree line, and crops further define the elevation relief. This terrain is built entirely from commercial, non-export controlled source data. Using MetaVR’s terrain workflow process, additional terrain areas can be readily constructed. Enhancing the overall SRTM3 elevation data are higher resolution areas of the village. These high-resolution areas define features such as berms, ditches, and a tunnel network, all of which were modeled in Autodesk 3ds Max. The village area has Checkpoint on the outskirts of the village, along the main road. The mod- approximately 520 custom-built 3D structures that match the els are in MetaVR’s 3D content libraries that are delivered with VRSG. building footprints visible on the source imagery. All 3D content was created in Autodesk 3ds Max, and is referenced by the The virtual terrain of this area was built from geospecific high- terrain’s cultural feature file at run time; the content is rendered resolution elevation and imagery source data; it was augmented by VRSG at run-time as part of the terrain. Many of the buildings with finer level terrain details derived from the imagery to add to are multi-level and contain modeled interiors. Open doorways, the realism near ground level. The terrain, which is delivered with translucent windows, and stairways, contribute to making the VRSG, includes scenarios that were built with VRSG Scenario structures within the virtual village suitable for tactical scenarios. Editor. The textures of many cultural features are derived from publicly available photographs found on the Internet. Geospecific agricultural fields are also modeled and can be tailored to Image on the cover: Real-time VRSG scene overlooking a section of represent various crop types over different seasons. a high-resolution geospecific village of Khairabad on MetaVR’s Afghanistan virtual terrain. Real-time scenes in VRSG of the high-resolution village featuring vehicles and characters from MetaVR’s 3D content libraries. These scenes are taken from scenarios that are delivered with VRSG. wooded area behind the building complex and courtyard. The tunnel network is modeled with geometry and textures much like the above-ground terrain. It can support the underground tra- versal of small entities such as small unmanned ground vehicles (SUGVs) or characters. This virtual village and its surrounding mountainous terrain is optimized for conducting ground combat simulations, such as sniper, IED detection, and forward air controller or JTAC exer- cises such as those undertaken by A-10 missions, with a high degree of realism. For example, the high-resolution terrain and models appear accurately in simulated magnified view scopes and laser designators. The JTAC scenario that is delivered with the terrain shows an overwatch position on on a rooftop. The 3D vehicle entities in the convoy, such as the Fennek ISAF, are Real-time VRSG scene of a Shadow UAS entity in flight over the rugged representative of the types of vehicles that are actually used to terrain of MetaVR’s virtual Afghanistan. transport soldiers in these mountainous regions. The modeled village is based on the village of Khairabad in the southern part of the Kabul province, and includes neighborhoods along the Kabul-Gardez highway. Situated at an altitude of 1,843 meters, Khairabad is located approximately 10-15 kilometers south of Kabul city center, next to Qalai Naeem in the Char Asiab district. Among the village’s 650 models of buildings and other structures are 150 models which have multiple damage states. A scripted scene of insurgent activity shown in VRSG Scenario Editor. All models are from MetaVR’s 3D content libraries. VRSG Scenario Editor was used to create multiple scenarios that are delivered with the Afghanistan terrain. The scenarios feature Details of a building a number of military vehicle models including technical models model in its normal state representative of combat vehicles used in the area. The vehicles, (above) and one of three characters, and other models used in the scenarios are all from damage states (shown to MetaVR’s 3D model libraries, which are bundled with VRSG. the right). The tunnel and cave complex in the virtual Afghan village has an entry point in one of the buildings that is linked to a cave and tunnel position in the courtyard, which could be used as a mortar position. The tunnel exits some distance away in a heavily Real-time VRSG scenes of an MQ-9 Reaper UAS entity and its simulated sensor view from a scenario taking place in the modeled village of Khairabad, Afghanistan. The sensor view shows VRSG’s physics-based IR and one of the UAS 2D overlay display options. Real-time VRSG scene featuring insurgent characters in a technical A JTAC in the Advanced Joint Terminal Attack Controller Training combat vehicle with a mounted 9K338 (Technical-032.9K338.OPFOR). System (AAJTS) dome simulator at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, Syracuse, NY. The close air support exercise is being conducted on MetaVR’s virtual Afghanistan terrain. (Photo courtesy of New York Air National Guard; photo by Master Sgt. E. Miller/Released.) MetaVR’s Afghanistan 3D terrain is available free of charge in MetaVR’s round-earth Metadesic terrain format to MetaVR customers who are on active software maintenance and are US Government or NATO agencies or contractors (for official use only). For more information, visit www.metavr.com or contact [email protected]. MetaVR and the MetaVR logo are registered trademarks, and Virtual Reality Scene Generator, VRSG, Metadesic, and the phrase “geospecific simulation with game quality graphics” are trademarks of MetaVR, Inc. Metadesic is protected by US Patent 7,425,952. Esri and ArcGIS are registered trademarks of Esri. All other brand or product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2019 MetaVR, Inc..