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Presagis has unveiled a server-based software designed to generate synthetic environments in less time and at a lower cost than geospecific satellite imagery, and at a higher fidelity than traditional geotypical imagery.
Presagis SEGen Server (SEGen) “creates advanced, computer-generated images for a fraction of the cost of satellite imagery,” according to Nick Giannis, vice president of research and technology at Presagis.
Rather than generate an entire environment using costly geospecific satellite imagery, or creating low-fidelity environments using geotypical imagery, SEGen uses procedural modeling, a technology that uses computer algorithms and libraries of rules to generate realistic, spatially accurate geotypical environments.
SEGen can incorporate geospecific artist renderings of smaller areas, while using procedural modeling to represent the rest of the environment. For example, the customer might require geospecific representations of particular air bases and their surrounding areas for take off and landing, but the terrain flown over to get from point A to B can be represented geotypically.
“The customer can focus the development on what really matters,” Giannis said. “SEGen does the rest.”
Computer algorithms can generate images of snow-capped peaks, trees and houses specific to that region of the world, and smoothed shorelines. SEGen produces virtual environments in minutes with up to 1M resolution.
Giannis said SEGen can cut costs as much as 90 percent. For example, generating a typical geocell — 100-by-100 kilometers — using traditional methods generally costs around $200,000. SEGen can produce the same results for around $20,000, he said. In addition, Giannis said the greater the size of the area using SEGen, the greater the cost savings.
“As you try to build bigger areas, the cost of SEGen flattens,” he said.
SEGen also uses computer algorithms to correlate what the user and objects within the environment “see.” For example, it can recognize the difference in driving a tank over dirt versus grass.
“It’s important not only to visualize, but to know what the material is,” Giannis said.
SEGen will be available in the first quarter of 2012 and is based on Common Database specifications.
