HOW: 12 Electrohome Marquee 9500 projectors and 12 rear-projection screens, fed by an SGI Onyx2 RealityMonster with 6 graphics pipes running Raytheon sim software, produce specific airport environments, weather effects, and up to 200 moving ground and air vehicles. Consoles in the 24-foot-diameter tower cab are fully configurable.
WHAT: FutureFlight Central
WHERE: NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California
WHY: The full-scale operations simulator, including a tower with a 360-degree view that re-creates conditions at existing airports in minute detail, lets a 12-controller team trial-run new control subsystems and test the efficiency of future runway designs to optimize traffic flow.
WHO: Facility manager: Nancy Dorighi
MORE: ffc.arc.nasa.gov
