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May 11, 1999 SGI Helps Simulators Take Flight Computer graphics isn't just for snappy Web-page designs or computer-generated cartoons. One reminder can be found at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., where the space agency has installed a virtual reality air-traffic control simulator using SGI's Onyx 2 workstations. Right now, the simulator depicts a 360-degree view of San Francisco-Oakland International Airport, but will soon display scenes of airports around the world, NASA officials say. NASA technicians are able to arrange planes on the runway, have them take off and land, and alter weather conditions--all with a few mouse clicks. The $10 million setup includes 16 250-MHz processors, 2 Gbytes of memory, and six SGI graphics subsystem drive displays. The same technology has broader business applications, SGI officials say: Texaco uses Onyx 2 workstations for simulating oil and gas drilling, and the New York Stock Exchange uses them for monitoring trading-floor operations. The simulator at NASA does have some limits. It can only land simulated United Airlines planes, a NASA spokeswoman says, because that is the only logo the agency has received so far. -- Bethany Cooke |
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