Posted by John McHaleCEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, 23 April 2011. The French Civil Aviation Authority, La Direction Generale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC) provided Level D approval for the EP-8000 image generator from Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Level D approval is for use on an Air France Boeing 777-300 full flight simulator. Using commercial-off-the-shelf field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology, the EP-8000 generates scene density, environment processing, and performance. With a completely programmable graphics pipeline the EP-8000 provides an open, scalable approach that allows new features and technology insertions over the life cycle of the training program.Air France has also selected the EP-8000 to upgrade three additional Boeing 777 simulators this year."The EP-8000 delivers unsurpassed levels of realism in lighting, atmospherics, and special effects in the environments it generates for flight training scenarios," says Ken Schreder, vice president and general manager of Simulation & Training Solutions for Rockwell Collins. "Our customers tell us that this is the most realistic training visual they've experienced, which is a key driver behind the Air France decision to add the EP-8000 to more of their simulators."The EP-8000 is the first visual system to apply software programmable technology to the entire graphics rendering process, which makes it much more cost-effective because it's easier and less expensive to maintain," explains Schreder.The EP-8000 is available for commercial and military training platforms and features: near eye-limited resolution driving very high resolution displays; real-world scene density and depth complexity; sub-one meter out-the-window and sensor imagery over very large areas; real-world correlated lighting, atmospherics, and special effects; an economically upgradeable graphics pipeline; a large dedicated texture memory for high-resolution imagery; and maintainability for as long as 20 years.
