Maritime Simulators: Convention and Technology

Development of maritime simulator is conditioned not only by technical progress,but also by relevant conventions and regulations,this fact is fully proved by the amendments of Maritime Simulator Systems Standard for Certification by DNV(Det Norske Veritas) in October 2007.Since the beginning of the new century,the progress of virtual reality technology,especially the rapid progress of computer graphics,makes it possible to generate movie-class reality of visual scene.The transfer of image generator from advanced workstations to PC cluster,the application of software geometry correction and edge blending techniques used in wide field of view(FOV) cylindrical screen projection have greatly cut down the costs of developing visual systems in maritime simulators.Also this makes it possible to develop high quality multi-ownship simulation systems.The trend of integration of multi-ownship architecture and other systems is more and more obvious.Meantime,the research on 6-DOF(Degree of freedom) ship mathematical model is in immediate needs and should be given more attention.