CEAL - Flight Simulation Technology Applied to Rehabilitation Research

The Toronto Rehabilitation Institute is developing the Challenging Environment Assessment Laboratory (CEAL) in a new dedicated facility. CEAL represents the integration of knowledge in flight simulation applied to create environments for studying human balance and locomotive behaviour. A high-performance 60-inch motion platform will deliver accelerations and create inclines to the cabins that can be mounted onto its upper frame. These cabins represent three environments - a visual surround dome with a treadmill and a wheelchair simulator, an ice chamber (with a real ice floor, snow, wind and low ambient temperatures) to simulate cold weather climates, and a generic cabin for multi-purpose research such as walking on stairs. In all of these environments, a high-performance realtime computing platform will be used to monitor and stimulate the participants. Computergenerated imagery will represent the visual environment. Research will concentrate on creating realistic, reproducible challenges facing persons with varying grades of mobility, illness, and age-related conditions, and to effectively develop new assistive devices. All of this is made possible through the proper integration of the stimuli provided to the human participants. CEAL is currently being integrated in its new premises in Toronto.