BISim Among First Adopters Leveraging Varjo’s XR-3

Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) is among the first to integrate Varjo’s new XR-3 headset into a mixed reality (XR) Apache helicopter simulator demo on display at its Orlando, Florida, facility. BISim customers will soon be able to use the XR-3 out of the box with VBS Blue IG software for eXtended Reality (XR) training applications.

VBS Blue IG is BISim’s high-performance, CIGI-compliant, whole-earth image generator and can be used across individual part-task trainers, XR solutions and full-motion simulators with multiple synchronized displays. It supports a wide variety of virtual reality (VR) headsets and devices out of the box.

“Varjo’s XR-3 integrated with tech from BISim and our partners is another huge step forward for military training and simulation. We’re able to offer integrators a demonstration of how to quickly and easily develop high-quality and cost-efficient mixed reality training systems,”says BISim Chief Commercial Officer Pete Morrison. “From AR to VR, the Varjo XR-3 offers a complete spectrum of mixed reality tools, enabling BISim’s VBS4 and VBS Blue IG to visualize and blend the real and virtual better than ever before.”

In addition to Varjo’s brand new XR-3 headset, the mixed reality Apache demo combines BISim’s VBS Blue IG software as the whole-earth visual environment with Bugeye Technologies’ portable AH-64 reconfigurable virtual collective trainer (RVCT), and SASim’s FLEX-air software as the simulation host and flight model.

“The XR-3’s 115-degree field of view gives users double the human-eye resolution and ultra-high resolution across the full frame, allowing VBS Blue IG users a more natural view of our high-fidelity, whole-earth visual environment from an MR cockpit,” says Morrison. “This is a key improvement for providing pilots with more realistic immersion into the virtual and mixed reality environment.

“The integrated eye-tracking capability is used to support the ultra-high resolution through foveated rendering in real time, so users can more effectively leverage VBS Blue IG features like its unlimited view distances and high framerates. The eye-tracking capability will also open exciting possibilities for trainee learning management.”

On display now at BISim’s Orlando facility, the Apache simulator leverages the XR-3’s mixed reality masking to show integrators how more lightweight XR simulators can be developed for flight training. Chroma Keying can be used as well or in conjunction with masking to enhance the XR. The Bugeye Technologies’ RVCT represents a mobile and reconfigurable training solution, which can be hand-carried and set up in less than an hour. SASim’s FLEX-air is a complete avionics, flight, and weapons simulation designed to work with VBS Blue IG in desktop, VR and MR solutions.