Lockheed Martin Partners with Varjo

Lockheed Martin is partnering with Varjo for its visual simulation platform Prepar3D. Varjo is working with Lockheed Martin and the Prepar3D team to enable demanding training and simulation scenarios that require high-fidelity immersive displays.

Developed by Lockheed Martin, Prepar3D allows users to create training scenarios across aviation, maritime, and ground domains. The newly-released Prepar3D v5 brings new capabilities and features to solve emerging virtual and mixed reality training needs. It brings support for Varjo’s mixed reality headset, XR-1 Developer Edition. Prepar3D is also compatible with the VR-2 and VR-2 Pro. This opens up a range of new training applications where the real and synthetically generated worlds can be blended to create training solutions.

“With the advent of the virtual reality technologies, we are always trying to find ways to integrate with the latest and greatest tech into our software,” said Kyle Myers, Software Engineering Manager at Prepar3D, in an interview with Varjo. “Virtual reality and mixed reality are going to be critical for our next generation of trainers.”

With virtual reality, a key challenge is having the trainees interact with the cockpit when they cannot see what is around them.

“If the visual acuity of the virtual environment is not good enough, that impacts the training and ultimately is a negative experience,” said Myers. “When we use headsets such as Varjo, where the resolution of the headset is much sharper and much closer to human-eye resolution, the experience is much more natural. Using VR technologies such as Varjo allows us to create a training experience with a wide field of view, without having the overhead of a large dome or multiple LCD screens.”