Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
The author and colleagues at the University of Sussex have been investigating technical problems related to the production of moving colour pictures representing real scenes in real-time. The object is to produce a visual system suitable for vehicle simulation. Flight simulation is generally the most difficult to achieve because of the need for freedom of movement and orientation in three-dimensional space coupled with a rapidly changing scene.
Such a system must therefore show smooth motion and reasonable realism. These factors imply a picture update rate of around 25 frames per second, the use of a wide range of colours and textures, a large terrain model, a picture generator capable of representing surfaces and a good mathematical aircraft performance model.