Cornerstone Software Solutions Engaged by Air Force for Simulation Enhancement
Orlando, Fla. (November 22, 2017) – As defense agencies work to enhance simulated training into the most realistic environments possible, the U.S. Air Force has hired Orlando’s Cornerstone Software Solutions to showcase energy emissions from objects accurately and automatically.
The project plans to take the concept of light maps from video games and create new energy maps for flight simulators. If development proceeds as expected, future pilots will be able to see accurate energy emitted from objects based on weather, time of day and other elements using less expensive computer resources.
“In simulated sensor views, such as infrared, objects will appear differently depending on many factors and this project will provide the Air Force with technology to depict an object based on those factors without expensive custom hardware,” says Mark Faulk, Technology Director, Cornerstone Software Solutions. “This is cutting-edge technology that is not a focus of traditional simulation companies.”
The best example of the type of software being developed is in the video game arena. There, games are programed to consider the direction of the sun, street lights and other areas of light. depending on the time of day or weather, an object will look different in the game.
Just like light, objects can look different based on the heat it is emitting. That heat emission is based on a variety of factors and usually requires significant hardware resources to run the complex physics models during the simulation.
For instance, in real life, a street emits energy long after the sun goes down, but in many current simulations, this is not displayed. Under Cornerstone’s solution, the street would automatically display accurate energy depictions, based on the object’s material (e.g. road pavement vs. grass). As the sun rose, the street would remain colder than its surrounding area. After dark, the street would still be showing as emitting heat energy.
The project is funded through a nine-month, $150,000 Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer. Cornerstone is working with Dr. Joseph Kider at the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training and Mr. Ron Moore from Leidos.
During this phase, Cornerstone will be showing the concept works. Once successful, a second phase grant will be released to develop the programming. At that time, Cornerstone will be adding up to three additional programmers.
“We are very excited about this new project. It is helping Cornerstone to build a critical capability for our Air Force warfighters while providing our company the opportunity to develop a product which could become a marketable item,” Peggy Puhlmann, President & CEO of Cornerstone Software Solutions says.
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For more information media should contact –
Mark Faulk, Cornerstone Software Solutions, 407-496-0515, mfaulk@cssflorida.net
Carol Ann Dyke Logue, UCF Business Incubation Program, 407-207-7426, carolann.dykeslogue@ucf.edu
Alan Byrd, Alan Byrd & Associates, 407-415-8470, Alan@ByrdConnections.com
About Cornerstone Software Solutions: Cornerstone delivers high quality software and systems engineering solutions supporting the full engineering lifecycle from concept and requirements definition, design and development, through integration, test and deployment. We perform this work on our customer’s site or in our facility in the Incubator at the CFRP. The experience and leadership of our staff has been recognized by our clients and their end users who continue to request our services. For more information, please visit www.cssflorida.net
About the UCF Business Incubation Program: The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has helped more than 390 local startup companies reach their potential faster by providing vital business development resources.
With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties, and the cities of Apopka, Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. For the 2014/15 and 2015/16 fiscal years, the activities of these participating firms have helped sustain more than 4,710 local jobs and have had a cumulative impact of more than $725 million on regional GDP and more than $1.3 billion on regional sales. During the same period, the program has returned $7.41 for every $1 invested in the program. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu
