Alex L., S.I.N., October

Jaguar Land Rover’s Virtual Reality Center

Jaguar Land Rover, a division of Tata, an Indian carmaker, has worked with Sony, Sun Microsystems, ICIDO, and HoloVis International to construct what they call a “Virtual Reality Center” (VRC) to aid in the design process. In conjunction with a Computer Aided Virtual Environment (CAVE) that they say will allow the company to reduce design time by an estimated 3 months and reduce design costs. As reported by Stuart Birch, an author for Automotive Engineering Online, and published under the title “Jaguar Land Rover projects new images” (found at http://www.sae.org/mags/aei/simul/4364) this product took 18 months and $4 million to develop and produce, a sum they say they are on track to recovering within the first year of its use.

VRC and CAVE are, as the names suggest, a virtual environment system that is constructed with the use of eight Sony SRX-S105 projectors, which have an image definition of 4096 x 2160. These projectors, each powered by two powerful computers (each with two prime quality graphics cards), display a bifocal view of the vehicle, in full scale, with realistic components all in 3D. Another computer coordinates these; another manages the database, which the work of the employees (such as designed parts) is uploaded to. The system uses complex surround sound to simulate a real driving environment, and hopes to incorporate a haptic glove, which would allow the tester to feel the textures and contours of the model. They would utilize the haptic glove under development at Salford University (England) that will be ready in about six months. This technology would streamline the R&D of Jaguar Land Rover, improving their finances, allowing them to make vehicles more cheaply, thereby stimulating the economy.