NASA-Marshall officials announced their intention last week to purchase ImaGen rackmount visual servers from Concurrent to help them build operation flight instrument (OFI) sensors, United Launch Alliance (ULA) emulators, and Integration Test Lab (ITL) emulators within the NASA-Marshall Integrated Avionics Test Facilities.
Because of the complexity of the real-time computing, the systems running the real-time operating system must be certified by Concurrent, the provider of the systems, NASA officials say.
Companies whose officials believe they could provide similar or more powerful rackmount servers at a better value than Concurrent have until Wednesday, 13 Aug. 2014, to submit their capabilities and qualifications to NASA.
The Concurrent family of ImaGen visual servers offers integrated high-performance image-generation for real-time simulation and modeling applications, company officials say. Powered by Concurrent RedHawk Linux, ImaGen is for interactive virtual reality, landscape, architectural, and aerial, ground, and marine simulation.
Related: Atlantis flight simulator runs on Concurrent server
The ImaGen family provides multi-channel Linux-based graphics from low-end, single-channel systems to large, genlocked, multi-channel and SLI video server solutions. ImaGen delivers real-time 3D visual solutions for applications such as civil and military simulation, mission planning, homeland security, scientific and medical visualization, architectural design, energy exploration and entertainment.
ImaGen image generators have COTS imaging channels, monitors, color-matching projectors with edge-blending and curved screen distortion correction, display screens, rackmount chassis, mounting hardware and application software. The servers offers graphics controllers, like those available from NVIDIA and AMDI.
The ImaGen image-generating rackmount servers support 3D visualization software, such as the Diamond Visionics GenesisRTX, OpenSceneGraph, the Disti GL Studio, Altia Design, OpenGL, and OpenGL Performer.
Related: Saab Aerosystems selects Concurrent ImaGen visual servers for Gripen Simulator Program
Several ImaGen visual servers can be linked together to produce a unified output image several levels of photorealism. The servers can be assigned to render subsets of an image in parallel, and support a variety of image combining modes such as sample division for anti-aliasing, time division, image division, eye division, and volume division for large rendering applications.
Companies with alternative image generation servers to those of Concurrent should email NASA's Sharon Crowder at [email protected] no later than 13 Aug. 2014.
For more information contact Concurrent Computer online at www.ccur.com, or NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center at www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall.
More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/spg/NASA/GMSFC/POVA/NNM14521890Q/listing.html.
