Alion Partners with AGEIA to add physics to military simulation and training applications

MCLEAN, Va., 18 April 2007. Alion Science and Technology has partnered with AGEIA Technologies to integrate AGEIA PhysX technology into the Delta3D Open Source Engine to enable real-world, real-time dynamic motion and interaction.

Alion has been contributing to the Delta3D Project for almost three years. Delta3D is an open source game engine that supports a variety of Department of Defense modeling and simulation applications. With this partnership, Alion is making it possible for applications built on Delta3D to take advantage of the PhysX processor.

Using AGEIA PhysX, when users create a simulated explosion, it causes dust and debris. Weapons have effects on targets that replicate what would happen in reality, and human and vehicle movement is more lifelike.

Using AGEIA PhysX, Alion can build powerful training and simulation applications for the Marine Corps that will be deployed on the Deployable Virtual Training Environment (DVTE) system -- a program that will provide deployable simulations on laptops to train warfighters for combat environments. As a result, when Marines use DVTE to train for convoy operations against improvised explosive devices (IEDs), they encounter a driving experience that mirrors the actual movement of their armored vehicle. When they practice defensive operations, they will use weapons with 360-degree rotation and physically accurate ballistics.

The partnership enables Alion to distribute the PhysX runtimes, SDK, and API as part of the Delta3D project. Delta3D users will be able to add state-of-the-art physics capabilities to their Delta3D open source applications without additional royalties or separate licensing agreements.