Scalable Display Manager makes navy training shipshape

A technology company providing maritime simulators for the Mexican navy turned to Scalable Display Technologies when it needed to expedite the calibration of its displays.

Pranatec has built simulators for three naval academies and a training facility via software platform NAUTIS, which has been created in collaboration with VSTEP Simulation.

Enrique de la Torre, director of Pranatec, says: “Our maritime simulators include projection, 240° visualisation and a collimated screen.

“Most maritime simulators are designed with screens, but collimation is an essential feature for the Mexican navy and its training academies because they’ve already adopted the technology. Therefore, they required a solution with collimated screens because of their investment and knowledge of the technology. They wanted to continue with projectors, which required a solution to blend multiple projectors into a singular, seamless display.

“We integrated the first maritime simulator for the navy in 2014. At the time, we had to calibrate the projectors manually. Our technicians needed significant time to arrange the projectors to calibrate the system manually. If the simulator needed to be recalibrated, we would have to send a technician on-site and communicate with the simulator manufacturer. It was a time-consuming and tedious process.”

The integration of Scalable Display Technologies’ software has enabled Pranatec to create a complete simulation solution for warping and blending high-resolution content on collimated screens. Scalable’s software automatically calibrates images’ colour, intensity and geometry from multiple projectors, resulting in a single, seamless digital display.

“We are utilising five projectors with each simulator,” says De la Torre. “It requires a lot of time to get the system right – particularly for this application, as the visuals must be flawless. Scalable works seamlessly with VSTEP’s NAUTIS platform, simplifying integration and maintenance.

“Scalable Display Manager has allowed us to reduce our calibration to only a few hours. Previously, manually calibrating a simulator would take several days to a week. Scalable’s technology is straightforward. It requires the initial on-site integration to install the system, but once it’s installed, the entire system is low maintenance.

“Scalable’s technology incorporates cameras to align the projectors for real-time calibration. It allows us to remotely recalibrate a system and monitor the visual system in real time. Previously, the maritime academies would communicate with us and try to adjust the projectors. Ultimately, it would require a technician to come on-site to fix the system.

“Today, if anything happens with the simulator, we can log in remotely to perform the recalibration. It has allowed us to reduce installation time, eliminate on-site maintenance and reduce system downtime.”