Real-time radiometric calculations utilizing SGI symmetric multiprocessing architecture
Robert J. Makar, Brian E. O'Toole, Paul C. Rogers · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1997
An approach to utilize the symmetric multiprocessing environment of the Silicon GraphicsTM (SGI) OnyxTM and Onyx2TM has been developed to support the generation of infrared (IR) scenes in real-time. This development, supported by the Navy, is driven by a desire to maximize use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and minimize cost and development time. In the past, real-time IR scene generators have been developed as custom architectures that are expensive and difficult to maintain. An SGI based Real- time Infrared Scene Simulator (RISS) system was developed to utilize the SGI's fast symmetric multiprocessing hardware to perform real-time IR scene radiance calculations for scene objects. During real-time scene simulation, the SGI symmetric multiprocessors are used to update polygon vertex locations and compute radiometrically accurate floating point radiance values. The output of this process can be utilized to drive a variety of scene rendering engines including the SGI Reality Engine2TM, the SGI Infinite RealityTM, and Amherst Systems' custom Scene Rendering System. This paper will discuss the critical technologies that apply to infrared scene generation and hardware-in-the- loop testing using COTS hardware. Specifically, the application of RISS high-fidelity real time radiance algorithms on the SGI's symmetric multiprocessing hardware will be discussed. Also, issues relating to the integration of the real-time algorithms with various rendering engines and external real-time control will be addressed.