NEWS BRIEFS
Mountain View, CA — SGI Tuesday announced that CAE USA has selected the SGI(tm) Onyx 3400 high-performance graphics system to serve as the image generator for the Israeli Air Force’s UH-60/CH-53 Helicopter Aircrew Weapon Systems Trainer (HAWST).
A 24-processor SGI Onyx 3400 system with six graphics pipelines will drive the state-of-the-art HAWST, which features roll-in/roll-out cockpits to provide the Israeli Air Force with the ability to train both UH-60 and CH-53 crews in the simulator. When one cockpit is in use in the HAWST, the other cockpit can be operated in parallel as a flight-training device. The simulator will be delivered and ready for training in early 2004.
“We are proud to collaborate with CAE in delivering one of the world’s most advanced helicopter simulators to the Israeli Air Force,” said John Burwell, senior director, government industry, SGI. “CAE has a first-class reputation as a premier provider of a wide variety of state-of-the-art flight, tactics and full-mission simulators for both fixed and rotary wing aircraft, from fighters and helicopters to transport and patrol aircraft.”
Designed to simultaneously process 3D graphics, 2D imagery and video data, the SGI(tm) Onyx 3000 series scales from single-user systems to those that combine the ultimate in supercomputing and visualization technologies. Only the SGI Onyx 3000 series of high-performance graphics systems has the power and real-time visualization capability to concurrently process imagery, video, 3D terrain and geospatial data.
The SGI Onyx 3000 series is the third-generation implementation of the revolutionary SGI(tm) NUMA architecture. This tightly coupled architecture with inherent scaling of system and graphics bandwidth is central to the series’ breakthrough visual performance. The SGI NUMA architecture increases memory bandwidth and reduces memory latency.
The InfiniteReality3(tm) graphics subsystem is the latest version of the world-leading SGI graphics subsystem and is the high-performance graphics pipeline for the SGI Onyx 3000 series. Given the early 2004 delivery date for the Israeli HAWST, SGI will supply a next-generation version of its InfiniteReality3 graphics subsystem that will be available in the same time frame and will offer increased pixel performance, price/performance and texture memory.
SGI will be responsible for supplying an integrated image generation system based on the FlightIG(tm) software from MultiGen-Paradigm Inc.
About UH-60 and CH-53 The UH-60 Blackhawk is a light transport and utility helicopter used primarily for air assault, air cavalry and aeromedical evacuation units. The CH-53 Sea Stallion is a medium lift helicopter designed to transport personnel, supplies and equipment in support of amphibious and shore operations.
About CAE
CAE is the world’s premier provider of simulation and control technologies for training and optimization solutions in the aerospace, defense and forestry sectors. Headquartered in Canada and operating globally, the company employs more than 7,000 people and has revenues in excess of $1 billion.
About SGI
SGI provides a broad range of high-performance computing and advanced graphics solutions that enable customers to understand and conquer their toughest computing problems. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices worldwide, the company is located on the Web at http://www.sgi.com .
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