I often use the term immersion in my articles.
For me, immersion in a simulator is very important.
What is immersion?
Immersion describes the feeling of being able to completely immerse yourself in the simulated environment. The first time I had the great feeling of great immersion was when I flew a lap around Zurich in a Boeing 737 simulator in Amriswil on Lake Constance years ago.
Some important aspects that contribute to immersion are high-quality visual and acoustic elements.
For this reason, I spent many hours finding the right solution for the projection environment.
For me, it was important to have as much all-round visibility as possible in the simulation. The pilot in a fighter jet has very good all-round visibility. In the plane, he looks left and right over his shoulders and also upwards. It was important to me to replicate this field of view in my simulator as much as possible. For this reason, I built a projection room in the actual simulator room.
The challenge here was to combine the room geometry with the right projectors. The projectors also have to be positioned in such a way that they do not create shadows on the projection surfaces due to the cockpit in the middle of the room.
Luckily, there is the Immersive Designer Pro software, which allows you to plan the projection to some extent. The software gives you an overview of what projection ratio the projectors need to have and where they should ideally be positioned.
In the end I decided on a cube shape with the dimensions WxDxH 2.70mx 2.70mx 2.20m. To make the upper corners of the cube appear more harmonious in the projection image, I made them round with a radius of 45cm. The projection is ultimately powered by 4 Optoma short-throw laser projectors. 3 of these are mounted concealed on the ceiling and project onto the sides of the cube. One is mounted in front of the cockpit and projects onto the ceiling.
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