HLA & DIS Simulation Networking – VR-Link

The World's Leading Simulation Networking Toolkit

With the VR-Link networking toolkit, you can quickly and easily network simulators and virtual reality applications using the industry standard High Level Architecture (HLA) or the Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocol. VR-Link's easy-to-use programmer's interface and powerful code generation tools reduce the risk, cost, and time necessary to maintain existing simulations or develop new ones. VR-Link simulations can be fully HLA compliant while maintaining the DIS compatibility vital to legacy projects.  

• High Level Architecture (HLA) and Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) compliant
• FOM-Agile
• Built-in RPR FOM support
• FOM-based code generation
• Expert technical support
• User-extensible
• HLA 1.3, HLA 1516, and HLA Evolved
• C++ API
• Supports HLA Time Management

Protocol-Independent API

VR-Link saves development dollars by providing a single documented API that abstracts away the details of simulation networking protocols. When you write your code to the VR-Link API, your applications become natively compliant with DIS, HLA 1.3, HLA 1516, and HLA Evolved. For example, most applications that already use VR-Link to support HLA 1.3 can switch to HLA 1516 or HLA Evolved by merely recompiling.

Behind the API

VR-Link's top level protocol-independent API is used to set the current state of locally simulated entities and objects. Any needed information is automatically sent to other applications through the HLA's RTI or the DIS network. On the incom­ing side, VR-Link processes information from other applications and provides access to the current state of remote objects. Dead reckoning, thresholding, coordinate conversions, responding to attribute requests, and filtering are all handled by VR-Link. Of course, you can still fully control low-level networking details if you want. A lower layer API provides direct access to the RTI, to the contents of individual updates and PDUs, and to DIS networking parameters.

FOM Agility

For HLA, VR-Link's FOM-Agile infrastructure allows you to build a simulation once and have it switch among several different federations by choosing an appropriate FOM Mapper plug-in. For instant, out-of-the-box interoperability, VR-Link comes with a FOM Mapper for the RPR FOM, but it also provides tools and examples to help you develop new FOM Mappers for other FOMs. Once a FOM Mapper for a particular FOM has been created, all VR-Link-based applications (including the VR-Vantage Stealth, VR-Vantage PVD, MÄK Data Logger, VR-Exchange®, and VR-Forces ®) can use it to interoperate.