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Better Together with AVS and MAK: From LS Core 2.0 to Avalon Airshow and Beyond!
This is a guest article written by MAK’s friend and partner, Paul Rogers, former Australian Army Colonel, from Applied Virtual Simulations (AVS). The LS Core program mentioned below is another great example of MAK ONE being used as a common synthetic environment for collective training, similar to the UK RAF’s Gladiator program.
Imagine training for the battlefield anywhere, anytime, without limitations. Land Simulation Core 2.0 provides the Australian Army with a single simulation platform to prepare soldiers for the real-world challenges of modern warfare.
From Oxfordshire to Oslo: Connecting the MAK Ecosystem Across Europe at MAK ONE User Groups, hosted by ST Engineering Antycip
by Steve Peart, International Sales
Last week, our sister company and exclusive European distributor, ST Engineering Antycip, hosted two MAK ONE User’s Group sessions, bringing together simulation professionals across Europe—one user group in Oxfordshire, England, and the other in Oslo, Norway. The conferences welcomed systems integrators, research developers, and industry experts, all eager to connect, share insights, and explore the latest in modeling and simulation training solutions. I was honored to attend such productive events that fostered collaboration and knowledge-sharing among our community of MAK ONE software users in the UK and Nordic areas!
S2RC Joins the MAK Ecosystem to Drive Innovation
in Simulation and Training
MAK and Stone Solutions + Research Collective (S2RC) have joined forces to push the boundaries of simulation and training. S2RC’s expertise in emerging and disruptive human systems technologies is a perfect match for MAK’s commitment to developing simulation applications and systems. This partnership integrates research, engineering, and training expertise to develop simulation systems that adapt to evolving end-user requirements.
Did you know? MAK supports CDB terrain.
by Jim Kogler, VP of Products
CDB (Common Database) is a terrain standard that uses highly structured and curated GIS data to define the terrain for Synthetic Environments. If you’ve ever worked with raw source data (GIS data), you know it can be all over the place...each source may use slightly different formats and inconsistent attributes, which can make it a headache to manage. CDB solves this problem by using a CDB terrain generation tool to process raw data into a highly structured format, ensuring everything is well-defined and consistent. The tool also allows you to clean up problematic data and integrate your own models into a well-organized directory structure (the database).
Getting the Most Out of MAK Customer Support (We’re Your “Engineer Down the Hall”!)
by Deb Fullford, VP Sales and Business Development
MAK has been successfully competing with government owned and internally developed solutions for over 30 years. This is in part due to MAK’s open API’s and MOSA approach, making it an ideal synthetic environment platform that can be customized to meet end users needs. The other reason for MAK’s continued success is our excellent support. MAK is known to continually go above and beyond to help our customers succeed. As Dan Brockway, MAK’s longtime VP of Marketing, coined, “MAK – Your engineer down the hall.”
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Imaging
in the MAK ONE Environment
by Len Granowetter, CTO
It’s hard to believe that it was only at I/ITSEC 2023 that I first met the folks from ISL – radar simulation experts that I’ve worked with so closely ever since. Now, only fourteen months later, I’m so proud of the new addition to the MAK ONE ecosystem that our companies have built together: RFView for MAK ONE.
How to Configure MAK ONE’s VR-Engage Virtual Simulator with Accurate Vehicle Dynamics based on an Existing Model
By Len Granowetter
MAK’s VR-Engage virtual simulator application, part of the MAK ONE suite, includes a built-in vehicle dynamics simulation, using Vortex, by CM Labs. Vortex is a mature and powerful COTS physics and dynamics engine that provides a simple authoring UI, allowing users to model at whatever fidelity is desired – including modeling of multi-axle drive and steering systems, dynamic loads, wheeled and tracked systems, physics of turrets and other parts, etc. However, the MAK ONE platform is also capable of using pre-existing dynamics models and external code that is not based on the Vortex physics engine. Here's how to configure VR-Engage with accurate vehicle dynamics based on an existing model.
VR-Engage 2.0.3 has arrived! Here is what's new.
By Len Granowetter
We just announced our mid-2023 set of maintenance releases for the MAK ONE applications – VR-Forces, VR-Vantage, and VR-Engage. For the most part, maintenance releases are about bug fixes, optimizations, and other minor configuration changes that make our customers’ experience better. But sometimes, maintenance releases also include some targeted new capabilities that are additive or low-impact - that’s the case with the VR-Engage 2.0.3 release.
An experiment with ChatGPT-Powered Customer Support
By Jim Kogler (**edited by ChatGPT, Morgan, and Dan)
I have been approached by multiple customers suggesting the idea of developing a support system by training an OpenAI/Chat-GPT system on our MAK documentation set. They believed it could potentially provide some level of autonomous help desk for our customers. Intrigued by the possibility of automating support, I decided to give it a try. However, I must say it hasn't gone well, and as a result, we won't be releasing it just yet.
Learn how AI can sometimes be misleading...
MAK FIRES: Individual training in the context of a multi-domain operation
For more than 30 years, MAK has been providing commercial software products used by customers, just like you, to create simulated environments for concept development, research, design, and training. Recently, MAK expanded our staff to include experts in the design, development, and implementation of training solutions to train individual skills in a collective training environment. MAK's mission has always been to be a partner, not just a vendor. Our Training Solution Division expands the solutions we can offer to minimize your risk and program cost, and help you achieve program success.
Our first Training Solution offering is MAK FIRES, a comprehensive and immersive training system that provides realistic training for Call for Fire (CFF) missions. MAK's own Bill Kamer, a retired Bradley Master Gunner, was the inspiration behind MAK Fires. Immediately upon joining the MAK team, Bill saw the potential of using the MAK ONE environment to create an easy-to-use and realistic CFF trainer that can be used by an individual trainer at their home station or as part of a formal CFF classroom environment.
