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Stay up to date on the latest news, get the freshest tech tips, and meet our team through MAKer spotlights!
MAK’s VR-Forces: An Integral Part of the UK Army FORGE Program
by Deb Fullford, VP Sales & Business Development
For the past year, MAK, along with our sister company ST Engineering Antycip, has supported Cervus on the UK Army’s FORGE program. FORGE, a 4-year program, integrates Cervus’ AI Analytics Engine with MAK’s VR-Forces Constructive Simulation to create an AI-based, data-driven, simulation environment to support experimentation for UK Army’s Fifth Generation Force.
Experience a Beautiful World with VR-Vantage
— in Color or Black & White
by Steve Peart, Sr. International Channel Manager
If you’ve been following our recent blog posts, you know we’re gearing up for some exciting showcases at I/ITSEC this year! Our team is bringing a wealth of great demos to the floor, but one of the highlights I’m most excited about showing is our latest release of VR-Vantage (3.1.1).
Breaking Barriers in Training:
NICO’s Leap to 5G-Enabled Augmented Reality!
In collaboration with our partners at Athena-Tek, MAK's Simulation Solutions Division has achieved a major milestone by successfully testing NICO's operation over a private 5G network, demonstrating seamless remote deployment in the most demanding and harsh training environments.
Feast Your Eyes on the Future of Training & Simulation at MAK Booth #1213
MAK has been an I/ITSEC staple for the past 30 years, and this year we're serving up a satisfying blend of our newest innovations alongside our trusted MAK ONE platform.
What's on the menu at MAK booth #1213, you ask?
Continuing the introduction of our Simulation Solutions Superheroes
A few months ago, we introduced the superheroes of our Simulation Solutions Division. (If you missed our first batch of intros, catch those here!) Now we're back with round two so you can meet the next set of our Simulation Solutions superheroes.
Creativity flows, beauty abounds, and gears are always turning – we’re excited for you to meet more of MAK’s team of Simulation Solutions Superheroes, a formidable force in the realm of simulation technology and solutions.
Did you hear? VR-TheWorld 4.6 has arrived! Here are the highlights...
By Brian Spaulding, MAK's Terrain Expert
Drumroll please...with November comes the latest VR-TheWorld release: version 4.6! You can see the list of all the new features in the latest Release Notes, but we'll focus on two important additions in this article:
1. An embedded tile server, OpenStreetMap data in OpenMapTiles format, and sample MapBox GL styles that you can use in Raster layers.
2. Global data additions to support the VR-Forces Aggregate-Level simulation scenarios.
MAK ONE as a Platform: Building a Better Simulation and Training Experience
by Ross Uhler, Director of Strategic Business Development
In the early 1990s, IBM introduced the forerunner to today’s smartphone, the IBM Simon. Around the same time, John Morrison And Warren Katz founded MAK Technologies to provide simulation, visualization, and networking solutions for the emerging distributed simulation community. Just as smartphones have evolved over the years, the MAK ONE platform has advanced to deliver a Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA) synthetic environment that provides a tactically accurate, adaptable simulation environment with the flexibility to incorporate new functionality.
Simulation and Reality: Revisiting IITSEC with Newfound Expertise and Mild Trepidation
by Tim Collins, North American Sales
Every year at the tail end of November and very beginning of December, just as most of the country begins its consumerist pilgrimage toward the nearest mall, a very different migration happens in the world of training and simulation. This migration takes place not to crowded sales racks or the fluorescent-lit aisles of Target or Best Buy, but to the many hotels that line either side of International Boulevard and eventually, to the sprawling exhibition halls of the West Concourse within the Orange County Convention Center, home of I/ITSEC.
Adding Non-kinetic Models to VR-Forces
by Pete Swan, Director of International Business
It was my great privilege and pleasure to present at the recent NATO CA2X2 Forum in Rome.
My presentation was about a proof of concept that MAK’s Principal Engineer, Dr. Doug Reece, recently conducted to investigate whether VR-Forces could be used to create non-kinetic models and integrate them into a kinetic simulation environment.
The Story of VR-Forces
by Deb Fullford, VP Sales
Back in 1999 when the world was busy worrying about Y2K, John Morrison, one of MAK’s co-founders, was worrying about how to design a flexible computer-generated forces application that could accurately simulate platforms and be easily extended to incorporate new functionality...
MAK Awarded for Excellence in M&S at BlueTIDE 2024
By Tim Collins
It was an honor to represent MAK alongside Stephen Landry at #BlueTIDE2024 hosted by 401 Tech Bridge last week, and I’m thrilled to share that our work was recognized with the award for Excellence in the Digital Twin Modeling and Simulation category.
What's Up MAK Newsletter: Simulation Solutions Edition
This edition of our What's Up MAK newsletter focuses on our Simulation Solutions team, based in Orlando. You'll learn all about the team's collective and individual superpowers, our new strategic partnership agreement with HTX Labs, our progress on completing Phases 1 and 2 of the Marine Corps ITE Program, and how MAK FIRES is igniting excitement across the U.S.
Enjoy!
The Simulation Solutions Division:
A League of Extraordinary Heroes Dedicated to Customer Success
The Simulation Solutions Division at MAK Technologies harnesses a unique set of superpowers, making them the perfect ally for simulation and training projects big and small. (Watch out, Justice League! There’s a new superhero team in town.)
HTX Labs and MAK Technologies Partnership Announcement
The teams at HTX Labs and MAK Technologies are excited to announce our strategic partnership to elevate military training and simulation with XR and AI solutions!
MAK FIRES Ignites Excitement across the U.S.
We're excited by the traction MAK FIRES, our portable and realistic Forward Observer Training System, is gaining nationwide. Here are some recent successes and upcoming plans to showcase MAK FIRES...
Introducing RFView for MAK ONE
Real-time Ray Tracing Technology to Generate Accurate Radar Images of MAK ONE Simulation Environments
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging has become an indispensable tool for today’s modern militaries. This creates a critical requirement for modeling and simulation engines and platforms to generate simulated SAR images that are both physically accurate and fully correlated with out-the-window views and EO/IR images of your virtual world.
At I/ITSEC 2024, MAK Technologies is proud to announce RFView for MAK ONE – the newest addition to the MAK ONE product ecosystem! RFView for MAK ONE acts as a SAR server - generating and delivering simulated SAR images of MAK ONE synthetic environments based on requests from client applications through an API or network interface. The product uses real-time GPU-based ray tracing techniques to produce believable physics-based results, with the natural characteristics found in real SAR images, including Gibbs ringing effects, foreshortening and layover of tall objects, SAR shadows, smearing and displacement of moving objects, speckle, jammer/repeater artifacts, and important multi-bounce effects that can’t be achieved with other approaches.
Dive Deep into Terrain with Brian Spaulding
We just hosted a technical webinar about terrain in our "Get Deep with MAK" Technical webinar series. In this session, MAK’s terrain expert, Brian Spaulding, explores VR-TheWorld and demonstrates how to augment a Whole World terrain with commonly available GIS data. Specifically, he walks through two topics:
What's Up MAK Newsletter: Get Deep with MAK!
This edition of our What's Up MAK newsletter features our upcoming technical webinar series "Get Deep with MAK", outlines what's new in VR-TheWorld, explores a bit of show and tell with some newly released MAK videos, and shows how sensor operator training can be done in MAK ONE! Enjoy!
Five things to know about VR-TheWorld 4.3...
To celebrate the latest release of VR-TheWorld, here are five things everyone should know:
What's Up MAK Newsletter: What's New in MAK ONE 2024?
This edition of our What's Up MAK newsletter is all about our MAK ONE 2024 Product Release — we'll kick things off with a fireside chat with Jim Kogler, VP of Products. And keep scrolling to find more release-focused resources, events, and news, as well as MAK ONE customer stories, industry news, and open jobs at MAK. Enjoy!
Vegetation in the MAK Earth Terrain Engine!
Why Generative AI is worse than Procedural Generation — because sometimes you don’t want machines to “think”, you want them to do what they’re told.
This is the story of MAK ONE’s ability to generate deterministic terrain vegetation over the entire planet.
(Virtual) Fireside Chat with Jim Kogler about MAK ONE
Spring is just around the corner, but it’s always the right season for a [virtual] fireside chat with Jim about what’s new in this release of MAK ONE.
Here's what's new in HLA 4
As we highlighted last year, HLA 4 has passed the first round of IEEE balloting. MAK is proud to have worked diligently alongside the interoperability community to progress the open standards process to reach this milestone.
Keep reading to learn what's new in HLA 4...
NETN FOM Support in MAK ONE
by Jim Kogler
Coming with the MAK ONE 2024 release, the MAK ONE suite will start using the NETN (or NATO) FOM for all default HLA-based connections. NETN (NATO Education and Training Network) FOM is the NATO Distributed Simulation FOM, which was developed by the NATO Modeling and Simulation Group (MNSG) and is available online (NETN FOM (amsp-04.github.io).
What's Up MAK Newsletter: Happy Holidays from MAK!
Whether you're spending the holidays in a snowy mountain chalet or keeping things cozy at home, we wish you and yours a holiday season filled with joy and togetherness. May the coming year bring prosperity, success, and continued collaboration as we embark on new and continued ventures together!
Enjoy this final newsletter of 2023. And spoiler alert, there's a gift for you inside...Check it out!
Here's to a bright year ahead,
Your friends at MAK
NTSA Modeling and Simulation Awards: Gladiator Delivery Team wins Training Systems Acquisition Award!
Congratulations to the entire Gladiator Delivery Team for winning NTSA’s Training Systems Acquisition Award!
The Gladiator Program represents a shift in paradigm for delivering collective synthetic training environments. The UK RAF, with the help of Prime Contractor, Boeing Defense UK and Subcontractor ST Engineering Antycip, brought together commercial companies to work alongside a professional White Force to develop a COTS-based Collective MDO Training Environment.
MAK Technologies: Where Experience Meets Innovation
You know we’ve got the best software engineers in the business. But did you know that in addition to amazing coders, we’ve also got a team full of 3D artists, military veteran SMEs from every branch, and top simulation industry professionals? With the MAK team’s combined experience, we've...
Hot off the press: The Q3 What's Up MAK Newsletter
Topics include:
- Standing the Test of Time with MAK ONE
- VR-Engage Product Announcement and Tech Tip
- Lunch with MAK Is Back!
- MAK Technologies: Where Experience Meets Innovation
- MAK Around the World
- ICYMI: In Case You Missed It – MAK success stories and news
Open Letter to Presagis Users
By Dan Brockway
Many of you have probably heard about the absorption of Presagis into CAE, and the discontinuation of Presagis products.
If you are a customer of Presagis products and you are looking for an alternative solution, we at MAK Technologies stand ready to help. Our product suite is perhaps the most similar in breadth and scope to the Presagis suite as any other vendor on the market. Our companies grew up together and have shared many common distributors, resellers, and local support partners over the years. We have also shared many of the same philosophies toward building flexible products with APIs for user extension and customization.
Is your modeling and simulation technology at end-of-life?
Now's the time to look at MAK ONE. MAK ONE is a modular architecture that can be your whole synthetic environment or fill the gaps in your system architecture.
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.